Agenda item

The report of Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) seeks to update Schools Forum on issues related to the high needs block for 2020-21 and the decisions that will need to be made as part of the budget setting process for 2020-21.  Appendix 1 to the report (detailed modelling) is to follow.  At the meeting there will be an update/presentation from Officers on behalf of the Director for Education & Skills.

Marie Taylor (Head of Finance – Children and Education) referred to her report which should 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 2020-21.  Marie highlighted the following:

·       The funding settlement for the high needs block is £51.996 million which has been calculated according to the new NFF for high needs.  The DfE have promised us that there will be a review of the high needs block funding formula for 2021/22.  Wiltshire’s high needs funding remains insufficient, and the figure above has an additional £4.441 million (Wiltshire’s share of the additional £680 million, with £100 million held centrally for adjustments announced by the Government in August 2019);

·       The estimate of the additional pressure to meet the current spend levels is £6.5 million with a further allowance of £0.5 million included for 2019/20.  It is hoped that this will not be needed but there could be moves/costly placements in this time.  The is also the pressures of the estimated cost increase of EHCPs, estimated contract inflation, pay inflation for SEN teams, and an increase in Special School and Resource Base Planned Places for 2019/20;

·       Also included in the cost pressures is a possible contribution of £1.5 million towards the DSG deficit reserve so that the Authority can work towards having an £8 million deficit down from £9.5 million.  This totals a total cost pressure for 2020/21 of £14.400 million.  The estimate assumes that the Special Schools Places etc remain at that level; and

·       A suggestion was that to balance the budget consideration is given to transferring £5.767m from schools block, but this was modelled through and it is not affordable.  To balance the budget, it is recommended that there is a transfer from the central block to the high needs block as previous years, of £0.185m there is a transfer of schools funding to the high needs block, at a level to be discussed in the decision making part of the meeting and £1.6 million be transferred from the DfE estimated growth fund which is surplus to estimated growth for 2020/21 into the Schools Block.

Helean Hughes (Director of Education and Skills) referred to her presentation (updated version attached as Appendix 1)   Helean highlighted the following:

·       The EHCP growth year on year and that the overspend is increasing;

·       The journey so far and what had been put in place to work to reduce the high needs block pressures;

·       That the SEN teams moved to Education and Skills in January 2020 which will ensure more alignment to early years, school effectiveness and employment and skills.  A new SEND Inclusion Strategy was due to be signed off in March 2020.  The SEND Board had been re-established which would ensure local oversight within a multi-agency board;

·       Additional Specialist School places were planned with a £33 million commitment from the Local Authority together with additional resource bases and school expansions;

·       There was a Strategic Financial Recovery Plan with 3 themes with a number of projects/actions to support the process:

i)               Inclusive practice in schools

ii)              Place planning

iii)            Project planning

·       There were projects in place to recover the high needs block deficit which included:

i)               Dyslexia friendly schools

ii)              An inclusion and school effectiveness project

iii)            Re-evaluating and redeveloping the approach for Enhanced Learning Provision (ELP) and Resource Base (RB) provision in schools;

iv)            Looking at SEND assessment and EHCP’s

v)             Review of INMSS Independent Non-Maintained Special Schools including commission challenge

vi)            Look at the Post 16 transition

vii)           Develop an alternative provision for students with EHCP’s

viii)         Digital solutions

ix)            Early intervention and support project.

An Early Years representative wished to highlight that in paragraph 6 of the report (page 52) that it stated that the cost pressure estimate assumed that the early years inclusion support fund would continue to be funded from the early years block.  He wished to remined the Forum that previously the early years block was in surplus, but this block was now in deficit as they had taken in the inclusion support.  This was eating into 95% of what was allocated and was going to eat into the rates all of the time. The concern from early years representatives was that they continue to absorb the high needs pressures to help the budget, but this has become, an implanted risk and they were seeing more and more nurseries closing.

Marie Taylor reported that the minimum that could be retained was 5% and that the funding levels might get better, but if all this was to go to inclusion support then we wouldn’t be any better off.  The demand for early years had changed and it was hoped that there could be a further discussion/review around early years funding later in the year. 

The Forum wished for it to be recorded that the decision was made this time last year to support the high needs block as a one off, but this could not happen indefinitely.

Marie reminded the Forum that the School Funding and SEN Working Group would be looking at the spend of NPA and Top Up Values as they are assumed to increase by 10% but a proposal is being made to reduce values by 10%.

The Local Authority has committed spend to aid the high needs recovery plan including the building of the new Special School with up to 450 places which is funded from borrowing of £33 million over 40 years at a cost of £1.5m per annum for each of the 40 years.

The level of £9.5 million of the DSG deficit reserve will require the submission of a report and recovery plan to the Secretary of State.  Officers were disappointed that the results of the DfE’s consultation on changing the conditions and regulations of the DSG had not been received and it was hoped that the Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Skills may be able to chase the Minister for a response, but this was unlikely to be in time for the setting of the 2020/21 budget. 

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the pressures on the high needs block and the preferred option to reduce the shortfall against high needs budgets and that the budget decisions would be made later in the meeting.