Additional ‘top up’ funding for children and young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan
What is top-up funding?
When pupils have special educational needs, their school (or college) uses their existing budgets to put in place any extra help that is needed which isn’t already available through a central service. When the cost of extra help reaches £6,000 a year for any individual pupil, additional funding can be made available by the Council to help make sure that all the support needed can be put in place. This extra funding is known as ‘top up’.
For pupils who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), top up funding is allocated by the local authority where the pupil lives even if they attend a school or college in a different area.
How will the amount of top-up funding be calculated?
The amount of top up funding is based on the pupil’s special educational needs and the level of support required to achieve the outcomes in section F of their EHCP, when the support is not provided through a centrally commissioned service.
In the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, we are introducing an Education Banding Tool (EBT) to help us to allocate top up funding in a fair and consistent way. This was historically known as a resource allocation system (RAS).
The EBT will be introduced over a three year period from 27th January 2020 for all new EHCPs and for existing EHCPs that are amended.
