Council to fund £1.5m annual SEND support in schools

Summarised from Bournemouth Echo's report · Updated 9 Oct, 06:08 · Archive

BCP Council is to approve £1.5million per year for special educational needs support in schools.

BCP Council is to be asked to approve £1.5million per year in funding to support special educational needs (SEND) in schools. The council's three-year Local SEND Reform Plan, submitted to government in June, aims to shift away from crisis-led support towards early intervention in mainstream schools. This approach will reduce reliance on formal Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs) for children with non-complex needs, whilst retaining them for those with complex needs.

The plan includes the 'Experts at Hand' model, which gives schools timely access to speech and language therapists, occupational therapy, and educational psychology. It also involves expanding specialist spaces inside mainstream classrooms and delivering a new Department for Education-backed special school to increase local capacity. Cabinet members were told the council could not delay the funding decision because special educational needs costs place massive pressure on overall council finances. The government has now approved the council's SEND reform plan, which will wipe out millions of pounds in debt created by the dedicated schools grant.

Read the report

• Council recommended to approve 1.5m per year to provide SEND support in schoolsBCP Council is to be asked to approve £1.5million per year in funding to support earlier intervention, inclusion, and prevention across local schoolsBournemouth Echo · 9 Oct, 00:00

In this story: BCP Council · Department for Education · Bournemouth

This summary was written by AI from the headlines and standfirsts above, and states as fact only what at least two outlets report. How we use AI · Report a problem