Nursery World - Early years missing SEN cash

Funds to extend special educational needs advice and support to early years settings should be provided by the Government to local education authorities in England, the Audit Commission said last week in a critical report on SEN provision. According to the report, Special Educational Needs: A mainstream issue, arrangements for funding additional provision to meet children's SEN in the sector remain 'incoherent and piecemeal', and far behind those available to school-age children. The report stressed the importance of early intervention and found that in spite of a plethora of local initiatives it has yet to become the norm.

According to the report, Special Educational Needs: A mainstream issue, arrangements for funding additional provision to meet children's SEN in the sector remain 'incoherent and piecemeal', and far behind those available to school-age children. The report stressed the importance of early intervention and found that in spite of a plethora of local initiatives it has yet to become the norm.

Early years partnerships had identified 'a pot' from which providers could bid for funds to help individual children, 'but success depended on knowing about the pot, putting together an effective bid and, crucially, the availability of funds,' the report said.

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