Budgeted expenditure on Special Educational Needs provision: April 2023 to March 2024

Main points

• Total expenditure on SEN provision in schools by local authorities is budgeted to be £549 million, an increase of £55.6 million or 11.3% compared with the previous year.
• 28% of the total budgeted SEN expenditure is delegated to special schools.  Notional allocations within nursery, primary, middle and secondary schools account for a further 42% of the total.  The remaining 30% is non-delegated money held centrally by local authorities.
• Wrexham delegate the largest proportion of their SEN budget to their schools at 82%, whilst Merthyr Tydfil delegate the smallest proportion at 50%.
• Total SEN expenditure per pupil for Wales is budgeted to be £1,204.  This consists of £843 delegated expenditure per pupil and £361 non-delegated expenditure per pupil.
• Merthyr Tydfil has the largest SEN budget per pupil at £1,629, whilst Monmouthshire has the smallest SEN budget per pupil at £885.