MP questions Minister over Devon SEND funding

A Devon MP is calling on the government to correct what she calls a ‘completely unfair’ system.

During an education committee session South Devon Liberal Democrat MP Caroline Voaden called on the minister for school standards, Catherine McKinnell, to address the problem of ‘significant disparities’ in the national funding formula which governs how much schools receive for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). In Devon, she is reported as saying that a child who receives  high needs funding will get £1,245, compared to £3,565 for a child with the same needs in the London borough of Camden. She then said: “Effectively, that child is worth three times less in Devon than in Camden,”. She went on to say: “I spoke to a head teacher who had moved from London to Devon, who was absolutely horrified at the level of support she could provide to the children with SEND in her classes – things like speech and language therapies and educational psychologists. She said in Camden she could just bring it all in because she had the money, and she just doesn’t have it in Devon. It’s completely unfair.”

Mrs Voaden asked the minister what steps were being taken to reform the funding framework and fix the problem. Ms McKinnell, said it would take time to make the changes. Work was ongoing but would need to be done in a gradual way.