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Agenda item

Draft High Needs Budget 2017/18

Minutes:

Ian Pearson introduced the report (Agenda Item 8) which set out the current financial position of the high needs budget for 2016/17 and the position known so far for 2017/18. Options in order to balance the budget in 2017/18 were listed.

The high needs budget for 2016/17 was set after taking a two year view, and many of the savings originally proposed towards closing a £1.9m funding gap did not go ahead. The two year view was taken with regard to the Government changing the funding formula for high needs from 2017/18 as set out in their March 2016 stage one consultation ‘high needs funding formula and other reforms’. The Government recently announced that their proposed changes had been delayed, and a second stage consultation which should also provide an exemplification was still awaited. Paul Dick asked for further clarification on the reasoning behind this. Ian Pearson explained that if all the savings options were taken it was likely, from the information available at the time, that there would be a surplus balance in the High Needs Block at the end of 2017/18 so the budget was set to balance over two years to protect the long term position of the Block.

The Government had, however, rebased funding according to how much of the total allocated Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) was being spent on high needs in 2016/17. This had therefore “locked” into the high needs block funding allocation the £858k of funding that was transferred in 2016/17 from the schools and early years block.

The Heads Funding Group had rejected Option 2 in the report to transfer money from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block.

There was still more high needs funding to be allocated by the Government for 2017/18, but it was not known whether West Berkshire will benefit or by how much. This would be announced by mid December.

Unless West Berkshire received additional funding in the December settlement, there remained a funding gap in 2017/18 for the following reasons:

·         The planned over spend in the current year high needs block which would need to be met from next year’s DSG.

·         Pupil numbers and needs in the high needs block continue to rise.

Options for closing this gap will need to be considered.

Paul Dick expressed the view that more financial information was required before the Schools Forum could make decisions on the savings options.  Jane Seymour agreed to provide figures for the next meeting in January 2017. Ian Pearson noted that Appendix B demonstrated the budget build for the High Needs Block and was a useful starting point for understanding the costs of services.

Suzanne Taylor expressed concern that the Early Years Block was already likely to be in deficit the following year and the impact would be more dramatic if option 3 was pursued to transfer early years high needs services to the Early Years Block.

Councillor Anthony Chadley noted the omission of the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) reorganisation savings. Cathy Burnham indicated that there would be a discussion on the PRUs later on the agenda,

RESOLVED that the Schools Forum:

·         Rule out Option 2 - a transfer of funding from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block.

·         All other options should remain, until a clearer picture emerges of the funding position and savings required for 2017/18.

 

 

Supporting documents: