Alliance calls for greater clarity on funding for SEN support in the early years

12th June 2014

Commenting on the revised draft SEND Code of Practice, published yesterday, Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, said:

“We welcome the fact that the revised guidance makes a clearer distinction between the duties of maintained providers and those of private, voluntary, independent providers - an issue we previously raised in our response to the government consultation on the Code of Practice.

"However, we remain deeply concerned about the lack of detail on funding for early years SEN support. Simply stating that local authorities should ensure that funding arrangements ‘reflect the need to provide suitable support’ for children with SEN is insufficient. The government must provide detailed, comprehensive guidance for both local authorities and early years providers to ensure that there is absolute clarity on what SEN funding support should be available to providers, and how this can be accessed.

"Early years providers do not receive a notional SEN budget and are expected to meet the additional needs of most children with SEN using their core budget, at a time when overall early years funding remains inadequate. Additionally, there remains a lack of clarity about the circumstances under which providers would not need to use this budget and what top-up funding they would be able to apply for.

"It is vital that the government addresses the confusion around funding arrangements before the Code progresses any further, otherwise providers will struggle to provide the high-quality care and education that children with SEN both need and deserve."

For further information, please .

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Notes for editors

  1. The
  2. The Pre-school Learning Alliance is the largest voluntary sector provider of quality affordable childcare and education in England.
  3. Through direct provision and its membership of 14,000 nurseries, sessional pre-schools and parent and toddler groups, the Alliance supports over 800,000 children and their families in England. The Alliance also develops and runs family learning programmes, offers information and advice, runs acclaimed training and accreditation programmes and campaigns to influence early years policy and practice.
  4. For information about the Pre-school Learning Alliance, visit our website:

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