Agenda item

The report of Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) seeks to update Schools Forum regarding the content of the Department for Education’s (DfE) operational guidance on School Revenue Funding for the 2021 to 2022 year.

Grant Davis (Schools Strategic Financial Support Manager) referred to the report which sought to update the Forum on the content of the DfE’s operational guidance on School Revenue funding for the 2021/22 year.  Grant highlighted the following:

·       The operational guidance for school revenue funding would normally be announced in the autumn/winter but this year the funding proposal for 2020/21 was received at the end of July which provides Schools Forum and the schools with a greater lead in period of making strategic decisions.  The DfE had confirmed their commitment to move to a “hard” National Funding Formula (NFF) in the future but no date is confirmed yet;

·       Indicative figures (based on the October 2019 census) were shared showing the anticipated DSG allocations going into 2021/22.  It was noted that the schools block and high needs block would receive an uplift of 3.4% and 10.66% respectively and the central block would receive a slight reduction.  The early years settlement had not yet been received;

·       The Teachers Pay and Pension grants would cease to be paid as separate grants at the end of the 2020/21 year but would be built into the core baseline funding for schools.  The good news is that we had expected the Teachers Pay Grant to cease at the end of the 2020/21 year;

·       Overall, there would be roughly a 4% uplift in the LA’s funding for the overall DSG next year;

·       The AWPU rates would be increased by £180 for primary and £265 for secondary schools in recognition of the ceasing of the Teachers Pay and Pension Grants;

·       The minimum per pupil funding levels would be set at £4,180 in primary and £5,415 in secondary schools;

·       There would be a 3% increase in the school’s formula core pupil and school led factors;

·       Premises factors would be funded at the LA level without inflationary increases;

·       The IDACI funding had been refreshed;

·       There would be an increase in the maximum primary sparsity funding for primary schools from £26k to £45k.  All schools should see an increase in their core funding by at least 2%.  It was not yet known what the growth funding would look like this year, but protection was being put in place such that no LA should lose out on this because of a drop in growth in their areas;

·       Based on the DSG Schools block allocation indication received, less the growth fund and any transfer to other blocks, Officers believe that the allocation should be fully affordable to fund our schools.  De-delegation would be discussed later in the meeting;

·       Schools Forum would need to consider this year the introduction of the Mobility Factor – last year it was agreed that this would not be introduced, and it freed up £571k that was used to transfer to the high needs block.  It was felt at that time that many of the schools affected by the mobility factor were of a service nature and the MOD’s have their own Education Support Fund to access and that was one of the key reasons why this was not implemented previously;

·       The DfE were increasing the funding available through Sparsity and would be reviewing their support for small rural schools with a consultation out later in the year which would be shared with the Forum;

·       The Split site allowance question would be dealt with in a separate report later in the meeting:

·       Under the latest guidance we will still be able to transfer up to 0.5% of the school’s block allocation to other blocks and historically the LA had done that, and Schools Forum would be asked to consider that at a future meeting;

·       These questions were being posed now to allow time for any members to make any observations, raise questions before the points are considered at the School Funding Working Group and Schools Forum meetings in December 2020;

A Secondary School representative asked if the Teachers Pay and Pension grants would remain visible (on a separate line) within the funding to ensure schools can see that it is there.  Grant Davis responded that it this amount would not be shown separately as the DfE had decided to include it in the baseline figures, but they had checked that it was included.  However, this was good news as it was assumed that this grant would not continue beyond this year.  The decision to include it as part of the AWPU per pupil funding ensured the funding would be baselined and continued for all future years.

A Special School representative asked about the Teachers Pay and Pension grants to Special Schools and how they would be reflected in their funding.  Grant Davis reported that they were awaiting clarification from the DfE as to how this should be paid but confirmed that they would receive a £660 per place uplift as part of this payment.

The diocesan representative wished to make Schools Forum aware that there was a predominance of small rural schools in Wiltshire/Dorset so for those schools the sparsity factor was a big issue.  Nationally there are about 33% of small rural schools – the South West figure was 52% factor.  There was a key risk around the small rural schools and keeping that education to a good standard, so it was urged for forum members and their groups to look out for the consultation when it was issued and to respond as appropriate. 

Resolved:

That Schools Forum note the report.