Dedicated Schools Grant consultation: Mainstream schools document 2025

Executive summary

Norfolk is undergoing significant reform of its Alternative Provision (AP) system as part of the Local First Inclusion strategy, aligning with a national model that prioritises early support, time-limited placements, and the principle that AP should be a temporary intervention rather than a permanent solution for children. This transformation is underpinned by strong partnerships and collective responsibility among all stakeholders, aiming to use AP as an outcomes-based intervention to successfully reintegrate children into mainstream schools.

Substantial financial investment has been made to expand AP, particularly through primary and secondary Specialist Resource Bases (SRBs), pupil planning meetings, and enhanced outreach for pupils at risk of exclusion. However, a growing number of children are absent from school primarily due to physical or mental health needs. In response, the Local Authority (LA) is redesigning its "Medical Needs" service, involving schools and partners in developing new identification, assessment, and support approaches, especially as youth anxiety now accounts for most medical needs AP cases. A key aim is for the child's home school to remain central to their education and support, promoting a sense of belonging and responsibility to aid reintegration.

Currently, children absent due to medical needs and educated mainly through AP are funded via the High Needs Block, but their funding also remains with their home school, resulting in double funding. This differs from arrangements for other areas such as SRBs, or exclusions, and undermines the shared accountability for outcomes for these children. The rising demand for medical needs AP has significantly increased costs, leading the local authority to seek a fairer funding model where schools contribute to the cost of AP services they use.

Although technical solutions involving census changes were considered, complexities with Department for Education guidance led the authority to propose a more straightforward approach. The new proposal suggests schools make a pro-rata contribution to the cost of AP for medical needs, similar to existing SRB arrangements. This would be calculated based on the duration of AP used, ending when the child returns to school. If a pupil changes schools during AP, the original school would remain responsible for contributions for the rest of the financial year, and any additional high needs funding would be paused during the AP placement.

It is proposed that these arrangements would apply when the local authority arranges the majority (over 50%) of a child's education through medical needs AP. For hybrid arrangements where less than 50% is provided by the authority, no contribution would be required from the school. The plan does not prevent schools from making their own arrangements using their existing funding for children who are too unwell to attend, provided these are suitable and meet the child's needs.

11.1. Context

As part of Local First Inclusion, Norfolk is undergoing a radical transformation of its Alternative Provision (AP) system, reflecting the national three-tiered model of delivery: early support and outreach, time-limited and transitional placements and the central principle that Alternative Provision should be an intervention, not a destination, for children. Central to this strategy is the key tenet of strong partnership, collaboration and collective responsibility of all parts of the system which facilitates the best use of AP as a outcomes-based intervention for children and restores them successfully back into school.

Norfolk continues to invest heavily in the transformation of AP in both revenue and capital terms, through the introduction and expansion of Tier 2 time-limited placements through its primary and secondary Specialist Resource Base (SRB) programme, Local Pupil Planning meetings and enhanced outreach support for children at risk of exclusion. However, there is an equally important group of children whose "exclusion" from school is centred upon their physical or mental health needs, which act as their primary barrier to education.

As part of the overarching AP transformation strategy, a fundamental redesign of the local authority's "Medical Needs" service is also underway. A series of partnership workshops are planned for the autumn term to co-produce a new approach to the identification, assessment, support and alternative provision offer for children who are too unwell to attend school. These include key representatives from schools.  This redesign explicitly seeks to respond to the increasing social phenomenon of youth anxiety that now comprises most children in receipt of AP under Medical Needs.

Critical to this is ensuring that the system retains the child's home school as the central stakeholder in the AP Medical Needs offer and supports a continued sense of responsibility and belonging to, and for, children by their home school, with the ultimate aim of their successful reintegration.

11.2 Current arrangements

To date, children enrolled in schools who are absent due to medical needs and are receiving education either wholly or mainly through local authority (LA), arranged alternative provision under S19 Education Act, are funded by the High Needs Block.  However, they remain part of the school census, with their funding remaining in their school's budget.

Currently, even where children receive their full education provision through the medical needs AP offer, schools retain the full funding for the child, including pupil led factors. There is currently no contribution from schools to the cost of their alternative provision, meaning that the child's education is, in effect, being funded twice: once from the school's budget and, again, from the high needs block. This is contrary to other areas of spend, such as sessional Specialist Resource Bases or following a permanent exclusion. It also undermines one of the critical aims of the redesign of the Medical Needs AP offer by negating the collective, moral ownership of children between the LA and schools in ensuring the AP arranged for children is outcomes based and facilitates their return to school.

