The meeting was scheduled to include a discussion about how the council funds the extra support needs of pupils in the borough. In addition, two pilot schemes designed to provide better and more cost effective support to children with special educational needs were scheduled to be discussed.

High Needs Block Funding

The meeting was scheduled to include a discussion of the council's plans for its High Needs Block funding in the 2025-26 financial year.

The High Needs Block is a ringfenced grant that the council receives from central government to cover the extra costs of supporting children and young people in the borough with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). ¹

The total amount that the council is allocated for the 2025-26 financial year is £70.572 million, up 5.9% from the previous year.

Of this, £4.132 million is deducted to fund places in academies and free schools, leaving the council with a net total of £66.44 million to fund the rest of the High Needs budget.

The meeting was scheduled to include confirmation that the council intends to increase the top-up rates that it pays to schools by 0.5%. Top-up rates are paid to state-funded mainstream and special schools to cover the extra costs of providing for children with special educational needs and disabilities. ²

Appendix B of the report titled [Item 3. HN - Budget FY25-26 - Mar 25](https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/documents/s118396/Item+3.+HN+-+Budget+FY25-26+-+Mar+25.pdf) shows that the council has committed to funding 696 full time equivalent places in its maintained special schools during the 2025-26 financial year. This represents an increase of 30 places over the previous year.

The largest increases in places are scheduled to be at Paddock School which was scheduled to increase by 56 places from 224 to 280 places. In addition to the maintained special schools, a total of 279 places were scheduled to be funded in maintained resource bases, an increase of 21 places over the previous year. The largest increase was scheduled to be at Granard Primary School, which was scheduled to see its resource base increase by 15 places from 42 to 57.

In addition to places in maintained special schools and resource bases, the council was also scheduled to discuss funding for a total of 319 places in academy special schools, an increase of 16 over the previous year. All of the increase was scheduled to come from Nightingale Community Academy, which was scheduled to expand from 150 to 166 places.

The report acknowledges that there is a funding gap in the High Needs Block, and that the 2024-25 financial year is likely to end with an overspend of £10.314 million.

It states that The increased funding granted for FY 2025-26 does not cover this level of overspend, and as such there are immediate budget pressures on the HNB, before we consider the impact of growth in demand or inflationary price increases.

Enhanced Reception Support Project

The meeting was scheduled to include a decision on whether to fund a pilot scheme designed to provide enhanced support to pupils in the reception year of school.

The report titled [Item 4. Enhanced Rec. Support Project - FY25-26 Mar25](https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/documents/s118399/Item+4.+Enhanced+Rec.+Support+Project+-+FY25-26+Mar25.pdf) notes that:

Wandsworth continues to have above national average levels of Early Years Education, Health & Care Plans for Under 5-year-olds

And argues that:

Headteachers report that children still arrive at school either for nursery or reception class, without having benefitted from identification of need, high quality teaching and supportive interventions prior to coming to school.

It goes on to claim that:

Officers involved in mediation feel that these could be avoided in many cases if there was a more robust alternative to EHC needs assessment.

The proposed pilot project would provide an enhanced package of support to 20 pupils during their reception year. The aim of this package of support is to:

alleviate the potential anxiety of transition for parents/ carers build confidence of staff to meet the identified needs remove barriers for children with additional needs to attend mainstream school enable pupils to attend school full time Avoid the need for an EHC needs assessment

The children would be selected from those who have previously had requests for an Education and Health Care needs assessment turned down, and children who are new to the borough who may not have had their needs identified before starting school.

The total cost of the scheme is estimated to be £66,000, however it is argued that the scheme would save money in the long run, because:

The average cost of an EHCP in a mainstream school is £11,500. The project would aim to avoid the need for EHC needs assessments for 15 of the 20 identified children. This would avoid the cost of 15 EHCP ‘s representing an annual cost avoidance of £180,000.

SEN Support Fund and Enhanced Transition Project update

The meeting was scheduled to include an update on several schemes that the council funds to support pupils with special educational needs.

The report titled [Item 5. SEN Support Fund ETP Update - FY25-26 - Mar 25](https://democracy.wandsworth.gov.uk/documents/s118402/Item+5.+SEN+Support+Fund+ETP+Update+-+FY25-26+-+Mar+25.pdf) outlines the spending to date and future plans for several different training programmes and initiatives that are funded by the council's SEN Support Fund.

The report focuses on the success of the Enhanced Transition Project (ETP), which was initially funded for one year by the Schools Forum in March 2024.

The project aimed to provide enhanced support to 20 pupils with special educational needs as they transitioned from year 6 in primary school to year 7 in secondary school.

The report claims that:

To date only one pupil involved in the ETP project has received an EHCP and 100% of pupils are well supported at secondary school.

The report estimates that the cost avoidance of providing enhanced support through the ETP as opposed to providing support through an Education and Health Care plan to be £230,000.

In December 2024 the Schools Forum agreed to fund a second year of the ETP.

In addition to the ETP, the report also summarises the impact of a programme called AME coaching which was designed to train staff in schools to support students at risk of becoming disengaged with education.

The report states that:

The Wandsworth AME Coaches have now completed their third and final day of training.

It includes a range of positive feedback on the programme from the staff involved.

The final part of the report outlines a proposal to fund a new scheme called the ADHD Ambassador programme which would be delivered to schools in the borough.

The report explains that ADHD is:

currently classified in the Code of Practice (2014) within the category of SEMH difficulties.

and that:

Wandsworth SENCos reported that the highest Special Education Need that schools would like additional support to meet needs more effectively was ADHD.

The report goes on to say:

The secondary Pupil Referral Unit reports that the most prevalent need of students attending their provision is ADHD and similarly, there are high numbers of pupils with ADHD accessing support from the Primary PRU.

The proposed scheme would be delivered by an ADHD advisor, employed for one day a week by the council, at a cost of £19,000 per year.

In addition to the cost of the advisor, the council would fund a package of training for up to 15 schools at a cost of £4,600 per school.

The report argues that:

The expected outcome of the project would be:

• An improved reporting of staff awareness around supporting pupils with ADHD.
• An increase in reported teachers confidence in meeting the needs of pupils with ADHD.
• Qualitative data from pupils regarding the support received related to their SENDs will be positive.
• Outcomes for pupils with ADHD will be improved including social, emotional regulation and academic engagement.
• An increase in school attendance from pupils reporting emotional challenges with attending school.
• An improvement in early interventions supporting pupil engagement leading to a reduction in EHCNA requests at an early stage in SEND support before effective strategies have been implemented at Ordinarily Available Provision level (OAP).
• SLT have an improved awareness and confidence in implementing the laws and regulations covering reasonable adjustments and relevant differentiation for pupils with ADHD.
• A reduction of suspensions and exclusions for pupils with ADHD as reported by schools and pupil referral units.