To agree final budget proposals for recommendation to the cabinet member for children and families for school budgets, central school services and early years within the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2022/23. The Budget Working Group (BWG) meets on 7 January 2022 and their proposals will be set out in a supplementary report.

The strategic finance manager (SFM) presented the report and outlined the proposed schools budget based on the confirmed Dedicated Schools Grant allocation from the Department for Education (DfE). A copy of the slides used in the presentation are attached to the minutes of the meeting.

 

Forum members discussed the proposed budget and noted that the £10k per pupil base funding for special schools had not been increased since its inception. It was hoped that the government SEND review would address this in the longer term.  Additional funds had been allocated to the high needs block for 2022/23 in the supplementary schools grant and officers would be looking to increase the tariffs in special schools where possible. The details of the high needs budget would be agreed at the forum meeting in March.

 

The impact of inflation on schools budgets was discussed and factors such as rising energy costs and pay increases noted. These made it hard for schools to budget effectively. It was suggested that the forum should write to the minister to continue to press for further funding increases.

 

The chair of the Budget Working Group thanked the SFM for his work on the proposals. He highlighted the key points discussed during the working group meeting specifically the strong support for option A on the matter of the transfer to the high needs block and debate on the future of the behaviour support service. The service was valued by schools and it was felt that support should be provided to retain the service in 22/23 but with a review ahead of the decision for 23/24.

 

The forum heard that early year’s providers had been consulted on options to increase the amount of central support available by increasing the percentage of funding retained by the council. These options had been rejected, with 72% of providers supporting the option to increase early year’s budgets in line with inflation without any deductions for increased advisor support. The early year’s representative commented that she was not surprised at the outcome given the pressures put on settings by covid but it was a difficult choice to make.

 

It was resolved that:

 

The local implementation of the National Funding Formula (NFF) for 2022/23 as set out in the consultation document and recommendation 1. (a) – (n) as below, be approved for recommendation to the Cabinet member for children and families as follows;

 

1.     The final school funding values be agreed, subject to a minimum total funding per pupil of £4,265 for primary schools and £5,525 for secondary schools, including the Minimum Funding Guarantee at 2% as follows:

(a)    Basic entitlement per pupil Primary £3,217, basic entitlement per secondary pupil Key Stage 3 £4,536 and basic entitlement per secondary pupil Key Stage 4 £5,112

 

(b)    Deprivation per free school meal Primary £470 Deprivation per free school meal Secondary £470

 

(c)    Deprivation per ever-6 free school meal Primary £590, Deprivation per ever-6 free school meal Secondary £865

 

(d)    Socio-economic deprivation Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI)

(i) Band A Primary £640 Secondary £890

(ii) Band B Primary £490 Secondary £700

(iii) Band C Primary £460 Secondary £650

(iv) Band D Primary £420 Secondary £595

(v) Band E Primary £270 Secondary £425

(vi) Band F Primary £220 Secondary £320

(vii) Band G Primary £0 Secondary £0

 

(e)    Low prior attainment per pupil Primary £1,130, per pupil Secondary £1,710

 

(f)      Lump Sum Primary £121,300, Secondary £121,300

 

(g)    Looked after Children, primary and secondary All £0

 

(h)    Primary sparsity, on NFF taper basis, over 2 miles and less than an average year group size of 21.4 pupils Primary £55,000

 

(i)      Secondary sparsity, on NFF taper basis, over 3 miles and less than an average year group size of 120 pupils Secondary £80,000 using the updated DfE actual road distance measure

 

(j)      English as additional language (EAL3) per primary pupil Primary £565 English as additional language per secondary pupil Secondary £1,530

 

(k)    Mobility Primary £925 Mobility Secondary £1,330

 

(l)      PFI contract Secondary £308,138

 

(m)   Exceptional premises factor – Eastnor rent Primary £9,332

 

(n)    Business rates: At the indicative cost of £1,286,112 as determined by the Education and Skills Funding Agency

 

2.     Additional growth funding of £179,240 for 2022/23 be approved for recommendation to the Cabinet member for children and families as follows;

 

(a)    Growth funding for basic need expansion at Kingstone High School, £134,430(summer term £55,050, autumn & spring £79,380) for the financial year 2022/23 for an additional 30 planned pupils

 

(b)    Growth funding be finalised for basic need expansion at Fairfield High School, £44,810 (summer term £18,350, autumn & spring £26,460) for the financial year 2022/23 for an additional 10 planned pupils

 

3.     Transfer to high needs block to support the SEN protection scheme, £507,224 and to set the school funding cap at £160 x Number on Roll for 2022/23 subject to further consideration of the funding cap at the March meeting of Schools Forum.

 

4.     That prior to submission to the DfE, any minor adjustments to the schools budget up to £5k required to comply with the regulations, be made to the funding allocated to the growth fund to provide a contingency.

 

5.     That Schools Forum approve an inflationary increase for the central support services funding for 2022/23, and advise the Cabinet member for children’s and families for information, as follows;

 

(a)    Statutory retained duties £380k

 

(b)    Schools Forum administration costs £19k

 

(c)    School admission costs £129k

 

(d)    National licences for schools £150k

 

(e)    Additional funding for statutory duties for SEN casework team £26k

 

(f)      transfer SACRE funding to statutory duties £6k

 

(g)    Transfer to the high needs block £75k

 

6.     That Schools Forum accept the Budget Working Group’s advice regarding approval of the proposal for additional funding from SACRE to increase expenditure on activities for schools and training.

 

7.     That local authority maintained school members, approve the de-delegation of funding in 2022/23, and advise the Cabinet member for children’s and families for information, as follows

 

(a)    trade union facilities for primary schools only be approved at £2.60 per pupil

(b)    trade union facilities for secondary schools only be provided for through a Service Level Agreement at £2.60 per pupil

(c)    school budgeting software licence at £415 per school

(d)    ethnic minority support at £1.15 per pupil plus £6.80 per Ever-6 Free school meals and £36 per English as an Additional Language three years (EAL3)

(e)    school meals entitlement assessment at £1.29 per primary pupil and £0.97 per secondary pupil (for local authority schools)

(f)      behaviour support service (option A) at £4 per pupil to provide £37,500 income and a matched contribution from the high needs budget of £37,500

(g)    the statutory education services for non-academy schools be charged at £12.25 per pupil

 

8.     The early years funding formula for Herefordshire providers from April 2022 be approved for recommendation to the Cabinet member for children and families as follows; as follows;

 

(a)    Two year olds: £5.57 per hour

(b)    Three and four year olds: £4.24 per hour + £0.36 per hour for Early Years Pupil Premium eligible children + a rurality supplement per provider of £54 per week (pro-rata for providers that deliver less than 100 hours per week) paid for 38 weeks per year

(c)    Early years central expenditure be increased by 3.9% inflation £370,598 for NEF contract payments, Early years consultants and MASH support for early years settings.

9.     The Schools Budget be approved for recommendation to the Cabinet member for children and families as follows;

a.     A balanced schools budget be approved for 2022/23; and

b.    the uncommitted DSG reserves of £432,000 be carried forward to financial year 2023/24 adjusted by any under or overspend in DSG at year end.

 

 

 

(Restrictions were applied to voting as follows:

 

Only representatives of LA maintained schools, academies and early years providers were eligible to vote on recommendations 1 to 6 inclusive and recommendations 8 and 9.

 

Only representatives of LA maintained schools were eligible to vote on recommendation 7. This was further restricted to LA primary school representatives for part (a) and LA secondary school representatives for part (b).)