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<p>The department makes available funding for special educational needs and disability
(SEND) provision though the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) to local authorities. Within
the DSG, the majority of funding is for mainstream schools. When allocating funding
to mainstream schools, local authorities indicate a notional amount that is for pupils
with special educational needs, but schools decide how much of their overall budgets
to spend supporting those pupils. The department does not collect that information
from schools.</p><p>The DSG also includes high needs funding for children and young
people with more complex SEND. Local authorities use their high needs budgets to provide
additional funding to mainstream schools, for these pupils, and to fund special schools.</p><p>Table
1 below shows the amounts of high needs funding the department has made available
to local authorities. This table goes back to the 2015/16 financial year. Figures
for earlier years are either not comparable or not available because of the way that
the DSG was allocated prior to 2015/16.</p><p>Table 1</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial
year</p></td><td><p>Total high needs block funding (£ million)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015-16</p></td><td><p>5,247</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016-17</p></td><td><p>5,300</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017-18</p></td><td><p>5,827</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018-19</p></td><td><p>6,115</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019-20</p></td><td><p>6,279</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020-21</p></td><td><p>7,063</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021-22</p></td><td><p>7,906</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2022-23
(Provisional, including supplementary funding)</p></td><td><p>8,981</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>Of
the above amounts of high needs funding, local authorities have told us how much they
have made available to mainstream schools and special schools in budget statements
provided to the department under section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children
and Learning Act 2009. These amounts are set out in table 2 below. Table 2 does not
include high needs funding that local authorities have made available for under 5
year olds, and for young people in further education and alternative provision: these
categories of planned expenditure are included in the amounts in table 1.</p><p>Table
2</p><table><tbody><tr><td><p>Financial year</p></td><td><p>Mainstream primary and
secondary schools (£ million)</p></td><td><p>Special schools (£ million)</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2015/16</p></td><td><p>1,254</p></td><td><p>2,912</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2016/17</p></td><td><p>1,308</p></td><td><p>2,978</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2017/18</p></td><td><p>1,348</p></td><td><p>3,126</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2018/19</p></td><td><p>1,443</p></td><td><p>3,448</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2019/20</p></td><td><p>1,483</p></td><td><p>3,788</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2020/21</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td><td><p>N/A</p></td></tr><tr><td><p>2021/22</p></td><td><p>2,063</p></td><td><p>4,517</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>
</p><p>Due to some categories of expenditure changed from year to year, the amounts
in the table above are not on a precise like-for-like basis. In view of the COVID-19
pandemic, the department did not collect this information from local authorities in
the 2020/21 financial year.</p><p> </p><p>Local authorities have not yet advised the
department of their planned high needs expenditure in the 2022/23 financial year.
Neither the department nor local authorities have yet budgeted for high needs spending
in the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.</p><p> </p>
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