Agenda item

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) provides an update on the current work of the f40 group, towards a fairer funding model for schools.   

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) referred to the report which outlined the current work of the f40 group which work towards a fairer funding model for schools.  Grant highlighted the following:

·       The group currently comprises 42 of the lowest funded authorities in England, with Wiltshire being the 7^th lowest.  F40 seeks fairness and equal opportunities for all children regardless of where they live;

·       The additional £1.3bn which accompanied the introduction of the National Funding Formula (NFF) was welcomed, but it still does not fully address the ‘fairness’ which f40 had fought for;

·       The main points being campaigned for are:

-       Removal of historical inequalities and funding protections

-       Increases in the basic entitlements for schools to cover core school costs

-       Increase in funding of £2.3bn to cover current cost pressures

-       Index-lined increases in funding each year

-       Additional £1.4bb of funding towards High Needs provision

·              One of the key changes under the NFF was the introduction of the minimum funding levels (MFL) per pupil, but this application is unfair as it means that schools with medium levels of deprivation are being funded at the same levels as schools with little deprivation;

·              The f40 group is trying to establish what the NFF is trying to achieve as it is not clear what the government expects of schools compared to social care, mental healthcare and other SEND needs;

·              The f40 funding model looks to distribute the national school’s budget to local authorities on a clear rationale as currently there is insufficient funding to cover basic classroom costs;

·              The f40 group would like to bring all funding formulas together to allocate the same flat rate per pupil across all regions and then appropriate area cost adjustments would be applied accordingly and ideally all current grant funding streams (i.e. Pupil Premium) would be in the overall proposed model;

·              The Schools Block should be distributed between local authorities on six formula factors:

-       Basic entitlement (formerly age weighted pupil unit)

-       Deprivation (based on EVER 6 FSM data only)

-       Low prior attainment

-       English as an Additional Language (EAL)

-       Lump sum

-       Sparsity

·              The f40 group believe that Local Authorities and their Schools Forums should continue to be able to add additional factors e.g. split sites and leases, shift funding between the three blocks and agree any de-delegations from all LA maintained schools; and

·              There are no incentives to keep pupils with difficult behaviour or with SEND in school and therefore greater numbers of pupils are being ‘pushed out’ with the costs being borne by the High Needs Block.  The £10,000 per place for special schools has not risen since 2014 – it is felt that at the very least it should be increased for inflation.

Grant took the Forum through the tables in the Agenda which was the f40 groups model formula to the 2018/19 NFF dataset to show the impact this could have on the schools funding and how the monies should be distributed.

Wiltshire have agreed to sign up and support the work of the f40 group and Grant’s counterparts in Hampshire and Dorset are part of the f40 group meeting.

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the update and support the work of the f40 group.