Agenda and minutes

To note any apologies, substitutions and changes to the membership of Schools Forum.

Apologies were received from Aileen Bates, Angela Brennan, Cllr Ross Henning, Nick Norgrove, Emma Osmund, John Read, Ros Sutton, Ian Tucker, David Whewell and from Helean Hughes (Director – Education & Skills),Cllrs Laura Mayes (Cabinet Member – Children Education and Skills), Dominic Muns (Portfolio Holder for Education),  Suzanne Wickham (Portfolio Holder for SEND).

Substitutions

Rod Bell was substituting for Ian Tucker.

To approve as a correct record and sign the minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2022(copy attached).

The minutes of the meeting held on 8 December 2022 were presented.

Resolved:

That the Chair approve and sign the minutes of the meeting of Schools Forum held on 8 December 2022.

To receive any announcements from the Chair.

The Chair made the following announcements:

Sad news – Emma Russell

It was with great sadness and shock that we lost our friend and colleague Emma Russell shortly before Christmas.

Headteacher of Kennet Valley Primary School, Emma was a passionate, fun and inspiring individual. Emma worked tirelessly for the hundreds of children and families that passed through Kennet Valley during her time there. Emma was incredibly proud of her school and the achievements of her staff and children. She was a true community champion and brought much happiness to many people, not just within the school, but those in the community who were always warmly welcomed at school events and community activities.

Emma had only just received a long service award after 20 years of service and an unwavering commitment to making a difference to her pupils. Emma held ambitions not only for her pupils and staff but for education in Wiltshire as a whole. Never afraid to challenge, always willing to assist, for me Emma personified what it is to be a teacher and leader.

Today we officially lay her to rest and celebrate her life. She was a wonderful friend to many of us and having spoken to many children and parents who knew Emma through Kennet Valley I am certain that she will never be forgotten and her legacy remains for the children of Lockeridge and beyond.

To note any declarations of interests.

There were no interests declared.

Schools Forum welcomes contributions from members of the public who are able to ask questions or make a statement in relation to the responsibilities and functions of the Forum at each meeting. A maximum of 15 minutes will be allocated to this at the start of each meeting, and each question or statement should last no longer than 3 minutes.   Please register with the Officer named on this agenda, and in accordance with the deadlines below.

Statements

Members of the public who wish to submit a statement in relation to an item on this agenda should submit this electronically to the Officer named on the agenda no later than 5pm on Tuesday 17 January 2023.  Statements must not be defamatory, frivolous, offensive, vexatious, unlawful or otherwise improper. They must not name or identify individual service users, members of staff or members of partner agencies.

Questions

Those wishing to ask questions are required to give notice of any such questions to the Officer named on the front of this agenda no later than 5pm on Thursday 12 January 2023 to allow a response to be formulated.  Questions are limited to a maximum of 2 per person/organisation. A response will be given as either a direct oral answer or a written reply. Questions must not require the disclosure of confidential information.  The Chair’s ruling on rejection of a question is final.

No questions or statements were received in advance of the meeting.

The Forum will be asked to note the minutes/updates from the following meetings:

·         Early Years Reference Group – 6 January 2023 – to follow.

·         Joint meeting of the School Funding Working Group and SEN Working Group – 9 January 2023 – attached.

The Forum noted the update received by way of the minutes of the meeting of the Early Years Reference Group meeting held on 6 January 2023 (which were contained in Agenda Supplement 1).  There were no questions arising.

The Forum noted the update received by way of the minutes of the joint meeting of the School Funding and SEN Working Group held on 9 January 2023.  There were no questions arising.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the minutes of the meeting of the Early Years Reference Group held on 6 January 2023 and the joint meeting of the School Funding and SEN working group held on 9 January 2023.

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 2022-23 as at 30 November 2022.

Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) referred to the report which presented the year end budget monitoring information against the DSG for the financial year 2022-23 as at 30 November 2022 and highlighted the following:

·       An overspend £9.325 million was currently projected across the overall DSG schools budget which was a small increase from the meeting in December 2022;

·                Although an underspend of £2.257 million was forecast for the Early Years budget it was anticipated that the DfE’s post financial year adjustment would claw this back in the summer in whole or part if the January 2023 census numbers fall;

·                The main reason for the underspend was the take up for 3 and 4 year olds and there was a slight underspend on take up for 2 year olds although there was an overspend in the Inclusion Support Fund as the 30 hours take up was higher than anticipated, largely due to the expansion of the scheme to support working parents for up to 30 hours;

·                Officers had been successful with a 2022-23 bid for COMF grant funding to use in early years settings to support flexible pastoral support.  There had been no claims for hardship this year and it was suggested that settings could be approached again to see if they wished to make any bids;

·                There was a forecast underspend on the School budgets of £179k – this was because of alternative grants being used including some Ukrainian funding;

·                The High Needs budget was due to overspend by £12.182 million – when the level of funding doesn’t match the local needs the budget cannot be set at an achievable level and is clear that the whole budget is under significant pressure;

·                There had been an increase in EHC assessments which had been delayed due to the Covid backlog.  The forecast increase in EHCP’s was 574 which was a 13.1% increase compared to a 6.1% in 2021-22;

·                There was a small forecast underspend for the Central Schools Services block of £421k which was driven by careful management of the specialist education packages for children in care as well as use of alternative external grant funding where possible to do so;

·                The reserve brought forward of £25.973 million was increased by the positive early years block adjustment of £564k.  The forecast overspend would take the reserve into a deficit position of £34.734 million.  Officers were working closely with the DfE’s Delivering Better Value (DVB) partners (CIPFA and Newton) to enhance current plans, adding insight from other local authority action plans and offering the opportunity to bid for transformational funding; and

·                The Early Years Reference Group had considered the limited one off usage of the early years contingency to support children for school readiness and support for vulnerable early years pupils with additional needs.  This would be by way of four FTE temporary Early Years Intervention Advisors, Inclusion Support for settings and an Early Years Conference in the summer or autumn term 2023.  These proposals were anticipated to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

Cate Mullen (Head of SEND and Inclusion) will give a verbal update on behalf of the High Needs Block working group.

Cate Mullen (Head of SEND and Inclusion) presented a verbal update on behalf of the High Needs block working group and highlighted the following;

·                There was currently a £34 million High Needs block deficit in Wiltshire and the aspirational challenge was to bring back the spending to a balanced budget;

·                There was good news that £1.7 million of transformation funding had been made available to carry out deep dive work.  This funding would support the development of roles and capacity to undertake the work associated with the DBV programme.  It had been agreed to delay this start of this work until summer 2023 as this would enable key positions and capacity to be in place to alight to the timetable for the DBV work.  Schools Forum would be kept updated on this work;

·                There was to be an additional £2.9 million of funding of the High Needs block to support an uplift in funding to Special Schools of 3.4%.  A further protection through a positive minimum funding guarantee (MFG) for special schools of 3% has been applied to funding rates from 2021-22.  These are to reflect HNB operational guidance and are new for 2023-24.  It was planned to support early intervention support work in Wiltshire with the balance.  Whilst there were two options available – namely to offset the deficit or to support activity linked to High Needs budget work it was felt more appropriate to utilise the balance to support work and early intervention to our children and families, supporting them at an earlier stage to hopefully reduce future demand;

·                An extension to accounting override on the High Needs block deficit for a further 3 years had been granted by central Government to 31 March 2026, however, the override past this point was unclear.  For now this gave short term certainty and would allow time for them to understand the Wiltshire and other LA’s position; and

·                An investment request/growth bid was due to be submitted to Cabinet soon to reflect the significant and ongoing growth within SEND.

The slides are attached to the minutes as Appendix 1.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the SEND update.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to update Schools Forum and outline the level of additional capital funding and how it will be allocated to schools in the 2022-23 year.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) referred to the report which sought to update Schools Forum and outline the level of additional capital funding and how it will be allocated to schools in the 2022-23 year and highlighted the following:

·                In December 2022 the DfE announced an additional £500 million capital funding for the 2022-23 year to be prioritised on projects that improve a school estate’s energy efficiency.  Where individual schools judge that this is not appropriate based on local circumstances, schools have discretion to spend this on other capital projects.  The DfE had issued guidance on  how schools could improve their energy efficiency and reduce their energy costs and the funding could be rolled forward into 2023-24;

·                Schools should have already received this funding which was allocated as a £10,000 lump sum and then a weighted pupil rate of £20.06 depending on the pupils at the school; and

·                The DfE are only able to fund 90% of costs for VA schools as VA Governing Bodies are responsible for their own capital works and are also unable to recover VAT.  The net impact of the VA factor is a multiplier of x 1.08 which in effect increases their DFC allocation by 8%, to take account of the unrecoverable VAT.

