The Local Authority has a duty to produce an Accessibility Strategy which should outline how the LA intends to improve disabled access to those schools for which it is responsible and increase the extent to which disabled pupils are able to take advantage of education and the associated services provided by those schools. The Accessibility Strategy and a Blank example Access Plan Template for use by schools can be found in the Downloads section on the right hand side of this webpage.
In April 2021, the Government committed £280 million of capital funding nationally (2021-2022) to support local authorities to create new places and improve existing provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or who require alternative provision (AP) via the High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA). This is in addition to the total of £365 million of SEND Special Provision capital funding nationally (2018-2020) to help local authorities create new school places and improve existing facilities for children and young people with SEN and disabilities, in consultation with parents and providers.
The High Needs Provision Capital Allocations (HNPCA) (2021-2022) for Torbay is £530,150. The funding is intended to address the need for places for academic year 2022/23 but it is not time-bound, and is up to the local authority to determine how to best use this funding, in line with national guidence, to meet local priorities.
The SEND Special Provision allocation for Torbay (2018-2020) was a total of £848,837, which was split into 3 equal payments for each of the years 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. (£500,000 initially allocated plus £116,279 allocated in May 2018 and £232,558 allocated in December 2018).
This funding was:
- intended for the children and young people with education, health and care (EHC) plans for whom the local authority is responsible.
- to support local authorities to invest in provision for children and young people with SEN and disabilities aged 0-25 to improve the quality and range of provision available to the local authority.
Please see our SEN Capital Funding webpage for more information about how these additional funds are being used.
Torbay aspires to create a well-planned continuum of provision from birth to age 25 that meets the needs of children and young people with Special Educational needs and Disabilities (SEND) and their families as set out in our SEND Strategy.