Parents and Carers
- SEN Support in Mainstream Schools
- SEN Support in School Meetings
- Choosing a School or College
- Education Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessments, Plans and Reviews
- Appeals and Mediation
- Attendance and Exclusions
- Transitioning Between Schools or Settings
- Early Years
- SEND Funding
- Transport to School and College
- Preparing For Adulthood (PfA)
- Making a Complaint
- Health Needs and Education
- Elective Home Education (EHE)
- School Admissions
- Disability Discrimination
- Children's Disability Register
SEND Funding
Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire Local Authorities allocate funding in a slightly different way to many other Local Authorities. Within both local areas there are funding pathways that allow schools and settings to access additional funding for students, often without the need for an Education, Health and Case Plan (EHC Plan).
The Early Years SEND Fund
The Early Years SEND Fund is available to all Private, Voluntary, Community and Independent Ofsted Registered Childcare Providers and Schools, to support the inclusion of SEND children attending local Early Years Settings.
The Early Years SEND Fund supports:
- Early identification of SEND for children aged 3 and 4 years whilst accessing their free entitlement to a Nursery Education Funded place
- Early identification of SEND for children who are 2 years of age whilst accessing their free entitlement to a funded education place.
Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP)
If you have a child who is three or four years old and is disadvantaged due to their special educational needs or disability, the setting may be eligible for the early years pupil premium. See how much EYPP funding is available per year for each child taking up the full entitlement. The Early Years setting can contact the Local Authority to enquire.
The Disability Access Fund (DAF)
The Disability Access Fund (DAF) provides additional funding to support early years providers to make reasonable adjustments to enable children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to access their early years funded entitlement hours.
The Disability Access Fund is currently £615 per year for eligible children. To be eligible, a child needs to receive Disability Living Allowance (DLA). Funding will be paid per year directly to one childcare provider nominated by the parent. The DAF is not based on an hourly rate and is an additional entitlement payable as a lump sum.
Special Educational Needs (SEN) Inclusion Fund
Every local authority has a SEN inclusion fund to support early years providers in meeting the needs of individual children with SEN.
The setting can contact your local authority about how you can access this fund. You can find out more information on the Local Offer about the local SEN support available.
High Cost Equipment
Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists are able to apply to the Local Authority for high cost equipment in order to support the inclusion of a disabled child into a childcare setting.
The SEND Code of Practice says:
It is for schools, as part of their normal budget planning, to determine their approach to using their resources to support the progress of pupils with SEN. The SENCO, headteacher and governing body or proprietor should establish a clear picture of the resources that are available to the school. They should consider their strategic approach to meeting SEN in the context of the total resources available, including any resources targeted at particular groups, such as the pupil premium.
The school governors are responsible for the school’s SEND Policy. The headteacher and the SENCO should ensure that the policy is put into practice.
School SENCOs organise the support for individual children, however, every teacher is responsible for making sure that your child’s special educational needs are met in the classroom.
Each school is required to publish a SEND Information Report on their school’s website, this should explain about the arrangements for SEND support and how to contact the SENCO.
If your child or young person has an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC Plan) their needs and required provision will be written into this legal document. Within Nottinghamshire and Nottingham City, EHC Plan’s do not carry additional funding (in most cases) for children in mainstream schools, as the child should already be receiving the relevant funding that they need. If you feel that your child or young person is struggling, and the educational setting is struggling to meet their needs, the school should contact either the SEN Team (Nottingham City) or ICDS (Nottinghamshire) to discuss this further.
Other funding streams may be in place as part of health and social care needs within an EHC Plan. These are known as direct payments and personal budgets. You can contact your Local Authority’s health or social care teams to discuss this further.
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. You can ask for specific details of this from the SEN Team (Nottingham City) or ICDS (Nottinghamshire County).
In FE colleges, funding to support the majority of students aged 16-19 with additional needs is available as part of the National Funding Formula. This is expected to cover up to the first £6,000 of the cost of additional support for an individual learner with SEND needs. It is not necessary to have an EHC needs assessment, or plan, in order to benefit from this funding for additional support.
Funding to support additional needs for Post-19 students without an EHC plan, can be accessed by an FE college via the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) adult education budget. There may be occasions when course fees must be paid through an EHC plan, however, these cases are rare and are considered on an individual basis.
Schools receive an amount of money for pupils with Special Educational Needs. This amount depends on the number of students within the school who have a registered special education need.
This amount is not specifically for named pupils, but may fund up to £6,000 of additional support to meet a pupil’s needs.
The following are some examples of the ways the school may allocate this funding:
- Extra resources
- Specialist equipment
- To provide small group support
- To purchase a specialist programme
- To enable your child to share a teaching assistant with a small group
- To provide some individual support from a teaching assistant (1:1)
- To provide time for staff to make/create work or interventions for your child.
HLN Funding
In exceptional cases, where the school are putting in support that costs more than the funding that they have available, the school can apply to the Local Authority for extra funding called Higher Level Needs (HLN) funding.
With your permission, the school can apply for HLN funding by submitting information about your child’s SEND needs and evidence of the provision that the school are providing to meet those needs.
The HLN Panel (which consists of LA support service staff members) and school SENCo’s will need to agree that additional funding is required and the amount of funding that is required. This is done by taking the individual needs of the child into account. The funding amount is reviewed on a regular basis, taking into account any changes to the child’s needs and the progress that they are making, as a result of the provisions being provided.
To find out more information about funding within Nottingham City mainstream schools, please access more information at Special Educational Needs Provision and Funding Processes - Ask Lion - Nottingham City Directory
All mainstream schools in Nottinghamshire are expected to provide support to pupils with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities, from the resources delegated to them as part of their school budget. For children and young people whose needs exceed that level of funding, schools are able to apply for additional funding.
Schools in Nottinghamshire work in groups called ‘Families of Schools’. The schools work together to share expertise and continue to develop their professional skills in working with and supporting children with SEN.
This is all available at ‘SEN support’ and without an Education, Health and Care plan.
School settings can:
- fund additional support from the school budget
- request Additional Family Needs (AFN) funding, which is held by the ‘Family of Schools’. All decisions about AFN funding are agreed using specific criteria. This is called ‘moderation’
- request High Level Needs (HLN) funding from the Local Authority, if the ‘Family of Schools’ agree that the child’s level of need is particularly severe and complex.
To review the current SEND Funding systems for Nottinghamshire mainstream schools please find more information at Notts Help Yourself (Special Educational Needs and Disability Support).

SEND Local Offer
The Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council SEND Local Offers are a great resource for finding events, support and activities in your area.
City Council County Council