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 2022-23 as at 31 August 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 31 August 2022 and highlighted the following:

• The overspend forecast of £7.037M was already out of date as at the end of September – the main driver for this was the ongoing pressures on the high needs block, the reasons for which are known and understood and work was ongoing;

• There was a forecast underspend of £2,366M on the early years block and this was due to the demand and the budget being based on the previous year’s numbers of take up.  There were also low birth rates forecast in the county which may contribute.  This underspend is unavailable to be used by the LA as it would likely be all recalled by the DfE as part of the post financial year adjustment;

• Early years Officers have submitted a bid to the Director of Public Health for more COMF grant funding to support early years settings.  This was being discussed by the Corporate Leadership Team today and it was hoped that this would be successful – an update would be shared at the next meeting;

• The forecast underspend on the schools block largely related to the school supply cover fund which currently shows a forecast underspend and is helping to offset the overall pressure on the DSG;

·      The high needs block was due to overspend and the figure had risen from £9.414M in September 2022.  The biggest areas of overspend were Independent Special School packages, alternative provision, named pupil allowances and top ups.  When the level of funding available does not match the local needs, the budget cannot be set at an achievable level and so the location of the overspend is not an indication of individual budget issues but that the whole block under significant pressure;

·      Following the pandemic, when professionals could not assess children and young people in school, EHC assessments were delayed due to inevitable backlog.  Whilst Officers had put in place temporary support funding to support learners, they had not seen the same rate of growth in plans, and the assumptions around future plans would need constant adjustment to be as accurate as possible;

·      There was a small forecast overspend in the central schools services block driven by a higher than budgeted pay award and not achieving the 6.5% vacancy factor;

·      The DSG reserve brought forward of £25.973M is increased by the positive early years block adjustment of £0.564M.  The forecast overspend would take the reserve in to an overall deficit position of £32.446M; and

·      At their meeting on 3 October 2022, the Early Years Reference Group considered the limited one off usage of the early years contingency fund a project to support children for school readiness and support for vulnerable early years pupils with additional needs to reduce the pressure on the primary sector. This will be raised at the high needs recovery group.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the year end budget monitoring position as at 31 August 2022 in conjunction with the high needs recovery plan.