Such a common almost intractable problem shared by so many. If you can try and think in terms of the minimum amount of time each pupil needs with a trained teacher or specialist per week per pupil. If you think it’s reasonable and workable for that time to be shared with one or two others divide the necessary salary costs per hour by the number of pupils involved. It’s reasonable to ask for the total cost needed per week for each child based on the recommendations in their EHCPs. If these are not written in a quantifiable way ie (number of hours per week needed by teacher/TA/SaLT specialist etc) then send it back to the LA officer (family practitioner) who wrote it and ask for these details to be inserted. Legally you have a right to expect this. Good luck! Philippa

Good morning. It's becoming an even more testing time in SEND currently, and staffing, funding, increase in EHCP's is only getting more critical. I am the founder of Senploy which is a SEND specific job board and careers portal. I'm sure you're already thinking about staffing for the increased cohort but if you need any support with advertising for additional staff, please contact me. Email is amy@senploy.co.uk - I'd be happy to help.