Annex 2
2020-21 Funding allocations to schools experiencing
significant in-year growth in pupil numbers
DATE: 15 JULY 2021
BUDGETS CENTRALLY MANAGED BY THE COUNCIL
Executive Director - People
1 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 The purpose of this report is to present information on the in-year allocation of funds to mainstream schools through School Specific Contingencies and other budgets that are funded from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and in the first instance centrally managed by the council. It also presents the opportunity to amend existing funding policies. These funds relate only to mainstream schools.
2 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2.1 The funds used to provide targeted support to schools meeting qualifying criteria allocated £0.389m in 2020-21 an overall under spend of £0.241m. This helps to fund unpredictable and sometimes significant additional costs that only a small number of schools face and which the simplified national funding formula lacks the required sensitivities.
2.2 The associated polices that provide consistency and transparency of operation are generally considered appropriate and fit for purpose with only minor changes for reasons of clarification and updating new funding rates being proposed.
3 RECOMMENDATIONS
The Forum:
3.1 NOTES the following funding allocations to schools, made in accordance with approved policies;
1. £0.051m for significant in-year increases in pupils (paragraph 6.10);
2. £0.153m for schools required to meet the Key Stage 1 Class Size regulations (paragraph 6.13);
3. £0.015m for new and expanding schools (paragraph 6.18);
4. £0.030m for schools with a disproportionate number of SEN pupils (paragraph 6.22);
5. £0.140m for schools in financial difficulty (paragraph 6.28);
6. No allocations were made from the general schools contingency (paragraph 6.30).
3.2 AGREES minor changes to text to improve clarity of a policy and the updating of funding rates where relevant (paragraph 6.32).
4 REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATIONS
4.1 To ensure that the Schools Forum supports how centrally managed funds have been allocated to mainstream schools and is aware of the total amount and schools involved.
5 ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED
5.1 These were considered as part of the budget setting process, including not setting aside contingency funds.
6 SUPPORTING INFORMATION
Background
6.1 Members of the Forum will be aware that the funding framework for mainstream schools is regulated by the DfE and that this governs the conditions attached to how funds can be allocated to schools. It also sets out the purposes for which funds can be centrally managed by LAs and how in-year allocations can be determined.
6.2 As part of the budget setting process, the Forum agreed that the following six budgets should initially be managed by the LA, for in-year allocation to schools:
1. The Growth Fund: Comprising:
a. significant in-year increases in pupil numbers;
b. schools required to meet the Key Stage 1 Class Size regulations;
c. new and expanding schools.
2. SEN specific contingency;
3. General Schools Contingency: Comprising:
a. Schools in financial difficulty;
b. General Schools Contingency.
6.3 In accordance with the funding framework, items 1 and 2 above are held as centrally managed budgets, available to support both maintained and academy schools.
Item 3 is a de-delegated budget and supports maintained mainstream schools only. De-delegated funding is initially included in individual school budget allocations, but returned from maintained schools for central management, following consultation with schools and agreement of the Schools Forum.
Maintained schools that meet the agreed qualifying criteria then receive in-year funding allocations, whereas academy schools retain their relevant share of the funds to manage locally.
Where de-delegated budgets in aggregate underspend in a financial year, the relevant amount is returned to mainstream maintained schools as a refund.
6.4
This annual report is presented to confirm individual funding
allocations and to provide an opportunity to review the relevant
funding policies.
1. Growth Fund allocations - £385,800 total budget (applies equally to maintained mainstream schools and academies that meet qualifying criteria).
a. Significant in-year increases in pupil numbers - £320,800 budget
6.5 To provide in-year financial support to schools experiencing significant increases in statutory aged pupil numbers, LAs are permitted to retain funding in a Growth Fund for allocation once qualifying criteria is met. This reflects the requirement of the DfE to calculate school budgets on actual pupil numbers prior to the start of the financial year which means there is no recognition of in-year increases which in some cases will have a significant impact on costs.
