Agenda item

The Forum considered a report (Agenda Item 6) which sought approval of the proposals for the primary and secondary school funding arrangements for 2017/18 and the briefing/consultation document to go out to schools.

Claire White explained that due to delays following the political upheaval caused by the European Referendum, the proposed change to a national school funding formula would not be going ahead in 2017/18 and had been put on hold for a year. A second stage consultation was expected in the autumn term.

The Government announced the funding arrangements for 2017/18 on 21st July 2016. No changes were proposed which would affect West Berkshire, but local authorities would still be required to review their formula and consult with schools. The 31st October deadline had been removed this year and the submission date of the 2017/18 formula to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) was 20th January 2017.

(Suzanne Taylor joined the meeting at 5.10pm).

The consultation document proposed to go out to schools detailed the current formula and explained the rationale for the proposals for 2017/18. Schools would be invited to comment on the proposals by the deadline date of 8 November 2016. In summary, the proposals, agreed at Heads Funding Group, were:

·                No change to the formula factors used.

·                If there was a funding shortfall, this would be addressed by adjusting the basic entitlement rate (per pupil funding) downwards, meaning all schools would have a proportional cut to their budgets according to the size of their school.

·                If there was additional funding available, that for the first £848k, 55% would be added to the basic entitlement (per pupil funding) and 45% added back to the lump sum. This was in proportion to the deduction that was made to school budgets in 2016/17 to transfer funding to the High Needs Block. Any additional funding over this amount would be added to the basic entitlement.

The Forum was asked to approve the proposals and the consultation document to go out to schools. The Forum, at its December 2016 meeting, would then determine the final proposal after reviewing comments received from schools. The report would then proceed to the Council’s Executive in January 2017 for a final decision.

Paul Dick commented that the proposals/the consultation document were approved by the Heads Funding Group.

Claire White then highlighted key points within the consultation document:

·         Paragraph 2.2 stated that compared to other local authorities, West Berkshire was not an outlier in terms of the formula factors used and the funding rates applied to the main factors, although West Berkshire’s rate for every factor was below average. Of the two main factors, the primary basic entitlement was £2,937 per pupil compared to the national average of £3,044; the secondary basic entitlement was £4,364 per pupil compared to the national (weighted) average of £4,404. The primary and secondary lump sum was £121,400 per school compared to the national averages of primary £129,923 and secondary £142,281. It was noted that national averages had increased mainly due to additional funding that the lowest funded local authorities had received. This had resulted in West Berkshire receiving below average funding and it was therefore the expectation that West Berkshire might receive a higher allocation under a national funding formula.

·         It was proposed in paragraph 3.2 that there should be no changes to the West Berkshire formula factors in 2017/18 and, if at all possible, the funding rates should remain the same. Reasons for this included prevention of turbulence in school budget allocations. A change in allocations could see some schools going into deficit for reasons completely outside their control.

·         Paragraph 3.5 noted a number of reasons why the total amount of funding available for allocation to schools might change compared to the £95.1m allocated to schools in 2016/17. These included:

·         The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) was based on the number of pupils in the October census, this might be higher or lower than the previous year affecting the total funding received.

·         Some factors might increase by default, leaving less funding for other factors, e.g. if there were any claims for exceptional premises funding from qualifying schools and if rates bills went up significantly.

·         The amount of funding required for centrally retained services that were also funded from the Schools Block DSG might change. In 2017/18 services previously funded by the retained duties element of the Education Services Grant (ESG), mainly education welfare services and asset management, were moving into the DSG which might have an impact if there was a mismatch between funding added to the DSG and the actual cost of these services.

·         There was a new primary school to be funded from September 2017, for which no additional funding was provided.

·         Additional funding outside the School Formula was outlined.

·         De-delegations for 2017/18 were also clarified. This was where maintained schools could collectively opt for services to be de-delegated to the local authority, allowing funding to be centrally retained for the benefit of all maintained primary and secondary schools. It was proposed that CLEAPPS (Consortium of Local Education Authorities for the Provision of Science Services) would become a new de-delegated service rather than an individual buy back, which might result in savings for most schools.

Paul Dick queried whether rate increases were set by West Berkshire Council or if this was Government led. Claire White clarified that rates were set by the Valuation Office and all schools had been revalued. Rachael Wardell added that this fell outside of the Council’s control.

Peter Hudson proposed acceptance of the recommendation to agree the consultation proposals and the consultation document to go out to schools. The proposal was seconded by Catie Colston.

RESOLVED that the proposals set out in paragraph 4.3 of the report and the consultation document to go out to schools were approved by the Schools Forum.