Notional SEN budget

Also called Element 2, The first £6,000

The part of a school's budget notionally for SEND. The reason schools say they must fund the first £6,000.

What it is

Mainstream schools receive a notional SEN budget as part of their overall funding. It is notional — it is not ring-fenced and does not arrive as a separate payment — and schools are expected to use it to meet the additional needs of pupils with SEND.

School funding for a pupil with high needs is described in three elements: element 1 is the core per-pupil funding, element 2 is the notional SEN budget of up to £6,000 per pupil, and element 3 is top-up funding from the council for pupils needing more.

Where it applies

All mainstream schools. The £6,000 figure is a national planning assumption for the threshold at which top-up funding begins.

How it works

A school is expected to provide up to £6,000 of additional support per pupil from its own budget before the council's top-up applies. Above that, the council pays through element 3, usually attached to an EHCP.

"We have not got the funding" is therefore an incomplete answer: for support up to that threshold, the funding is already in the school's budget.

The school's duty to use its best endeavours to meet SEN, and the council's absolute duty to secure Section F provision, are legal duties that do not turn on whether a particular budget line exists.

What you can ask for

Ask how the notional SEN budget is being used for your child. The school does not have to account for it pupil by pupil, but the question changes the conversation.

If the school says it cannot afford the support, ask whether it has applied for top-up funding or an EHC needs assessment. Those are the mechanisms for exactly this.

If provision is in an EHCP and is not happening, write to the council. Funding is not a defence to the section 42 duty.

Where to get help

IPSEA on the funding-versus-duty point, which they set out clearly. The school's business manager for how its budget works.