A maintained schools representative asked if schools could decide to use the funding for example for staffing costs and if there would be any recourse if this was chosen?  Grant Davis responded that the funding must be spent on capital expenditure and could not be used for staffing or any other revenue costs.

An early years representative asked if a weighting would be applied for children in mainstream schools but with higher needs attending resource bases for example.  Grant Davis said that he would need to check and clarify that position, but the weighting is based upon the type of school rather than pupil characteristics.

The Salisbury Diocesan representative reported that their schools in Dorset and Wiltshire were carrying out decarbonisation surveys.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the report on additional school capital funding for 2022-23.

To consider the budget for 2023-24.

The following update reports provide details on the overall funding settlement on each of the funding blocks, the decisions will be made after consideration of all the update papers via the decision matrix.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to update Schools Forum on the revenue funding settlement and the budget setting process for 2023-24.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) referred to the report which sought to update Schools Forum on the revenue funding settlement and the budget setting process for 2023-24 and highlighted the following:

·                The DfE had issued the revenue funding settlement for schools on 16 December 2022.   2022-23 was the final year of the ‘Boris Billions’ which had pledged a cash increase of £14.5 billion over 3 years from 2020-21.  There had also been a further pledge for high needs over the 3 years;

·                For the 2023-24 year there and been increase of £2.3 billion in to overall Schools Block and a further £400 million had been pledged for the High Needs for the year;

·                The Schools Block of funding had now incorporated the 2022-23 Schools Supplementary Grant funding rates and these were now baselined into the NFF rates.  It was another ‘soft’ year with local Schools Forum still retaining its role in determining the school funding allocation methodology.  The DfE have indicated their intention to move to ‘hard’ NFF by 2027-28.  In the meantime there would be a tightening towards the full NFF but this would not impact Wiltshire who were already following the NFF funding factors;

·                The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) had been adjusted to ensure all schools gain through the per pupil allocations and must be set between 0.0% and 0.5%.  For the 2023-24 year the overall funding through the NFF had increased by 1.9%.  Core pupil led factors and the lump sum increased by 2.4% and disadvantaged funding, FSM6 and IDACI factors increased by 4.3%.  The minimum per pupil funding level increased by 3.3% and the FSM factor had increased by 2%;

·                A transfer of up to 0.5% of Schools block funding to the High Needs block was permitted subject to Schools Forum approval;

·                The Local Authority Monitoring and Brokering (LAMB) grant would be phased out completely and LA’s were able to de-delegate funding from maintained schools to support school improvement;

·                The DfE would continue to pay Business rates on behalf of all schools liaising with the LA directly around this;

·                The Pupil Premium rates for 2023-24 were being uplifted by 5%;

·                The provisional DSG allocation was £452.297 million which was increase of £29.887 million from 2022-23;

·                Due to previous prudent decision making Wiltshire was able to fully fund their schools, but Officers were aware of colleagues in other LA’s who were not able to fully fund their schools this financial year;

·                There had been a drop in the numbers of primary school pupils but it was marginal at 1.5% bearing in mind the birth rate drops of 10%.  There had been an increase in secondary school pupils and overall for the 2023-24 the increase was 109 pupils;

·                Included within the Schools Block funding of £346.293 million is the amount of £1.964 allocated on the basis of pupil growth within Wiltshire;

·                The uplifted funding for the High Needs block reflected and included Wiltshire’s share of the £400 million additional funding announced for High Needs in 2023-24  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10a

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to update Schools Forum on issues relating to the early years block for 2023-24 and the decisions that will need to be made as part of the budget setting process for 2023-24.

Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) referred to the report which sought to update Schools Forum on issues related to the Early Years block for 2023-24 and the decisions that would need to be made as part of the budget setting process and highlighted the following:

·            The operational guidance or the Early Years block confirms that Schools Forums must be consulted on changes to local early years funding formula including agreeing central spend although the final decision rests with the LA;

·            In his 2021 Spending Review, the Chancellor announced a number of national increases to increase early years entitlements. For 2023-24 this would be £180 million and this included uplifts to the 2, 3 and 4 year old rates as well as uplifts to the disability access fund and pupil premium.  The Autumn 202 budget included an additional £20 million response to the National Living Wage increase announced for next year;

·            The provisional early years block settlement for Wiltshire for 2023-24 is £32.603 million.  The allocations for the free entitlement for 3 and 4-year olds, and for 2-year olds are based on the January 2022 census and would be updated during the 2023-24 financial year for the January 2023 census;

