Agenda item

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children & Education) seeks to update the Forum on issues relating to the High Needs block for 2022-23 and the decisions that will need to be made as part of the budget setting process for 2022-23.

Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) referred to her report which sought to update Schools Forum on issues related to the high needs block and the decisions that would need to be made as part of the budget setting process for 2022-23 and highlighted the following:

·         The budget proposal for the high needs block was approved in principle at meeting on 9 December 2021 and that the only changes since this are the now confirmed planned places for September 2022 and the DSG management plan in discussion with the DfE;

·         The high needs block allocation is £62.691m (which is an uplift of £5.161m – 8.97% on 2021-22).  In addition to the allocation, a later supplementary allocation of £2.415m had been added and this was to fund the cost burden of the health and social care levy and other cost pressures;

·         Estimated contract inflation of 4% for 2022-23 had been added and a 2% pay inflation for SEN teams;

·         £1m had been allocated to a temporary support fund to tackle the SEN waiting lists in schools and £100k was added to increase the Day 6 provision to reduce the risk of exclusion in primary schools;

·         An increase to the Inclusion Support Fund (ISF) was proposed to be funded by the high needs block at £180k in addition to the funding for the ISF from the early years block;

·         There was an estimated funding shortfall of £11,160m and it was anticipated that there would continue to be an overspend in 2022-23;

·         The DfE had allocated an amount of £325m as supplementary funding - £2.415m of which had been allocated to Wiltshire.  This was extra funding that recognises the additional costs that local authorities and schools will face in the coming year, which were not foreseen when the original high needs block allocations were calculated, including the Health and Social Care Levy.  Due to the lateness of this supplementary funding – detailed modelling had not taken place and Officers met with South West peers on 12 January to discuss and share modelling ideas;

·         The preferred approach was to set up interim arrangements supporting specialist planned places for 12 months during 2022-23 as well as allowing for increases in externally commissioned provision.  This would allow more time for consultation with schools and parent carers via the Wiltshire Parent Carer Council. The proposal would be a banding review with the supplementary funding increasing the ongoing base budget available for distribution.;

·         It was proposed to apply 3% to Special Schools overall funding, to apply 2% to mainstream specialist places and apply in addition to current top up rates and named pupil allowances to take into account the schools block supplementary funding.  It was highlighted that special schools had not received any funding increase for some time.  Also it was proposed to add 3% to the value of secondary alternative provision service level agreements, to increase further education top up budget by £1.038m and allocate 2% to offset externally commissioned fee increases; and

·         The management plan was still being drafted and had been delayed due to staff shortages.  When officers had had the opportunity to meet with the DfE they would bring the plan back to the Forum and would include the DfE’s views and commentary.

An early year’s representative commented that she appreciated the approach that the local authority had taken with regard to the supplementary funding and asked if the funding would apply to actual place numbers or planned place numbers in Special Schools and High Needs settings.

Marie Taylor reported that this Supplementary Funding was awarded based upon High Needs records held by the DfE and that the funding was a fixed finite pot and therefore apportioning the funding would need to be contained within the cash envelope quantum[DG1] .   She suggested that the September 2022 actual pupil[TM2]  data would be a sensible point in time

The early years representative asked if a threshold % increase would be considered so it was less burdensome for schools?

The Chair reported that funding was determined using a ‘moment in time’ with regard to learner and place numbers and therefore we should stick to applying funding on this basis and stick with it. 

Marie Taylor added that they could look at having an exception – however the total quantum would remain fixed - it was agreed there may need to be a small sum available for exceptions where numbers of children increased significantly after September 2022.

The maintained primary special school governor representative appreciated that special schools would be benefiting from some of the supplementary grant funding and reported that they had been struggling along with no recent funding  increases and certainly did not have the large reserves that some schools have to fall back on. 

Resolved: That Schools Forum

1.     Note the pressures on the high needs block for 2022-23 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.

2.     Note the continuation of recovery actions feeding into the DSG Management Plan and that this will be brought to a future Schools Forum meeting as part of the High Needs Recovery update report.

3.     Approve the approach to deploy supplementary funding in 2022-23 and including future funds into a banding review planned to start this year.