6.6 To provide additional resources to schools facing in-year increases, the Schools Forum has agreed that funding allocations should be made where there is a significant increase in pupils between the census point used for funding school budgets and the actual intake at the start of the next academic year. The relevant thresholds and funding rates are:
· less than 2 FE schools = increase of 10 pupils, at half the core funding rate
· 2 FE schools = increase of 20 pupils, at the core funding rate
· 3 FE and above schools = increase of 25, at the core funding rate
6.7 Admitting additional pupils at these levels is considered the point at which relevant schools would most likely experience significant cost increases. The general expectation is that schools can absorb additional pupils up to these numbers without having to incur any significant cost increases.
6.8 The core funding allocation is based on the cost of employing a Teacher at Main Scale Point 6 for the autumn and spring terms only. This is a short-term funding measure as on-going funding beyond this point would be included in the next year’s budget as relevant pupils would be on the October census used for funding purposes and are therefore taken into account in the next year’s budget calculation. Annex 1 sets out the full policy which is proposed to remain unchanged.
b. Schools required to meet the Key Stage 1 Class Size regulations - £50,000 budget
6.11 In a similar way to that in which funds can be retained for allocation in year to schools experiencing significant increases in pupil numbers, LAs are also permitted to create a contingency to allocate funds to support schools facing additional costs to ensure Key Stage 1 class size regulations to limit classes to no more than 30 pupils per teacher are not breached. Again, this allows the targeting of funds to schools facing real cost pressures that the Funding Formula is not permitted to deal with.
6.12 The Forum has agreed that where the aggregate number of Key Stage 1 pupils does not equate to a multiple of 30, additional resources will be added at the amount required to cover the cost of appointing a Teacher on Main Scale Point 6 for the relevant period, after taking account of the funding delivered through the Funding Formula. Top up funding is provided on a “missing pupil” basis and is calculated at the amount required to meet teacher costs only. Based on the 2021-22 expected values in the Funding Formula, 13 pupils at the national Minimum Per Pupil Funding Level that a school must receive delivers sufficient resources to employ a teacher. Therefore, the maximum top-up funding a school can receive that has one pupil on roll above a multiple of 30 is for 12 ‘missing’ pupils.
6.14 To avoid double funding, if the same pupils result in schools receiving funding through the significant in-year increase in pupil numbers category then any Key Stage 1 specific funding is disallowed. The relevant qualifying criteria are set out in Annex 3 which is proposed to remain unchanged.
6.15 As part of the DfE response to coronavirus pandemic, to reduce burdens on schools, the May 2020 pupil and other data census was cancelled. Ordinarily, data from this census is used to fund schools for summer term allocations. As there is a close correlation between numbers on the January and May census returns - over the last 3 years no change in over 30% schools, change of no more than 2 NOR in over 75% - the January 2020 numbers were used as a proxy for May 2020 numbers, with schools given the option to provide their own numbers if they preferred.
6.17 In respect of diseconomy funding – intended to support general running costs when schools have significantly fewer pupils than their capacity - this was allocated through the BF Funding Formula for Schools, which in accordance with DfE requirements, required notional pupil numbers to be added to the allocation process to deliver the increased funding determined through the policy.
Total payments for new and expanding schools were therefore on budget at £15,000.
6.19
As the 2020-21 policy for start-up and diseconomy funding for new
and expanding schools was agreed in December 2019, no further
changes are proposed at this time.
2. SEN specific contingency - £40,390 budget (applies equally to maintained mainstream schools and academies that meet qualifying criteria. This is the only budget in this report that is funded from the High Needs Block).
6.20 The DfE encourages LAs to allocate additional resources to schools that admit a disproportionate number of pupils with SEN with a clear expectation that this will affect only a minority of schools. The rational of the contingency is that the normal operation of the simplified Funding Formula does not adequately resource schools for all costs when there is a large concentration of high needs pupils and inclusion of pupils into mainstream schools rather than specialist providers should be encouraged.
1. Where the proportion of pupils on roll classified as high need exceeds 4% of total pupil numbers in a primary school and 2% in a secondary school, and
2. Where the proportion that top up funding paid to support High Needs pupils compared to the total budget allocated via the BF Funding Formula exceeds 2% in a primary school and 1% in a secondary school.
No changes to the policy text are being proposed by the council.
6.22 This resulted in one secondary school receiving an additional funding allocation in the sum of £29,700, resulting in an underspending of £10,690. Annex 5 sets out the calculation of individual school data and eligibility to funding.
