Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive and Director for Families and Communities

Members were informed that the projected overspend on the High Needs Block continued to increase and the forecast outturn for 2019/20 was now £5.5m, in the main due to increasing numbers of children and young people placed in independent special schools.  The impact of this projection meant that at the end of the current financial year the overall DSG reserve would be all but depleted and there would be no “buffer” available to help manage future budget pressures.  The following graph gave further projections on current spend of the impact on reserves.  Left unaddressed it was likely that the reserve would fall into a significant deficit position:

 It was expected that the SEND transformation would yield savings over the medium term through Inclusion and SEND locality hubs.  These would provide a mechanism to identify and support children experiencing difficulties early, reducing the proportion that escalated to requiring and EHCP.  However, it was unlikely that this would deliver the necessary savings in the short term.  Accordingly, the Local Authority had requested a further switch from the schools block to the High Needs Block to avoid bringing the overall DSG reserve into deficit.  Members of Schools Forum had rejected the request to transfer 0.5% from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block at their extraordinary meeting in November 2019.  Consequently, the Local Authority had made representation to the Secretary of State for the switch to take place.  However, members were informed that notification had now been received that this had been declined, on the basis that more funding was to be made available in 2020/21.  For Staffordshire, the High Needs Block in 2020/21 would be around £88.2m, an increase of £11.1m (14%) compared to 2019/20.  Forum noted that the Local Authority had provided additional investment to stabilise the workforce to deal with the significant increase in demand for EHCPs along with amending and updating the plans maintained.

It was suggested to members of Forum that a Working Group be re-established to review the High Needs Spend and investigate whether additional savings or efficiencies could be made.  Members were informed that special school transport budget was also forecast to be overspent by up to £1.5m in 2019/20 and work was being undertaken with colleagues working in this area to see if any actions can be taken to mitigate this.  A member queried what the long-term plan was to address the budget issues around independent special schools.  They were informed that it would be important to identify special educational needs sooner, in order for appropriate support and intervention to be provided, to avoid in some cases escalation to the need for an EHCP.  However, in those cases where these were needed they would be done.  It was important to keep special schools for specialist provision, the challenge was that the special schools in Staffordshire were at capacity, so it was about creating space and movement.  It was acknowledged that additional resources, such as extra physiotherapy and support for speech and language, would be required in special schools to reduce the need for placements in independent and non-maintained special schools.  Special schools would have to provide an enhanced curriculum offer if they were to accommodate those children with more complex needs.

It was confirmed that the assumptions made in the budget forecast had been correct, following the government’s announcement of allocations in December 2019.  There was a request from the Secondary Heads Forum that the SEND Transformation work was funded and that there would be clarity and transparency around that level of funding, so that for each district they will be clear about what level of funding comes with rolling this out from the Local Authority to schools, so that they could be reassured about equality across districts.

The Cabinet Member for Children and Young People informed the Forum that this could not be solved just by the Local Authority and work needed to be done with leaders across the sector.  In The numbers of young people in the independent school sector in Staffordshire were only just above the national average.  However, the number of children in special schools was significantly higher than the national average.  The point was made that it was important to consider alongside this information what percentage of schools were special schools in Staffordshire compared to the national average and whether it was the case that there were more children in special schools because there were more of these schools in the County.  Officers confirmed that this data had been requested and further work was being done on this.  Statistically Staffordshire was way above average in the number of requests for assessment for EHCPs compared with both the West Midlands and the national average.

Several members expressed concern that although extra funding was coming into the High Needs block it would not be passed on to special schools.  Whilst it was understood that the funding would be used to address the underlying budget shortfall it was disappointing that special schools’ budgets were lagging behind those of mainstream schools and asked that this should be given some consideration.

A member queried when all the locality hubs would be in place and was informed that the intention was that this would be by September 2020.  There were significant concerns among headteachers at the pace of the introduction of the hubs and they would be apprehensive at the suggestion that it would be fully rolled out in September.

In relation to the High Needs Block Working Group it was suggested that these could either be members of the Forum or the colleagues who they represented.  Interest parties were invited to contact Tim Moss, Head of Education Strategy and Improvement and he would circulate information.  A member requested clarification on the specific remit for the group, as there had been a number of Working Groups looking at this area.  It was suggested that the Group could look at where the budget was being spent and how efficiently.  The savings had been delivered as part of the last round of work undertaken but it would be helpful to look again and ask were there things being funded which shouldn’t be.

RESOLVED – That:

a)    The updates to the High Needs Block since the previous report in October 2019 be noted;

b)    It be noted that Council’s request to the Secretary of State for Education to transfer 0.5% pf the Schools Block allocation to the High Needs Block was declined; and

c)    A Working Group be established to review the High Needs Block spend and provide recommendations as to where additional savings or efficiencies can be made.