Funded Inclusion Plan
It is important to remember that an EHC plan is only necessary for children and young people with more complex and enduring needs.
All schools and colleges have a delegated level of funding which can meet a child’s learning needs up to a level of £6,000 p.a. Additional support, or ‘top-up funding’, can be requested by schools, with parental agreement, after schools have demonstrated that they have used all the resources available to them and a ‘top-up’ is necessary to fully support the child’s needs effectively.
In Bromley, a process called a Funded Inclusion Plan is used in order to deliver this support in a person-centred way.
What is a Funded Inclusion Plan (FIP)?
This is an agreement between the council, school and parents where the level of support in school for the pupil requires ‘top-up’ funding above £6,000 per year. This enables individual pupils’ learning needs to be met in a timely, targeted way, over the course of three terms.
The FIP reflects Bromley's aim to promote early intervention through working together with families, children and young people with less complex needs.
A FIP is a non-statutory agreement, and parents do not have the same statutory rights that an EHC Plan brings, such as, parents or carers would not be able to express a preference for a school for their child, appeal decisions through the first-tier tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), or to request a personal budget.
Moving to an EHC needs assessment
It is important to ensure that all support – including high quality teaching strategies, reasonable adjustments and FIP-funded SEN Support level provision – is robustly reviewed for impact during termly cycles of Assess-Plan-Do-Review. This work is a key part of the graduated approach to identifying needs, over time.
Before an EHC needs assessment request is submitted, it is essential to ensure that there is evidence to prove that these forms of support are not working in addressing the pupil’s individual support needs.