·            The operational guidance for early years entitlements: local authority funding of providers 2023-24 was published in December 2022 and this contained a number of key points for the local authority to include when they were funding their providers;

·            There were no major changes identified by the DfE in their operational guide although there were some relatively minor changes to the funding formula following a DfE consultation in 2022;

·            The Early Years Reference Group met on 6 January 2023 and considered a number of funding options attached as Appendix 1 to this report.  The consensus of the group was to support the LA recommendation to

i)  passport in full the 2 year old disadvantaged rate of £5.75 per entitled hour which was an increase of 6p on the previous year and

ii)    To set the 3 and 4 year old rate at £4.68 per entitled hour, an increase of 20p on the previous year whilst providing a lower than usual contingency of £19k to absorb any increases in children throughout the 2023-24 financial year

·            Rurality and deprivation had been increased slightly in line with the forecast spend for the 2022-23 year.  There was an increase for the central Early Years staffing to bear in mind the higher than inflation pay award for 2022-23 and the anticipated 4.5% award for 2023-24;

·            It was proposed to keep the Early Years Inclusion Support Fund at the same level because of the positive reserve.  As part of the preventative inclusive agenda and as part of the recovery actions for the High Needs block, an additional sum of £0.180 million was to be ringfenced from the High Needs block to support longer hours of the inclusion support fund;

·            The DAF rate of £828 per child and the Early Years Pupil Premium  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10b

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to update Schools Forum on issues relating to the Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) budget for the 2023-24 financial year and the decisions that will need to be made as part of the budget setting process.

Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) referred to the report which sought to update Schools Forum on issues relating to the central school’s block budget for 2023-24 and the decisions that would need to be made as part of the budget setting process.  Marie highlighted the following:

·                The central school services block budget allocation was £2.600m and this had been calculated using the NFF which applies a unit value of £36.75 to the pupil numbers from the October 2022 census.  Funding for historic commitments for 2023-24 would then be added to the amount of funding generated by the formula to give the overall total CSSB;

·                Schools Forum approval was required on a line by line basis for the group of services which are funded from the Central School Services block;

·                Section A related to copyright licences being set at £457k although no decision was required by Schools Forum;

·                Section C related to historical commitments with the overall total of £235k being allocated.  This would reduce by 20% year on year; and

·                This would leave a balance of £133k unallocated and available to transfer to the High Needs block and it was proposed to do this again this ear.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the change to the copyright licence cost for 2023-24 and reduction in the contribution to the High Needs block in the report and the required decisions below to the Central School Services block budget for 2023-24.  

i)             Section A – central copyright licences -consult only

ii)            Section B – central functions - approve on a line-by-line basis

iii)           Section C – historic commitments -approve on a line-by-line basis

Including the transfer of surplus CSSB grant to support the high needs block.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to update Schools Forum on issues relating to the schools delegated budget for 2023-24 and the decisions that need to be made as part of the budget setting process.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager referred to the report which sought to update on the revenue funding settlement and the budget setting process for 2023-24 and highlighted the following:

·         The DfE had allocated a Schools block quantum to Wiltshire of £346.293 million - this included funding of £1.964 million for the growth fund, based on the growth formula;

·         Modelling work had  been prepared to calculate individual school budgets based on the DfE’s NFF. The main funding formula for 2023-24 was broadly similar to the formula for 2022-23 but the following changes should be noted:

Ø  An increase in Pupil and School led funding values of 2.4% with
Deprivation funding increased by 4.3%

Ø  Minimum Funding Guarantee set between 0.0% and 0.5% to ensure all schools see a gain in funding on their pupil led funding.  It was proposed to set this for Wiltshire at 0.5%

Ø  Increases in the minimum per pupil funding levels (MPPFL) to £4,405 and £5,715 in primary and secondary schools

·                Agreement was given by Schools Forum in December 2022 to transfer £1.716 million (0.5%) to the High Needs block which would then mean there was £341 million available for school funding and once the NFF requirements had been taken would leave £532,650 for the Growth Fund and Officers were confident that this was sufficient for the demands for the year;

·                There had been growth of 198 primary and 725 secondary pupils during 2022-23, within the DfE’s growth areas, and there were no plans to open any new schools in the 2023-24 year.  The Basic Need Class Expansion for additional classes was still to be confirmed with colleagues for the 2023-24 year and no more than 4 schools were expected to be funded through the Infant Class Size increases;

·                Setting a positive MFG of 0.5% was fully affordable and would ensure that all schools see an uplift in their ‘per pupil’ funding of at least 0.5%. The cost to the formula in 2023-24 is £165k, subject to decisions to be taken later by Schools Forum; and

·                As part of the DfE’s proposals to support small and rural schools, the maximum sparsity value for primary schools has now increased to £56,300, with Secondary schools increasing to £81,900.  There were 66 eligible primary schools and 2 secondary schools.

