Agenda item

Lisa Potts introduced the report (Agenda Item 9), which aimed to set out the process for excluded pupils and those with managed moves. It was a policy that had been in place for a number of years however, some areas required updating. The data had been updated to ensure the correct regulations were included.

Lisa Potts reported that some queries had been raised at the Heads Funding Group (HFG) and briefly went through each of them:

·       A member of the HFG had queried the language used for ‘managed moves’ as it gave the impression it could be stopped after six weeks when this was not the intention: Lisa Potts confirmed that the wording on this had been updated. 

·       A member of the HFG had queried the matter of when money should move and felt this needed adding to the policy. It had not been felt that money should move instantly as there were potentially appeals/IRPs/PPPs taking place: Lisa Potts reported that this would normally be actioned at least eight weeks after the exclusion due to it being known that appeals often took place. This would be checked with the exclusion officer to ensure the decision was upheld. If there was an individual review panel outstanding, the funding would be removed after this meeting decision.

·       A member of the HFG had queried the detail on year 11 learners and money transferring at the end of the year: Lisa Potts reported that it was set out in the Schools operational guidance 24-25 that the ‘only exception to using the number of weeks remaining in the financial year is where the exclusion takes place after 1 April, in a school year where the pupil would normally have left at the end of that school year.’ Lisa Potts reported that it was not stated if this was June or July however, confirmed that funding would be removed at the end of July because this was what the AWPU was based on.

·       A member of the HFG had felt that there was a perverse incentive through the policy for schools to permanently exclude just before the end of the financial year: Lisa Potts reported that the operational guidance set out that ‘the local authority must deduct from the school’s budget in-year the amount within the formula relating to the age and personal circumstances of that pupil, pro rata to the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year from the relevant date’.

·       A member of the HFG had queried managed moves and whether all schools that signed up to the Fair Access Protocol also signed up to managed moves: Lisa Potts reported that the fair access protocol was managed by a different team to that which managed exclusions, but having spoken to both teams, reported that it was felt that schools would have signed up to both the managed moves and Fair Access Protocol.

Jacquie Davies stated it was important to note that the policy was an exclusion funding policy and not an exclusion policy. Jacquie Davies referred to the query about when funding for year 11 students transferred and commented that waiting until July would result in some funding going back into the High Needs Block.

RESOLVED that the Schools’ Forum noted the report.