Agenda item

Claire White presented the report on the DSG budget 2015/16.

The DfE is due to announce the school funding settlement 2015/16 by mid December 2014.

West Berkshire will receive a small increase in per pupil funding of £8 per pupil after taking into account a change in the method to recover the Carbon Reduction Commitment. However as the actual school budgets 2014/15 exceeded the Schools Block funding 2014/15 some of the increase has already been committed.

Once the October census data has been received the 2015/16 schools formula will be run based on the October pupil data to determine whether there is any headroom to allocate, which will be on a per pupil basis.

For the first time 2 year olds will be funded on a pupil count (5/12ths January 2015 census and 7/12ths January 2016 census). This is the same method used for 3 year olds and is likely to have a detrimental impact of the level of funding that we receive for 2 year olds in 2015/16.

The Early Years Steering Group will be requesting a carry forward of the funding 2014/15 under spend to maintain funding rates to providers in 2015/16.

The High Needs Block is likely to be fixed at the 2014/15 level although a bid has been made for additional places and there may be additional funding if there is any headroom nationally.

The draft estimate of funding and budget 2015/16 (assuming no carry forward from 2014/15) is Headroom of £237k in the Schools Block (based on 2014/15 pupil numbers), a shortfall of £258k in the Early Years Block (based on the 2014/15 funding rates and funded hours) and a shortfall of £1931k in the High Needs Block.

The demands on the High Needs Block continue to grow. Although the top up funding is demand led the cost of the bandings could be reduced.

ACTION: The Heads Funding Group to investigate the options regarding the High Needs Block and make a recommendation to the Schools’ Forum at the meeting on the 19^th of January.

Action

HFG