Resolved that Schools Forum:

1.    Note the Schools Block update report.

2.    Agree to apply all the funding factors at the 2023-24 NFF rates.

3.    Note the stability and impact of the Sparsity factor.

4.    Agree to set the Minimum Funding Guarantee at a level of 0.5%.

5.    Agree to transfer 0.5% of the Schools Block to the High Needs Block, £1.716m, as the funding formula is affordable.

6.    Agree that the Growth fund be set at £0.533m.

(The decisions numbered 2-6 above were made later in the meeting under Agenda item 11)

The Forum agreed to suspend the meeting at 3.05pm for a comfort break.  The meeting reconvened at 3.10pm.

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to update Schools Forum and outline the level of additional funding and how it will be allocated to schools in the 2023-24 year.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) referred to the report which sought to outline on the level of additional funding and how it will be allocated in schools in the 2023-24 year and highlighted the following:

·                At the December meeting it was announced that there would be an additional £2 billion of funding for mainstream schools and high needs during 2023-24 in support of the general costs of living expenses, pay awards and the wider cost pressures in schools.  The remaining £400 million was allocated to High Needs of which Wiltshire’s share is £2.94 million;

·                To differentiate between grants in 2022-23, this grant is called the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant and would be introduced from 1 April 2023 and would apply to maintained and academy schools.  It is proposed that from 2024-25 that the additional funding would be baselined and incorporated into the NFF values and therefore the MSAG will only be paid separately for this financial year;

·                The funding would be allocated using 3 elements using data from the October 2022 census

i)             a basic per pupil rate based upon the key stages

ii)            A lump sum to be paid to all schools of £4,510

iii)           A per pupil rate for FSM6 pupils (different rates for primary and secondary)

·                There was an indicative allocations calculator provided on Right Choice which schools could use and the actual amounts would be confirmed in the Spring.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the report on the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant for 2023-24.

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to update Schools Forum on issues relating to the high needs block for 2023-24 and the decisions that will need to be made as part of the budget setting process for 2023-24.

Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) referred to the revised report and appendices circulated with the Agenda supplement which sought to update Schools Forum on issues relating to the high needs block budget for 2023-24 and the decisions that would need to be made as part of the budget setting process.  Marie highlighted the following:

·                The DfE made late changes to the High Needs block allocation following publication of the Agenda and so the report and appendices were updated and were contained in the Agenda supplement.  The total High Needs allocation for 2023-24 was £70.918 million and a later “additional high needs” allocation of £2.942 million to fund the cost burden of energy, teachers and support staff pay and other cost pressures plus the 3.4% additional grant payable to Special Schools;

·                Whilst this additional funding was welcome it would still not keep pace with our spending but the DfE have recognised the additional pressures on the High Needs block;

·                The recent SEN Review did not indicate that any more money would be forthcoming and it was anticipated that the findings would be published in the summer;

·                The recovery actions of the High Needs Block Working Group continue and Schools Forum monitor these in conjunction with ongoing discussions with the DfE;

·                As part of the Additional High Needs funding, the DfE have allocated £2.942 to Wiltshire.  After calculation of the Special Schools 3.4% increase, it was proposed to hold this grant separately and rather than continuing to reduce the funding gap, these funds could be used to invest in early help and prevention;

·                The Special Schools would receive a total funding uplift of 3.4% in full and it was planned that there would be consultation with Special Schools School Business Managers to check that the placement numbers were correct.  It was not clear from the guidance if this would be baselined or was a one off grant;

·                The current forecast overspend on the School Funding reserve was £34.734 million.    Wiltshire had done their fair share of lobbying and involvement with the F40 group and they would be involved in the DfE’s programme of intervention work - Delivering Better Value programme to start in June 2023;

·                At a recent conference attended it was reported that 75% of LA’s were in deficit or did not have ‘Good’ Ofsted inspection outcomes – the whole country was struggling with the funding of high needs; and

·                Council transformational funding of £1.6 million had been earmarked to support a significant programme of change which would align with the DBV programme to facilitate financial recovery for Wiltshire;

The Salisbury Diocesan representative asked for clarity around the decision to not badge the additional grant against the in year shortfall of £16 million but to elect to invest in early help to aid long term recovery.  Marie Taylor confirmed this was the case.

