Where, in the light of a section 167 assessment, it is necessary for the LEA to determine the special educational provision which the child's learning difficulty calls for, the LEA shall make and maintain a statement of his or her special educational needs.

(Section 168(1))

Criteria for Deciding to Draw up a Statement

4:1. Part 3 has dealt with the conduct of statutory assessment and the gathering of advice from agencies and individuals.  Following the receipt of all the advice, the LEA must decide whether to draw up a statement.  In a small number of cases, the LEA may decide that the degree of the child's learning difficulty or disability, and the nature of the provision necessary to meet the child's special educational needs, require the LEA to determine the child's special educational provision through making a statement.

4:2. The main ground on which an LEA may decide that they must make a statement is when the LEA conclude that all the special educational provision necessary to meet the child's needs cannot reasonably be provided within the resources normally available to mainstream schools in the area.

4:3. Most mainstream schools should have within their delegated budget some funding which reflects the additional needs of pupils with special educational needs.  LEA-maintained schools should receive this through local management schemes which are weighted for the incidence of special educational needs within the authority.  Grant-maintained schools receive this through their Annual Maintenance Grant (AMG), whether through LMS replication or from the Common Funding Formula.

4:4. In many instances, the issuing of a statement will entail the LEA making additional resources available to a mainstream school.  But some LEA-maintained schools have delegated funds to meet the needs of pupils with statements, as have some GM schools where their AMG is determined by replication of the LEA's local management scheme.  Clearly, the delegation to schools of funds for pupils with statements should not preclude the making of statements on the grounds that such funds are already within schools' budgets.  But the making of a statement in such cases may not entail the LEA making additional resources available to those schools, except insofar as the LEA will be responsible for monitoring the child's progress and reviewing the statement, and thereby maintaining a continuing oversight of the child.  Even where funding for pupils with statements is not delegated to schools, there may occasionally be instances when the LEA may conclude that it is necessary to make a statement in order to bring to bear the LEA's capacity to monitor the progress of a child through multidisciplinary involvement in the annual review process and other means.