Agenda item

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to present budget monitoring information against the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the financial year 2023-24 as at 30 April 2023 – this report is to follow as part of an Agenda supplement.

Marie Taylor, Head of Finance – Children and Education, referred to the report as part of Agenda Supplement 1, which presented the budget monitoring information against the DSG for the financial year 2023-24 including forecasts of expenditure as at 30 April 2023. The following was highlighted:

·       An overspend of £12.623 was currently forecast against the overall Schools Budget, and it was noted that the main driver for the variance was the ongoing pressure on the HNB, as discussed in the previous Agenda Item.

·       Table 1 of the report was then summarised.

·       The Early Years Budget was then discussed, and it was noted that no variance would be forecast on the free entitlement budgets; it was too early in the financial year as the summer adjustments were yet to be released by the DfE. Additionally, the small underspends in both age funding streams as per Table 2 of the report were noted as being aligned with the slight reduction in actual variance in take up and it was anticipated that it would be removed in whole, or part, as a result of the DfE’s post financial year adjustments and if the January 2023 census numbers had fallen.

·       Table 3 of the report was highlighted, and Members were notified of Wiltshire’s huge success with the take up of the 2-year-old Disadvantaged Grant, ranking top compared with both South West Authorities and statistical neighbours for Spring 2023. Officers were anticipating that this would be a contributing factor in children’s progress and attainment in their later academic years; again, linking to early intervention and prevention.

·       Members with informed that in the Central Government Spring Budget, the Chancellor had announced changes to Universal Credit childcare payments, and the expansion of childcare support for working parents to include children from 9 months old up to school age. The specifics and timings of these changes were detailed in the report.

·       Furthermore, it was explained that schools and Local Authorities would be receiving £289m in funding for a ‘pathfinder’ to tackle the barriers to working parents of Primary School age children by increasing the supply of wraparound care and providing financial incentives for those signing up as childminders. However, it was noted that the DfE anticipated that by September 2026, most Primary Schools would have the ability to provide their own before and after school care.

·       No variance forecast was included within the report for Schools Budget as again, it was too early in the financial year as the timings of any census driven payments due to schools was yet to be released.

·       The High Needs Budget was again forecasting significant overspends which was noted as being largely based around the previous year’s forecast, however it did not account for rebanding requests and new plans, as many were yet to be finalised through the system.

·       As mentioned in the previous Agenda Item, the number of children with EHCPs in Wiltshire had risen to 12% within the previous financial year, thus informing the estimates for 2023-24 as per Table 3 of the report.

·       The biggest areas of overspend within the High Needs Budget were largely the same as the previous year, however it was noted that the plans for Capital Expansion were to provide more specialist school places in order to reduce reliance on the out-of-County and independent sectors. Officers highlighted that further updates on these plans would be discussed in more detail at the next planned meeting of the Schools Forum.

·       Table 4 of the report was referred to and it was noted that the breakdown of the data was largely reflective of that of 2022-23.

·       The DSG Reserve and Management Plan was discussed, and it was noted that the significant demand and pressure on resources was placing considerable strain upon the Council’s Risk Register. Furthermore, the updated DSG management plan workbook had been shared with Newton as part of the DBV programme, and officers had seen reports suggesting that Wiltshire were underestimating rather than overestimating future demand.

·       It was anticipated that the reserve brought forward of £34.685m from 2022-23 would be increased by the negative EYB adjustment following the 2022-23 underspend. Therefore, as a result of the current forecast overspend, officers were forecasting that the reserve would fall into a deficit position of £47.308m at the end of the financial year 2023-24.

Following which, it was:

Resolved:

The Schools Forum noted the forecast budget monitoring position including the balance on the DSG reserve at the end of April 2024 alongside the update later in Agenda Item 10, on the HNB recovery plan and work with the DfE delivery partners Newton and CIPFA.