Allocation of Higher Needs Provision Capital Allocation 2025/26

That the total
allocation of £365,000 from the Local Authority’s
Higher Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNCPA) be approved for
the implementation of the projects at Brixham College and Brunel
Academy to support the implementation of the Children’s
Services Torbay Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)
Locality Programme through the funding of the projects outlined in
Appendix 1.

·                    
The Local Authority (LA) has a balance of £2.6m uncommitted
in its HNCPA allocation.

·                    
The Education Act 1996 sets out a statutory duty on LAs to secure
sufficient school places, which they must do with regard to securing special educational
provision for children and young people with special educational
needs and disabilities (SEND) as well as those requiring
Alternative Provision (AP).

·                    
The Children and Families Act 2014 places important statutory
responsibilities on LAs for supporting children and young people
with SEND, including keeping the sufficiency of educational
provision for them under review.

·                    
To meet the capital costs associated with the provision of new
places or improvement of existing provision for:

·                    
Children and young people with complex needs, who have Education,
Health and Care plans (EHCPs), and where appropriate other children
and young people with SEND who do not have an EHCP.

·                    
Pupils who require alternative provision (including children in AP
settings without an EHCP).

·                    
To mitigate against the ongoing costs and the needs of children and
young people with EHCPs, SEND or requiring Alternative
Provision.

Not proceeding –
the LA has a statutory duty as the responsible body to secure
sufficient school places, which they must do with regard to
securing special educational provision for children and young
people with SEND as well as those requiring Alternative
Provision.

There is not an option
to spend this funding on any other Council priorities; the funding
is ring fenced specially for developing SEND provision.  If the funding is not utilised by the LA or is
spent in a manner that does not meet the terms and conditions of
the allocation, it would be clawed back by central Government.

Approval to allocate
£165,000 capital funding to Brixham College and
£200,000 to Brunel Academy to implement capital projects that
support the implementation of Children’s Services Torbay SEND
Locality Programme for Torbay Council.

The Council has
received Higher Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNCPA)
directly from central government specifically for special
educational provision within Torbay.

HNPCA is allocated to
Local Authorities (LAs) proportionally, based on the estimated
share of future growth in the children and young people in each LA
who may require High Needs provision as a percentage of the
national total.