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<p>When the high needs funding block of the dedicated schools grant (DSG) was created
in financial year 2013-14, it included the extension to age 25. The expected additional
cost to local authorities was considered by:</p><ul><li>Moving all funds previously
allocated to supporting young people aged 16-25 with high needs through the previous
funding system, into the high needs block of the DSG; and</li><li>Increasing the high
needs block further to reflect the likely increase in numbers of young people requiring
high needs funding.</li></ul><p>£272 million was added to the DSG in the financial
year 2013-14, and £390 million in the financial year 2014-15, to take account of the
extended age range to 25 covered by the DSG. The difference between the two years
is mainly because some of the changes post-16 started in August 2013 rather than at
the start of the financial year in April 2013.</p><p>These increases in the 2013-14
and 2014-15 financial years were consolidated into the funding baseline that informed
the 2015 Spending Review settlement reached between the department and HM Treasury.
Local authorities’ increased spending, including on 16-25-year-olds, was also considered
in subsequent baselines used for allocations of high needs funding through the DSG,
and for informing overall Spending Review settlements.</p><p>The autumn 2021 Spending
Review delivers an additional £4.7 billion for the core schools' budget by financial
year 2024-25. This settlement includes an additional £1.6 billion for schools and
high needs in the financial year 2022-23, on top of the funding we announced in the
summer of 2021, following the previous Spending Review. We will confirm in due course
how this additional funding for the financial year 2022-23, and the two subsequent
years, will be allocated for schools and high needs.</p><p>In 2017 the department
produced guidance for local authorities about education, health and care (EHC) plans
for 19 to 25-year-olds with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This
non-statutory guidance is primarily for local authorities. It aims to support them
in making fair and consistent decisions about when they should maintain an EHC plan
beyond the age of 19 or issue an EHC plan to a young person aged 19 or over, in line
with their duties under the Children and Families Act 2014, and as described in the
SEND Code of Practice.</p>
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