Schools: Special Educational Needs
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what information her Department holds on the amount spent by local authorities on (a) independent, and (b) non-maintained special schools in each year since 2020.
Answered by Olivia Bailey
The table below sets out the information on actual expenditure by local authorities for the financial years from 2020/21 to 2024/25. From the information supplied by local authorities, it is not possible to differentiate between the total amounts spent on independent special schools and the total amounts spent on non-maintained special schools.
Financial Year | Direct spending by local authorities on independent and non-maintained special schools (NMSS) (£000s) | NMSS place funding at £10,000 (£000s) | Total (£000s) | Cost per pupil with an education, health and care (EHC) plan (£) |
2024/25 | £2,137,630 | £43,810 | £2,181,440 | £64,000 |
2023/24 | £1,828,135 | £41,790 | £1,869,925 | £63,000 |
2022/23 | £1,551,030 | £42,210 | £1,593,240 | £62,000 |
2021/22 | £1,343,528 | £40,880 | £1,384,408 | £57,000 |
2020/21 | £1,133,670 | £39,070 | £1,172,740 | £54,000 |
Notes:
- 2023/24 excludes direct spending by Cumberland and by Westmorland and Furness Counsels as these local authorities did not submit outturn data for 2023/24.
- The NMSS place funding at £10,000 per place includes a £6,000 per place cost to local authorities through the deductions from their high needs' allocations. The rest is funded centrally by the department.
- The EHC plan numbers for each year come from the SEN2 data collection.
- These figures have been rounded to the nearest £1,000.
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