Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)
Government data released in 2023 identified over 1.5 million pupils in England as having Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The Children’s Commissioner’s 2023 survey found that children with SEND are more likely than other children to say they often or always felt lonely. They often have to wait a long time to get the help they need and sometimes not until they have reached crisis. Accessibility is another key barrier; very often playgrounds, toilets, public transport or leisure activities are not designed with the needs of disabled children in mind. They do not always get the help they need at school and pupils with SEND have suspension rates four times higher than pupils with no SEND.
We want to hear from charities who are working with children with SEND, and examples of services and interventions may include: practical/life skills; supportive education, volunteering and work opportunities; assistive technology etc.
We are looking for charities whose support for children with SEND will:
- Increase their social inclusion;
- Increase their independence and connections to their local community;
- Improve their access to early intervention services and therapies, for diagnosed, suspected conditions and pre diagnosis;
- Ensure their parents/carers are better able to cope in their caring role and meet their child’s needs;
- Enable their parents/carers to be better informed of their child’s options and rights, and the services available to them.
As part of our commitment to being an evidence-led funder we will consider funding the evaluation costs of projects, particularly when it is a new project and the charity will then be able to use the evaluation to support its future funding proposition.
Grant programmes
SMALL GRANT
These grants are for smaller charities whose annual income is between £25,000 and £500,000.
Small grants are unrestricted and do not have to be used on a specific purpose, although we do ask grant recipients to report on how they used the funding.
Small grants range from £1,000 – £5,000 per year, for up to three years.
The total amount of the grant requested must not exceed 20 per cent of the total income of the charity, averaged over the past two years.
LARGE GRANT
These grants are for larger charities whose annual income is between £500,000 and £5m.
Large grants are restricted for specific projects with defined goals and budgets, and may be spent on, for example, salaries, equipment, training, monitoring and administration.
Large grants usually range from £10,000 to £60,000 in total. This can be spread over one to three years.