Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to provide (a) funding and (b) resources for local authorities for the provision of comprehensive post-16 education options for students with EHCPs.

The department is committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes.

Following the Autumn Budget 2024, the department is providing an increase of £1 billion for high needs budgets in England in the 2025/26 financial year, bringing total high needs funding for young people with complex SEND to £11.9 billion. High needs funding helps local authorities with the ongoing costs of post-16 education provision for students with education, health and care (EHC) plans.

Local authorities must publish a local offer of services and provision for children and young people with SEND and keep it under review, including the sufficiency of provision. This must be co-produced with parents, young people and a wide range of education providers, both within and beyond the local authority area. The local offer must include provision within the local authority’s area alongside provision outside the local area that the local authority expects is likely to be used by children and young people with SEND for whom they are responsible.

Local authorities’ duties include securing enough suitable education and training provision to meet the reasonable needs of all young people in their area who are over compulsory school age but under 19, or aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. This is a duty under section 15ZA of the Education Act 1996. To fulfil this, local authorities should have a strategic overview of the provision available in their area and identify and resolve gaps in provision.

If a local authority places students at a special post-16 institution (SPI) and would like the SPI to be considered for Education and Skills Funding Agency funding, the department will take the SPI through the due diligence process and award a funding agreement if successful.