3. Schools Contingency: (this is a de-delegated budget and applies only to maintained schools when eligibility criteria met)
6.23 School Funding Regulations allow for additional funds outside the normal operation of the Funding Formula to be provided to schools considered to be in financial difficulty. In agreement with the Schools Forum, this de-delegated budget has been returned to the Council for central management. The agreed criteria to be used to allocate this funding is if, in the opinion of the relevant Director for schools and Director responsible for Finance, a school:
1. was unable to set a balanced budget and were in need of a loan arrangement at the start of the relevant financial year, and/or
2. was likely to fall into one of the categories of causing concern, including requires improvement and special measures without additional financial support.
3. was a 1 form of entry school judged good or better that has more than 5% empty places
6.24 Where schools enter an Ofsted category of concern this includes those schools judged to be inadequate or requiring improvement the LA holds a declaration of concern meeting (DoC) and establishes a Rapid Response Board (RRB) for the first 12 weeks. Where effective action is being taken this is then monitored through a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) on a termly basis. Where required there is an independent chair and senior officers of the LA as members. The headteacher and Chair of Governors of the school are invited to attend the SMB to report on progress. A support plan outlines the actions to be taken by the school and the LA in order to effect rapid improvement.
6.25 In order to allow funds to be allocated within an appropriate time scale, the Forum has agreed to delegate a set of powers to the Director responsible for schools to allocate funds up to but not exceeding £0.15m in any financial year, dependent on the Ofsted category of the school, or where there is considered a risk of being placed in a category.
6.26 The level of allocation of funds would be:
1. schools judged to have serious weaknesses (up to £20k per year)
2. schools deemed to be in need of special measures (up to £50k per year)
3. schools at risk of either judged to have serious weaknesses or entering special measures (up to £30k per year)
4. 1 form of entry schools judged good or better that have more than 5% empty places (up to £20k per year per school and £40k in total)
6.27 Allocations will only be agreed where the relevant school has demonstrated insufficient funds exist within the budget to fund the required actions or activities. The full policy text is set out in Annex 6 which is proposed to be updated for completeness and clarify to the LA support process.
Further details of the allocations are shown in Annex 7.
6.29 Where a primary school faces exceptional, unexpected costs in-year that were not known when the budget was set and it would be unreasonable to expect the school to meet the costs, bids for additional funding can be sought. The Forum has previously agreed that claims are considered on a case by case basis by the Heads of Service covering Finance, Human Resources and Property before formal consideration by the Forum.
6.30 No claims were made by primary schools in 2020-21, resulting in a full underspend against the £8,690 budget. A claim is expected to be received in relation to this fund in 2021-22 which if agreed as meeting the relevant criteria, could result in a budget over spending.
6.31 The full criteria for making allocations from the General School Contingency is set out at Annex 8 which is proposed to be updated to clarify the claims review process to be undertaken before presenting bids to the Schools Forum.
Qualifying criteria used to make funding allocations
6.32 To ensure that a consistent and transparent approach is adopted to the allocation of contingency funding to schools, the Forum has agreed a set of eligibility criteria to be applied, and these are attached as annexes to the report. Relevant policies are included in annexes 1, 3, 6 and 8 and paragraph 6.21. No substantial changes are recommended to the existing policies. The Forum is however recommended to agree that the clarification changes highlighted in yellow are approved, and that updating of funding rates where relevant to the actual costs (or best estimate) for the relevant period are made when relevant information become available.
Conclusion
6.33 The funds approved by the Forum to be held by the LA allow for appropriate in-year targeting of resources that is not possible through the simplified Funding Formula for Schools. Current arrangements are considered appropriate and ensure that financial support is provided when needed and that clear and consistent criteria is applied in the allocation of resources.
7 ADVICE RECEIVED FROM STATUTORY AND OTHER OFFICERS
Borough Solicitor
7.1 The relevant legal issues are addressed within the main body of the report.
Director of Resources: Finance
7.2 The financial implications arising from this report are set out in the supporting information. The allocations meet the requirements of the appropriate funding regulations, the agreed policies and have been taken into account in the financial monitoring arrangements for the Schools Budget.
