To update the forum on local and national school funding issues, including the recommendations of the budget working group (BWG) on the following matters:

1. Herefordshire schools budget 2019/20

2. f40 briefing on school funding

3. High needs budget 2019/20

4. DSG outturn 2017/18

5. Apprentice levy - update on the optimal use of the levy to support community and voluntary controlled schools in Herefordshire

The Schools Finance Manager (SFM) began with a presentation on national school funding issues.

Key points noted included:

·         the f40 group of low funded local authorities continued to campaign for a fairer funding system;

·         a presentation had been given to MPs in Westminster to promote the group’s briefing paper which identified a number of areas of concern and proposals of how these could be resolved;

·         the f40 group promoted an activity led funding model, which should be index linked and move away from reference to historical spending patterns, for example the lump sum allocated to schools was based on an average of historic values across all local authorities rather than an assessment of the costs that funding was intended to meet;

·         the national funding formula should not be artificially supported by a minimum guarantee which locks in many historic differences;

·         the f40 briefing note reflected many of the issues that had recently been discussed by the schools forum;

·         Herefordshire currently ranked around 93^rd out of 150 local authorities in terms of funding, this improvement on the past position reflected both additional money from central government and prudent decisions taken by the forum;

·         the f40 estimated the current funding shortfall to be £2bn per annum, rising to £3.8bn in 2019/20;

·         funding per pupil had remained steady over recent years but an increase in pupil numbers had increased expenditure and there were hidden costs such as those relating to national insurance and pension costs for teaching and non-teaching staff;

·         it was estimated that the total increase in costs was about 15% over 5 years, while the amount of funding per pupil had barely increased over the same period;

·         the comprehensive spending review in 2019 would determine the next 3 – 5 years of funding, until that process was completed the DfE would not be able to commit on future schools budgets;

·         the government was aware of the emerging cost pressures in the high needs budget, where demand was outstripping the budget available;

·         the national funding formula for high needs was fixed with a 50% factor on historic funding levels, some local authorities had requested significant transfers from their schools budget block to their high needs block to meet pressures;

·         there was feedback on early years that with the introduction of 30 hours central provision for some families, providers were more reliant on central funding and this was causing some providers to struggle;

·         restraint on council funds was impacting on the availability of school transport;

·         the SFM reported that the f40 group remained a good way for Herefordshire to put its views across and that the chair and vice-chair of the group had regular access to ministers.

The members of the forum thanked the SFM for his work with the f40 group.

In discussion of the presentation and f40 briefing note it was noted that:

·         some low funded schools in Herefordshire had benefitted from the minimum funding level but the mechanism was applied bluntly across all pupils with no consideration of additional  ...  view the full minutes text for item 16