Resolved: That Schools Forum

1.    Note the pressures on the high needs block for 2023-24 and the potential options to reduce the shortfall against  ...  view the full minutes text for item 10f

Schools Forum will be asked to consider the School Budgets for 2023-24 and make relevant decisions using the decisions matrix.

The Chair led the Forum though the Decision Matrix and the decisions as detailed below were made:

Resolved: That Schools Forum

Overall budget

1.     Agree to set the overall Schools Budget at the level of the DSG Settlement – namely £452,296,572. 

Central Schools Services Block

2.     Note the Local Authority Decision (Section A) to set the budget at £0.457 million for central copyright licences for 2023-24. 

3.     Agree as follows the Section B expenditure for the Central Schools Services:

i)       Education Welfare Service                         £0.221 million

ii)     Asset Management                                       £0.206 million

iii)    Statutory/Regulatory duties                       £0.743 million

iv)    Admissions                                                     £0.474 million

v)     Servicing of Schools Forum                       £0.003 million

vi)    Centrally retained Teachers

      additional pension costs                             £0.127 million

4.     Agree as follows the central spend on historic commitments (Section C):

i)       Funding for LAC Personal Education Plans be funded at £0.103 million;

ii)     Funding for Child Protection Officer in Schools Adviser at £0.056 million; and

iii)    Prudential Borrowing at £0.076 million.

5.         Note that these allocations allow a transfer of £0.133 million to support the high needs block.

Schools Block – Delegated Budget

6.     Agree to apply all the funding factors at the 2023-24 NFF rates.

7.     Note the stability and impact of the Sparsity factor.

8.     Agree to set the Minimum Funding Guarantee at a level of +0.5%.

9.     Agree that the Growth fund be set at £0.533 million split as £0.1 million Infant Class Size and £0.433 million basic need.

10.  Agree to transfer up to a maximum of £1.716 million (0.5%) from School’s block to High Needs block.

11.  Agree that the budgets for De-delegation of central services be as follows:

i)       Access Budget Software                   £57,105

ii)     FSM Eligibility                                      £30,218

iii)    Trade Union                                          £28,064 (total budget academies

                                                                   & Maintained is £76,000)

iv)    EMAS & Travellers                            £589,911  (Primary only)

v)     Behaviour support                            £694,579  (Primary only)

vi)    Maternity supply                                £606,825

vii)  School Improvement (LAMB)         £459,000

High Needs Block  

12.  Set the Minimum Funding Guarantee for Special Schools uplift at 3% between 2021-22 and 2023-24 as required by DfE guidance.

13.  Set the 2023-24 funding for Special Schools to increase by 3.4% (place and top up) in line with mainstream schools as per revised DfE Guidance of 11 January 2023 (Note the use of the DfE’s Supplementary funding grant of £2.9 million).

14.  Note the pressures on the high needs block for 2023-24 and the potential options to reduce the shortfall against high needs budgets including agreeing a transfer from Schools Block to balance the high needs pressures.

15.  Note the investment from the Local Authority’s transformation reserve of £1.6m.  This will pre-date and align with Delivering Better Value funding from the DfE.

16.  Provide views on the approach to deploy the additional High Needs Block funding in 2023-24, funding the Special Schools minimum funding guarantee and invest in early help, prevention and long term recovery.

Early Years Block

17.  Agree to increase the current rate of 2-year-old funding to £5.75 and 3 and 4-year-old funding to £4.68 per hour.

18.  Note that pay inflation  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11.

To confirm the dates of future meetings, as follows all to start at 1.30pm:

16 March 2023 (if required) (Planned to be via Microsoft Teams)

8 June 2023 (Planned to be via Microsoft Teams)

5 October 2023 (Planned to be via Microsoft Teams)

7 December 2023 (Planned to be face to face).

The Forum noted that the future meetings would be held on:

16 March 2023 (if required)

8 June 2023

5 October 2023

5 December 2023.

To consider any other items of business, which the Chair agrees to consider as a matter of urgency.

There were no urgent items.