Alliance launches survey on SEND funding
By Rachel Lawler
The Alliance has launched a on the impact of early years funding rates on SEND provision.
The survey hopes to gather views from early years practitioners on whether current funding levels 鈥 both for general early years provision and additional SEND-specific funding 鈥 is sufficient for children with SEND.
The survey also seeks to identify any particular challenges facing practitioners in this area.
The survey launched today and will run until midnight on Friday 14 February.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Alliance, commented: 鈥淲e know that early years providers deliver excellent care to young children with special educational needs and disabilities day-in and day-out, but the growing funding crisis has meant that doing so in a sustainable way is becoming near-impossible.
鈥淓very child, without exception, deserves to have the best possible start in life 鈥 but early years providers must receive the financial support they need to ensure that this is the case.
鈥淭his is an area that has been overlooked for far too long, and so we hope that our survey will help shine a light on the key challenges facing practitioners, and what can be done to ensure that children with SEND and their families are able to access the care and support that they need.
鈥淲ith the upcoming Budget and Spending Review, now is a key opportunity to make a strong argument to the government that more investment into both the early years, and SEND provision in particular, is needed. As such, we hope that as many practitioners as possible will respond to the survey and make their voices heard.鈥