Funding

What is SENIF?

SEN Inclusion Funding (SENIF) is money that nurseries, preschools, and school-based settings in Stoke-on-Trent can apply for to support children with SEND. It helps pay for things like:

• Extra staff time
• Specialist training
• Activities or resources tailored to your child’s needs

Your child may be eligible if they:

• Have significant delays in their development
• Don’t yet have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)
• Attend a Stoke-on-Trent setting and receive funded early education hours

There are three levels of SENIF funding:

• Tier 1: No extra funding – child is developing as expected
• Tier 2: £450 per term – for moderate delays
• Tier 3: £900 per term – for more significant delays
  These amounts are based on 15 funded hours and may be adjusted if your child attends for more or fewer hours.

What is DAF?

Disability Access Funding (DAF) is a one-off payment of £938 for children aged 3–4 who:

• Receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
• Use their free nursery hours

This funding helps settings buy equipment or resources to support your child’s experience. Parents are encouraged to help plan how the money is used—such as suggesting sensory toys or other helpful items.

If you think your child might benefit from SENIF or DAF, speak to your nursery or preschool. They’ll guide you through the process and make sure the right support is in place.

Most of a school’s funding is based on the total number of pupils in the school – they receive money for each pupil - this is also called the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU). Some of this money is for general SEND provision such as paying for a SENCO (Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator).

The amount of the AWPU is different in each Local Authority and there is usually more funding for secondary school pupils than for primary school pupils. The Education Funding Agency sets the AWPU for academies and free schools.

This funding is to provide SEND support. This is support that is different or more than the support that most children get.

The local authority decides how much of this funding a school should get using a formula which takes a number of factors into account. For instance, they give more money to schools who have had lower results in Maths and English in the past, who have greater numbers of children with English as an additional language and those schools who have more children receiving free school meals. The Education Funding Agency provides this funding for academies and free schools. Element 2 funding is also part of schools’ delegated budget.

Government guidance says schools should provide up to the first £6,000 of additional or different support for those children who need it, including those with an Education, Health and Care plan (or a Statement of Special Educational Need). This does not mean that the school will spend £6,000 on every child with SEN. Sometimes schools use funds to help groups of children. Some children will need less help – and some children may need more.

You can ask your school how it uses its SEND budget to support your child and whether it has enough to make all the provision they need. You can find out more about a school’s arrangements for SEND support by reading the SEND information report on their website.

Some pupils have such complex needs that their school may request some additional funding to top up Element 1 and Element 2 funding. Element 3 funding is managed by the local authority and it is sometimes called the ‘high needs block’. This funding can be used to make specific provision for an individual child or a group of children, if the school can show that it is necessary.

These funding arrangements do not override the local authority’s duty to your child to ensure they receive any necessary provision that the school itself cannot make. The law says that the local authority must find out via an EHC needs assessment whether an EHC plan is needed when a child or young person may have SEND that may need the local authority to secure provision. So if your school is unable to make all the provision your child needs within their own resources, you have the right to ask for an EHC needs assessment.

Providers should note that where applicable, a claim should be made within the year in which the pupil is at the school as the authority will not be inclined to make backdated payments except in very exceptional circumstances.

When a child is attending a specialist SEND placement they are funded in a different way to a pupil at a mainstream school with SEND. Maintained Specialist Provision in Stoke-on-Trent is funded by the local authority and they pay for the placement (£10,000) for each place at a specialist setting. Pupils are then allocated additional top-up funding if they need it.