School SEN Budget Explained: How the Notional SEN Budget Actually Works

When schools tell you they "don't have the budget" to provide more support for your child, they are sometimes telling the truth — and sometimes deflecting. Understanding how school SEN funding actually works in England helps you tell the difference, and means you know exactly when the local authority is legally required to step in.

The funding structure for SEN in England is often cited as a barrier but rarely explained clearly. Here is how it actually works.

The Notional SEN Budget

Every school in England receives what is called a "notional SEN budget." This is not a separate ring-fenced pot of money — it is a sum calculated within the school's overall funding allocation, intended to represent what the school should use to fund SEN support for its pupils.

The notional SEN budget is calculated using the local authority's funding formula, typically drawing on factors like deprivation indicators and pupil numbers. Schools have discretion over how they deploy the money — it is not tracked to individual pupils at LA level. This means a school with a large notional SEN budget might choose to spend it on general classroom resources, not on individual support.

This is one reason why the quality of SEN support varies so dramatically between schools in the same local authority. The funding is there, in theory. How it is spent is largely within the school's control.

The £6,000 Threshold

The SEND Code of Practice establishes a specific threshold: the first £6,000 of additional provision for any individual pupil is the school's responsibility to fund from its own budget. This is not a maximum — it is the amount the school must spend before they can request local authority top-up funding.

What "£6,000 of provision" looks like in practice:

• A teaching assistant at roughly 20 hours per week costs approximately £8,000–£10,000 per year, so even partial TA support quickly approaches or exceeds this threshold
• Specialist literacy intervention programmes (materials, staff training, delivery time) add further costs
• Any commissioned external services (SALT assessments, educational psychology) come from the school's budget unless the child has an EHCP

In high-need cases, the school can quickly be spending significantly more than £6,000 on a single pupil — and without an EHCP, they have no mechanism to recover those additional costs from the local authority.

What Happens Above £6,000

When a child's needs require provision costing more than £6,000 per year, the school can seek "top-up" funding from the local authority. But this is only possible if the child has an EHCP.

Without an EHCP, the school is expected to fund all provision from within its own budget, regardless of cost. This creates a perverse incentive: schools that are spending heavily on SEN support without an EHCP have reason to either reduce the support or seek an EHCP — but they may resist the EHCP process because they fear it will attract Ofsted scrutiny or signal to the local authority that they are struggling.

For parents, this means that when a school says "we can't do more without additional funding," the answer is often: request an EHCP, which is the only mechanism to unlock that funding.

Local Authority Top-Up Funding

When a child has an EHCP and requires provision that costs more than the school's element, the local authority provides what is called "element 3" or top-up funding. This is the money above the £6,000 threshold that the local authority must provide to ensure the EHCP is delivered.

Top-up funding can cover:

• Additional TA hours beyond what the school budget can sustain
• Commissioned specialist services (SALT, OT, specialist teacher support)
• Specialist equipment
• Transport to a named school

The local authority determines the level of top-up funding, and disagreements about how much is needed are common. If the amount of top-up funding specified in the EHCP is insufficient to deliver Section F provision, the provision is still legally required — the LA cannot use underfunding as an excuse for non-delivery.

High Needs Block and the System Under Strain

Local authority SEN funding comes primarily from the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). This is a nationally distributed pot of money that local authorities receive to fund EHCPs, specialist provision, and specialist schools.

The High Needs Block is under severe strain. The number of children with EHCPs has grown by 83.4% since 2016, but the funding has not kept pace. Many local authorities are in deficit on their DSG — some significantly so — and this financial pressure directly affects how quickly they process EHCPs, how generously they fund provision, and how resistant they are to conceding to parental requests.

Understanding this context explains why local authorities sometimes behave in ways that appear obstructive. They are managing a genuine financial crisis while also having legal duties they cannot legally reduce.

What This Means for You as a Parent

The funding mechanics matter because they determine your leverage at different points in the process:

At SEN support stage: The school is responsible for funding all provision. If they say they cannot afford to do more, you can point to the notional SEN budget and ask how much of it is being spent on your child's provision. You can also ask whether they have considered requesting an EHCP, which would unlock additional funding.

When requesting an EHCP: The £6,000 threshold is evidence. If the school is spending significantly more than £6,000 on your child's support and the child is still not making adequate progress, this is a compelling argument that EHCP-level support is necessary.

When reviewing an EHCP: If the local authority attempts to reduce the top-up funding at an annual review while the child still needs the provision, this is a legal decision you can challenge — through the review process and, if necessary, through tribunal appeal.

The England EHCP & SEN Blueprint at /uk/england/iep-guide includes a provision mapping audit that helps you calculate what the school is actually spending on your child's SEN support — useful evidence both for EHCP requests and for annual review challenges.

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