Funding rules monitored: 31 official sources · awaiting first verified checkFunding Intelligence →
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Scenario

A high needs student starts before the top-up is agreed

A student with significant needs starts in September. The local authority top-up has not been agreed by December.

Funding year2026–27Awaiting verificationSee the sourcesReport an issue

The situation

Stream
High needs
Student
Started in September with substantial support in place
Top-up
Not yet agreed with the home local authority

Constructed for teaching. No scenario in the Academy contains real learner data, and none ever will.

What should be happening?

The rules behind this

Official requirement

Learning support funding requires a documented chain: an assessed need, the support actually provided, the cost of providing it, and the claim made. A claim without the chain is not defensible.

Recommended good practice

Evidence is strongest when it is created at the time of the event it describes and is retrievable without reconstruction. Evidence assembled after a query is asked is weaker and takes longer to produce.

Sources

These are the official documents this page rests on. Where a figure, a deadline or an exact rule matters, the document is the authority and this page is the explanation.

Adult Skills Fund funding and performance management rules 2026 to 2027 (opens in a new tab)

GOV.UKOfficial funding document2026–27Awaiting first verification

Apprenticeship funding rules and assessment plan guidance 2026 to 2027 (opens in a new tab)

GOV.UKOfficial funding document2026–27Awaiting first verification

Content reused from GOV.UK is Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence. FEFunding is not endorsed by the Department for Education.