Agenda item

Ian Pearson introduced the report (Agenda Item 7), which reported on the initial intelligence from schools about the financial impact of Covid-19 on school budgets.

The report had been bought to the Schools’ Forum following a request from Reverend Mark Bennet and reported on the impact on schools in terms of revenue funding.

Ian Pearson reported that what the report did was set out a little bit of background information and then looked at the areas of lost income and additional expenditure in more detail. The report linked to Government guidance and what the Government would be willing to reimburse schools for and this was detailed under section 5.3. Ares they were not prepared to reimburse schools for were set out in section 5.2 of the report.

Ian Pearson reported that he had carried out a small piece of research with headteachers regarding theirs views on potential lost income, potential additional costs and potential savings and this was set out in sections 5.4, 5.5 and 5.6 of the report. It was acknowledged that the pandemic was not yet over and therefore and Government guidance could potentially change.

Ian Pearson referred to a point that had been raised by schools regarding if what schools could claim for was effected if they had a balance. Ian Pearson explained that the Government had set out that schools that were entering the 2020/21 financial year with a balance, should have that balance protected up to the end of the financial year. However, if the balance was larger at the end of the financial year thenthe general view seemed to be that the Government would look for some of the additional costs to be met by the school.

There were still issues to be resolved regarding guidance that was being released. Another issues was costs resulting from Covid-19 that fell outside of school budgets for example within the High Needs Block (HNB) and Early Years Block (EYB), both of which were already facing a deficit. Ian Pearson stated that it might be helpful for a one or two reports to be brought to a future meeting of the Forum on these areas.

Catie Colston thanked Ian Pearson for the information and stated that from her understanding it seemed that when looking at money coming and going out it seemed that costs should just about level out. Catie Colston queried what realistic scenario planning could take place to help predict what the position in September might be, for the rest of the financial year. Catie Colston queried if the Council as a whole were able to take a view on this.

In response to Catie Colston’s questions, Ian Pearson reported that at the moment the thinking was that all children would be back in to their existing schools in September. It had been thought that schools might need to locate additional accommodation for children to retain smaller groups however, the plan was now for all children to fit back into the original space available. This would avoid some further costs however, there would still likely be increased costs associated with cleaning and this needed to be recognized.

Ian Pearson referred to Catie Colston’s query on the Council’s view. He stated that in terms of the costs discussed earlier within the report, these were contained within the School’s Block and therefore were managed within individual school budgets. There were other costs that could potentially push particular funding blocks further in to deficit and this was a large concern. A cost for the Council included services provided that sat outside the Dedicated Schools’ Grant (DSG). The most costly service that the Council provided for schools was home to school transport. This cost the Local Authority around £3 million and Government guidance was still awaited on this area. If it required further vehicles to ensure school bubbles could be retained, accommodated staggered starts, or increased journeys then it was likely that the related cost would be higher and this would be a matter for the Local Authority.  Ian Pearson explained that although he did not have a definitive answer to the questions there were a whole range of issues that were related to different funding sources. It was important to monitor what was happening and ensure costing was carried out as the situation progressed.

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.