Agenda and draft minutes

Apologies were received from Sue Bayliss, Eileen Stewart, Jinna Male, Laura Morel, Caroline Marriott and Caroline Whitehead.

There were no declarations of interest.

RESOLVED – That the minutes of the Schools Forum meeting held on 5 December 2023 be agreed as a correct record subject to an amendment to the final paragraph on item 5 being attributed to Sarah Barcock-Wood not Claudia Glasgow.

In terms of Item 8 on De-Delegation Sarah Barcock-Wood reported that she had attended a Union Meeting last week and concern had been raised about the funding requested being decreased to 50p per pupil for Trade Union release which had resulted in a shortfall of funding. Therefore, there might be insufficient funding for this next year. She asked the Forum to urgently review the amount per pupil.  The Head of Finance reported that they would know whether there was insufficient funding or not by looking at outturn reports and that this issue did not require an urgent review and if there was any deficit this could be picked up the following year. Sarah Barcock-Wood repeated that the NEU were concerned about insufficient funding with the decrease per pupil and that other unions had to use some of their allocation to plug the gap this year. The Head of Finance aimed to review the spend on trade unions at year end, then would meet with HR in June to plan for next year. The Co-Chair suggested that Sarah Barcock-Wood should share her report on their budget difficulties with the Head of Finance to provide clarity.

The Co-Chairman provided an update on the Schools Forum Funding Group. The SFFG’s role was to consider detailed financial proposals and options on behalf of the Forum, and to make recommendations to the Forum. The Funding Group met twice a year and discussed any issues with funding particularly with the DfE allocation. At the last meeting of the Forum it was hoped that the Council would have 100% allocation for maintained schools. However with the updated census data and due to changes with higher prior attainment and free school meals needs it meant applying the National Funding Formula did not work at 100%. The Funding Group then discussed the options available to ensure fair distribution to schools. Options were discussed such as capping of gains for some schools and using that to meet the minimum funding guarantee or scaling down the formula to make it affordable to all. Because the gains capping was affecting only 7 schools and 3 of them significantly it seemed unfair for those schools to not be protected so the Funding Group recommended to scale the formula to 99.93% to spread the reduction across all schools. This was still higher than last year which was 99.89%.

The report was noted.

To be presented by Ms S Fogden, Head of Finance (Children’s Services) - Buckinghamshire Council.

The report set out the latest information on the four blocks of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) based on the October 2023 census and other up to date information as published by the Department of Education (DfE) on the 19 December 2023. In addition, the implications of the allocations and budget proposals for each block.  Recommendations for each block have been included in the minute below. The Head of Finance presented the budget proposals below. 

DSG Allocation 2024/25

Table 1 in the report gave the latest allocations with a total of £631.2m before recoupment for DSG in 2024-25, and updated previous information reported to the Schools Forum. Buckinghamshire would receive an increase of £36.5m compared to the 2023-24 DSG settlement. The main change was in Early Years, which was explained later under this item. The Head of Finance reported that the DfE had made an error with the formula and Buckinghamshire would get an extra £1.2 million of funding due to the number of weeks in the Autumn and Spring term so the final figure would be £632.4 million.

Resolved that Buckinghamshire Council set the overall Dedicated Schools Budget at £632.4m in line with the funding allocation announced on 19^th December 2023 and subsequent amendment.

Schools Block

School Block’s allocations for Buckinghamshire were now based on the October 2023 census and reflected the national increases to the formula’s core factors, as well as the minimum per pupil funding. The increase of £1.768m compared to the indicative settlement was due to the increase in pupil numbers generating additional funding. There was a fall in numbers of 197 in Primary and an increase in 434 in Secondary. In 2024 to 2025, as in previous years, each local authority would continue to set a local schools funding formula, in consultation with local schools.

As in 2023-24, there was insufficient funding to implement the National Funding Formula in full. The main reason for this was the number of pupils eligible for funding through the additional educational needs factors. The DfE calculated the funding unit each year based on the previous census data. If pupil numbers eligible for additional education factors increase between years, this could leave the funding short.

The main factors causing the shortfall are:

·       Continued increase in pupils eligible for Free School Meals

·       A significant increase in pupils attracting funding through Lower Prior Attainment. Primary lower prior attainment required funding of £1m more than in 2023-24 reflecting an increase of 1.93% in eligible pupils.

There were 3 options for bringing the NFF into balance:

a)      To scale back use of the growth fund allocation

b)      To apply the funding formula in full, but to cap the gains made by some schools to make the formula affordable.

c)      To scale down the values of the formula factors due to affordability. 

In 2023-24, a combination of all three options were used, with scaling at 99.89% and capping at 6.17%, and use of the growth funding allocation.

Members were asked to agree the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

To be presented by Ms S Fogden, Head of Finance (Children’s Services) -Buckinghamshire Council

The report updated the Schools Forum on the current forecast for the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget for the 2023-24 financial year, based on the spend to 31st December 2023 (period 9). The overall Dedicated Schools Budget was currently projected to overspend by £1.76m at the year end.

The main reason for the projected overspend on DSG was the forecast overspend on the High Needs block of £1.594m. The projected overspend included an additional £1.8m of independent special schools spend. This was an increase from the forecast at the end of P7, as additional costs were now charged to High Needs reflecting the cost of Education for young people with plans in the Cross Regional social care contract. This was in line with the DfE High Needs Operational guidance. Top-ups in Early Years and Mainstream (for both those with plans and without plans) showed an overspend of £2.783 reflecting the expansion in the numbers supported. This had reduced by £0.211 from the forecast at P7.

Offsetting this were underspends of £0.984m in Integrated therapies due to delays in recruiting staff to deliver the contract and a reduced forecast for Post 16 which reflected updated data. In addition, there was a forecast decrease in Special School topups, as the forecast has been amended for take-up of places by other Local Authorities.

Schools block was currently projected to break even. Central schools services block was projected to overspend by £0.163m due to pressures against the budget for Premature Retirement Costs as costs continued to exceed the available budget.

Reference was made to IR35 which was off-payroll working rules which applied if a worker provided their services directly through their own limited company or another type of intermediary. The tax status of the contract for all off payroll workers must be determined for HMRC. IR35 referred to this legislation which was designed to combat tax avoidance by off payroll workers supplying services via an intermediary but who would be an employee if the intermediary was not used. Schools would need to determine the IR35 status of a contract through the HMRC checker. The Council had sent a letter to headteachers with guidance and templates.

Resolved that the report be noted.

To resolve that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Paragraph 3    Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

RESOLVED -

that under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 the public be excluded from the meeting for the following item(s) of business on the grounds that it involves the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act.

Paragraph 3    Information relating to the financial or business affairs of any particular person (including the authority holding that information)

Resolved that the confidential minutes of the meeting held on 5 December 2023 be agreed.

Dates for future meetings of the Schools Forums would be circulated – the next meeting would be in the summer.