Agenda item

Wendy Howells introduced the report (Agenda Item 7) which set out the changes to the calculation of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in 2019/20, and the implications of the changes on the Schools Budget. Wendy Howells reported that the report was for discussion only.

Schools Block

Wendy Howells explained that section 4.2 of the report set out how the Schools Block funding for 2019/20 was calculated. For primary schools, the minimum per pupil funding level in 2019/20 was set at £3,500, and for secondary £4,800. The allocations for every school in the local authority were added up and divided by the October 2017 pupil numbers.

The total allocation excluding the Growth Fund was distributed to schools through the formula, by setting the formula funding rates and a minimum funding guarantee and funding cap on gains. The Growth Fund was now calculated separately to the funding formula using the October 2018 Census and therefore the final amount to be received was uncertain.

The method of distributing the funding would need to go out to consultation with all schools and be agreed by the Schools’ Forum in December 2018, before being approved by the Council’s Executive in January 2019.

With the agreement of the Schools’ Forum and subject to consulting with all schools, up to 0.5% of the total schools block funding could be transferred to the high needs budget of other funding blocks. This was something that needed to be considered on an annual basis.

Jonathon Chishick asked if there would be specific funding available for the teacher pay award. Wendy Howells confirmed that this funding was separate to that being discussed and would be based on a per pupil amount. It would be available as a separate grant from September 2018 and it was unknown if the amount available would cover the amount required by each school.

Central Schools Services Block (CSSB)

A new formula was in place to determine funding allocations for local authorities. As the funding being received did not cover the ongoing costs in the CSSB (a shortfall of £335k) proposals to balance the block had been considered by the Schools’ Forum in January 2018. The funding yet to be confirmed for the CSSB was £992,560.

Keith Harvey noted the significant shortfall and asked how this was being managed. Ian Pearson confirmed that plans to manage the shortfall would include actions that had been taken the previous year as a starting point.

Early Years Block (EYB)

The new Early Years formula was introduced in 2017/18 however the funding for the EYB would not be finalised until the result from the January 2019 census was available. There was a planned deficit of £84,186 for the EYB.

The High Needs Block (HNB)

The basic structure of the High Needs formula was not changing in 2019/20. The formula used a number of proxy factors, but with 50% allocated on the basis of historical spend, and a basic entitlement for the number of places in special schools.

Section 7.4 of the report illustrated how the funding for the HNB was calculated including import and export adjustments. In 2018/19 these had been included in the overall High Needs Funding Formula however, it was proposed for 2019/20 that import and export funding be ring-fenced. The issue was that fewer children had been imported so far in 2018 and this had placed pressure on the HNB.

Wendy Howells drew attention to the table on page 50 of the report, which confirmed that there was a planned overspend of £646,253 for 2019/20.

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.