Government opens consultation on High Needs National Funding Formula
The government has begun consultation on proposed initial changes to the High Needs National Funding Formula (NFF) as part of a longer-term review of the NFF. The High Needs NFF is issued to Local Authorities based on national criteria. It provides the funding for places of pupils with SEND or with an Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP).
The consultation is proposing:
- a change to the ‘historic spend’ factor of the formula
- using 2019 attainment data in place of 2020 and 2021 as evidence of ‘low attainment’
- a change to other proxy factors - currently measures such as number of children with free school meals (FSM), families given disability living allowance (DLA), etc. are used as part of the calculation
The consultation document and survey opened on 10th February 2021 and closes to responses on 24th March 2021.
