Local authorities must ensure there are sufficient good school places for all pupils, including those with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and disabilities.

In April 2021, the Government committed £280 million of capital funding nationally (2021-2022) to support local authorities to create new places and improve existing provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision (AP) via the High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA). This is in addition to the total of £365 million of SEND Special Provision capital funding nationally (2018-2020) to help local authorities create new school places and improve existing facilities for children and young people with SEN and disabilities, in consultation with parents and providers.

The High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) (2021-2022) for Torbay is £530,150. The funding is intended to address the need for places for academic year 2022/23 but it is not time-bound, and is up to the local authority to determine how to best use this funding, in line with national guidence, to meet local priorities.

The Local Authority has been allocated an additional £2,670,554 for 2022 – 2024 and work is currently underway to identify the need and scope of potential projects.  It has been agreed, as in previous years that a portion of the funding be utilised to give schools the opportunity to think creatively as to what could be done to support the children and young people to access provisions locally and help us to relieve some of the pressures on the High Needs Block, by meeting needs without recourse to Out of Area placements.

The SEND Special Provision allocation for Torbay (2018-2020) was a total of £848,837, which was split into 3 equal payments for each of the years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. (£500,000 initially allocated plus £116,279 allocated in May 2018 and £232,558 allocated in December 2018).  

This funding was:

• intended for the children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans for whom the local authority is responsible.
• to support local authorities to invest in provision for children and young people with SEN and disabilities aged 0-25 to improve the quality and range of provision available to the local authority.
• Torbay aspires to create a well-planned continuum of provision from birth to age 25 that meets the needs of children and young people with Special Educational needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families as set out in our SEND Strategy.