Agenda item

The Schools Forum received an update from the Director of Children and Families relating to the Schools Budget for 2024-25.

Central Provisions

The Forum was reminded that the Growth Funding was allocated to the local authority on a formula basis. The allocation for 2024-25 was £3.3m, and the funding had been used to fund growth above the census in the National Funding Formula (NFF). The remaining funding would be held centrally to meet commitments under the infant class size and exceptional growth fund policies. The amount retained centrally was £2.6m. Any underspend would be transferred to the DSG reserve as per the deficit management plan.

At the November Schools Forum meeting, maintained schools approved a levy per pupil for Education Functions of £57.87. Due to a change in the number on roll at maintained schools, the Forum was informed that the final levy for 2023-24 had been set slightly higher at £57.93 per pupil.

Individual School Budgets

The Individual Schools’ Budget represented the largest part of the funding for the majority of schools. Formula Budgets were based on the NFF as approved by Schools Forum. The NFF included a minimum per pupil funding level. For 2024-25 the minimum funding levels per pupil were £4,610 for primary, £5,771 for Key Stage 3 and £6,331 for Key Stage 4. The budget also included a Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) of +0.5% per pupil from the 2023-24 baseline. A summary of School Budgets for 2024-25 had been included in Appendix 1 to the report. Within the NFF, the core funding factors had been increased by 1.4% and free school meals funding rates had increased by 1.6%. To ensure the NFF remained affordable within the Schools Block DSG allocation, gains had been capped at 1.25%.

The Forum was reminded that the request to transfer 0.5% of Schools Block DSG funding to High Needs had been approved by the Secretary of State, and £3.2m had been transferred.

Early Years Funding

The government’s 2023 Spring Budget announced additional funding for the existing early years entitlements for working parents, by extending the 30 hours free childcare offer from the point their child was 9 months old continuously through their early years to the start of school removing the barriers to work. The introduction of this entitlement would be rolled out in stages on a phased basis.

The Council consulted with Early Years providers on the additional entitlements in November/December 2023, and the results of the consultation alongside the proposed funding formulae were presented to Schools Forum in January 2024. A workshop was held on the 30 January 2024 with the Early Years Reference Group. The discussions held during the workshop, and subsequent response from the Early Years Reference Group, were considered alongside the final proposals.

For 2024-25, Staffordshire County Council (SCC) had been awarded a national funding rate of £5.47 per hour for 3 & 4-year-olds, £7.66 per hour for 2-year-olds, and £10.40 per hour for under 2-year-olds.

The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) had increased by 6p, from 62p to 68p per hour per eligible child. The government had also extended eligibility for the EYPP to all children accessing the entitlements from 2024-25.

The base rate had been set as £5.08 per hour per child for 3 & 4-year-olds, £7.59 per hour per child for 2-year-olds and £9.48 per hour per child for under 2-year-olds.

The deprivation rates had been maintained at the same amount as in 23/24. For 3 & 4-year-olds, deprivation rates had been set at £0.20 (lower rate) and £0.30 (upper rate).

No additional funding supplements, including deprivation, had been used for the 2-year-old rate and under 2-year-old rate.

A contingency fund of £0.7m had been set up to manage fluctuations in demand figures from year to year. This was equivalent of 0.76% of the whole Early Years DSG Block, which was lower than the 1% threshold advised by the workshop.

The Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund (SENIF) for 2024/25 was set at £2.0m. This was split between the Early Years block (£1.6m) and High Needs Block (£0.4m).

High Needs Funding

The Government had confirmed SCC’s 2024/25 High Needs Block (HNB) allocation to be c £132.4m. This was a net increase of c £5.4m compared with 2023/24.

As a result, and net of additional funding from the 0.5% funding switch, the total 2024/25 High Needs Budget was c £135.6m. It was SCC’s intention to pass on the budget increase in full next year for the provision of SEND support.

For 2024/25 Special School budgets would be set based on a Minimum Funding Guarantee of 0%, and there would be no capping of school gains.

Philip Siddell referenced a recent meeting of the Early Years Reference Group in January 24. It was noted that all providers were disappointed with the outcome of the basic rate which had resulted in a 4.5% increase, where Private, Voluntary or Independent providers were facing increases of 10% mainly due to government wage legislation. It was highlighted that the sector was already underfunded, and the gap would now widen significantly. It was recognised that this was not the fault of the Local Authority, and the Early Years Reference Group were grateful for the support of SCC.

Philip also highlighted the additional risk associated with an inadequate Ofsted judgement which would result in the immediate closure of a setting due to a loss of funding. Philip provided an example of the alternative way this situation was managed by Lancashire County Council.

In relation to Appendix 1 of the report, Steve Swatton asked why, in some cases, there were no differences between the figures found in the column entitled “2024/25 - if no funding switch” and the figures found in the column “2024/25”, suggesting that some schools had not seen a loss of income due to the 0.5% funding switch. In response it was confirmed that only schools where the budget was due to rise above the cap of 1.25% would have had a reduction in funding. Where this hadn’t happened, no reduction had taken place.

In response to a question from the Chair asking if the Growth Fund for 2024/25 had remained stable, it was confirmed that the Growth Fund had reduced, but the figure that had been retained centrally had remained consistent with previous years. It was also confirmed that, most years, the Growth fund was underspent, with the underspend being transferred back into the DSG as per the deficit management plan.

The Chair queried why the MFG for mainstream schools had been set at 0.5% per pupil from the 2023-24, but the MFG for Special Schools had been set at 0%. It was explained that there was significant pressure on the HNB, and the operational guidance allowed the Local Authority to set the MFG at 0% for Special Schools.

The Chair put it on record that PRUs were currently running at full capacity, and highlighted that there would be a significant financial implication for PRUs in the future. Steve Barr echoed this point and provided the Forum with a statement from the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), which noted that recently published figures suggested that two out of three special schools were at, or above, capacity. There was disquiet in Staffordshire and nationally that PRUs were at capacity, and mainstream schools were struggling to access the support, and didn’t have the resources to deal with the youngsters in the mainstream setting.

The full statement from ASCL read – “The current system for supporting children with special educational needs is in crisis, with both mainstream and special schools lacking the capacity and resources needed to help the growing number of pupils requiring SEND support. The government’s recent announcement of new special schools is welcome and desperately needed but will take years to materialise. These new schools will not meet the needs of children currently in the system who are unable to access the support they require, and neither will the government’s planned reforms of the SEND system which are also some years away from delivery and are underfunded. Children and young people with special educational needs desperately require a much greater sense of urgency from the government that meets their needs right now”.

Resolved: That the School Budgets update, be noted.