Agenda item

Jane Seymour introduced the report (Agenda Item 14), which aimed to provide information on the implementation of the banding system for funding children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) who attended PRUs. The banding system was agreed by the Schools’ Forum in November 2018 and there were different bands for the different levels of need. 

Jane Seymour drew attention to the figures under section 4.7 which set out that the banding system had been applied to children with EHCPs in the PRUs and would cost approximately £502,760 in the 2019-20 financial year. It was estimated that the costs would be approximately £578,230 in the 2020-21 financial year due to increasing numbers of children with EHCPs in PRUs. This represented a pressure of £246,830. However, PRU placements for children with EHCPs were more cost effective than non-maintained and independent special school placements.

Jane Seymour explained that the banding system was applied retrospectively to pupils who had attended the PRUs from April 2018 and since that time 34 pupils with EHCPs had been placed at iCollege (some only on the temporary basis).

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.