Additionally, the significant rise in demand for AP for children who cannot attend school due to illness / medical needs is resulting in further cost pressures to the High Needs Block for the provision itself, as well as to ensure the appropriate infrastructure inside the LA (Norfolk County Council) for coordination, oversight, procurement and commissioning. For context:

• Prior to the first COVID pandemic lockdown, the cost of medical needs alternative provision was £0.654m.
• The outturn in 2024-25 was £2.06m.

In addition to promoting collective responsibility for children, we also consider that a contribution towards the cost of AP for children under Medical Needs reflects a fairer approach to funding by locating contributions with those schools making use of the Medical Needs AP service.

11.3. Department for Education (DfE) guidance

As reflected in minutes from Norfolk's Schools Forum, the Local Authority initially identified that assigning children who receive LA arranged Medical Needs Alternative Provision to the annual AP census would provide the technical means to consider attribution of funding and was originally planned to be the basis of the consultation.

The is because the AP Census Guidance 2025 states:

"Some pupils may legitimately appear on the AP census and the school's census. For example, where their main source of education could be in an AP setting listed above, but they could also be registered at a maintained school or academy that has not arranged the AP.

"In this case, the local authority is taking responsibility for the pupil's education and to reflect this, the pupil will be recorded on the AP census. The pupil is, however, registered at the school and so to avoid double counting, such pupils should also be recorded at the mainstream school or PRU* (including AP academy or AP free school) as having a registration status of 'S' - current subsidiary (dual registration). The pupil will be funded through the dedicated schools grant by way of the high needs block and not the school census registration."

*PRU = Pupil Referral Unit

However, the LA has identified inconsistencies upon further research into the relevant associated DfE guidance relating to the School Census, pupil admissions register coding and use of the D (dual registered) code.  Therefore, the LA considers it would render this means of managing arrangements, and upon which to consult upon, too technically complex, confusing and possibly contradictory.  Accordingly, the LA has identified a simpler option to consult upon that is aligned with other contributions that schools make for other areas of spend.

Therefore, the LA is consulting upon the application of a contribution from schools to the cost of delivering alternative provision under its medical needs offer. This provides simplicity and also reflects the guidance set out in the DfE Statutory guidance: Arranging education for children who cannot attend school because of health needs which states.

"Alternative provision for children with medical needs is funded from local authorities' high needs budgets. However, where a child remains on the roll of their home school but requires a period of time in alternative provision due to their health needs, the local authority and home school may wish to consider the transfer of a portion of the school's funding associated with that child to the alternative provision. This would ensure that the funding follows the child. This arrangement would cease when the child is reintegrated back to their home school or are no longer on the roll of the home school."

11.4. Proposal

The LA proposes to apply a school's contribution to the cost of a child's Alternative Provision for medical needs, replicating that which is in place for sessional SRBs, namely:

• Basis of Contribution: The contribution would be a pro-rata amount of the Basic Per Pupil Element (BPPE) funding, applied for the duration of the time the pupil is in AP to the nearest term.
• Pro-Rata Calculation: The amount charged would be calculated proportionally based on the length of time alternative provision is in place. Contributions would end at the point the child reintegrated back to school and the AP was no longer required.
• Change of School: If the child's home school changes during a placement, the initial home school continues to be responsible for the contribution for the rest of the financial year.
• Element 3: As with any change of provision within a school, the school's Graduated Provision Map should be amended reflecting any reduction in provision whilst the child is placed in AP, and this may impact upon Element 3 funding in accordance with published Element 3 guidance.
• Hybrid arrangements: The LA proposes that such a charge would apply where the LA is arranging all or the majority of a child's education through its Medical Needs alternative provision offer. Recognising that a child with medical needs may also have hybrid arrangements (i.e. be attending school for part of their education when they are able and receiving medical needs provision for part of the week), the LA proposes that a charge would apply where the LA is arranging more than 50% of the child's overall education. Where the LA is arranging AP for less than 50% of a child's overall education provision, a contribution from the school will not be applied.

Finally, the LA recognises that schools also make their own arrangements for children who are too ill to attend school and the LA does not need to make arrangements under its Section 19 duties where such arrangements are suitable for children.  This proposal is not intended to prevent schools from making their own arrangements directly for children on their roll, utilising the pupil's core funding, pupil led factors and SEND funding.

 
This concludes the consultation for all academies; the following pages apply to maintained schools only.