A school seeking approval as a non-maintained special school under section 342 of the Education Act 1986 has to meet the requirements of the Education (Non-Maintained Special Schools) (England) Regulations 1999. In broad terms a school has to be run by a charity or charitable trust on a not-for-profit basis, it has to meet the standards for schools in the maintained sector and has to have similar governance arrangements to a maintained school.
Checks are also made to ensure the financial viability of a school before approval is granted.
Non-maintained special schools have access to certain departmental capital and revenue funding streams. However, most funding for NMSSs is raised through fees for pupil placements paid by either local authorities or individual parents. The criteria used to allocate funding are dependent upon the funding stream. Where the funding stream is available to all NMSSs the most usual criteria used are: the number of pupils in a school, the number of pupils for which a school is approved or, in the case of funding relating specifically to teachers, the number of teachers with particular experience and qualifications. Where an application or bid is required for a funding stream then the application or bid has to meet the specific criteria applicable to that stream. Departmental funding is paid directly to NMSSs by the Department.