Equalities Impact Assessment
7.3 None identified.
Strategic Risk Management Issues
7.4 None identified.
Climate Change Implications
7.4 The recommendations from this report will not have any impact on emissions of carbon dioxide as they relate to funding allocations that occurred last year.
8 CONSULTATION
8.1 None.
Background Papers
None
Contact for further information
Paul Clark, Finance Business Partner – People Directorate (01344 354054)
paul.clark@bracknell-forest.gov.uk
Doc. Ref
https://bfcouncil.sharepoint.com/sites/fina/bpm/FIBPSCB-FIN9.6/Schools Forum/(104) 150721/2020-21 Funding Allocations from the Schools Contingency.docx
Annex 1
Criteria for in-year budget allocations to schools experiencing
significant growth in pupil numbers
This element of the Growth Fund is ring fenced so that it is only used for the purpose of supporting growth in pre-16 pupil numbers to meet basic need[1]. The fund will be for the benefit of both maintained and Academy schools. For Academy Schools, the funding is for an academic year.
The Growth Fund shall include funding for an allocation to those schools that experience exceptional increases in pupil numbers between the October census used for funding original budgets and actual pupil numbers on roll on the following October census
To assist schools in meeting the additional costs arising in such circumstances, an in-year budget addition will be made where the whole school number on roll from Reception up to Year 11 increases up to the point that significant additional costs are expected to be incurred.
The relevant thresholds for additional funding are:
- less than 2 FE schools = 10
- 2 FE schools = 20
- 3 FE and above schools = 25
With the exception of less than 2 FE schools, the amount of additional funding is calculated from the cost of appointing a teacher on Main Scale Point 6 – salary and employer on-costs - for the period September to March.
Less than 2 FE schools will be funded at half the value of other schools sizes, to reflect the lower additional costs expected to be incurred i.e. it is not expected that such schools would ever need to open a new class and recruit a new teacher.
To calculate whether a school is eligible, the following checks will be carried out:
· For the year of entry, the calculation of additional pupils will be capped at the lower of the actual number admitted or the Published Admission Number (PAN), other than where the need to exceed PAN is agreed in advance with the LA.
· Pupil admissions from parental appeals, LAC pupils and pupils with an EHCP are included in the number on roll when checking that a school has not exceeded its PAN in year of entry; these admissions are generally known by May preceding the start of the academic year.
· Schools can request that the Assistant Director: Education and Learning of Education considers additional funding in exceptional circumstances. These will be considered on an individual case basis.
· An appeal to a decision of the Assistant Director: Education and Learning can be made to the Executive Director: People, whose decision will be final.
For schools that qualify for this factor the calculation is unchanged from the current methodology that compares the total NOR for statutory aged pupils on roll for the October census in the current financial year with that of the October Census number on roll in the previous financial year.
Where a school does admit pupils above PAN without agreement of the LA, the calculation for a significant growth in pupil numbers will exclude pupils in the year of entry.
There are 2 exceptions to the general policy.
Where a ‘surge’ class opens after the census point used for calculating the school’s budget for the next financial year, a further funding top-up will be made to cover the full year cost of a teacher on Main Scale Point 6 and a Learning Support Assistant on Bracknell Forest pay point 12 for the relevant financial year. This funding will be made available for one year only at the commencement of the relevant financial year.
For example, a primary school moving from a 2 form to 3 form entry school has 3 classes in reception in the first year after expansion, and 2 classes in other year groups. The funding threshold for a 2-form entry school is 20 with 25 used for 3 form entry schools. In the first year following expansion, eligibility to growth allocations would be calculated on reception classes at the 25-number threshold, with all other classes at a threshold of 20. For the second year, Reception and Year 1 would be calculated on a 25 threshold, all other year groups on 20 and so on. A full illustration of the calculation is set out below and shows how the funding threshold rises gradually, in line with the phased increase in pupil numbers, starting at 21, and rising to 25 after 7 years.
Approved by the Schools Forum on 16 July 2020
No changes are being proposed by the council.
Annex 2
2020-21 Funding allocations to schools experiencing
significant in-year growth in pupil numbers
Annex 3
Criteria for in-year budget allocations to schools to meet unavoidable costs arising from the Key Stage 1 class size regulations that limit classes to no more than 30 pupils per teacher
The Growth Fund shall include funding for an allocation to those schools that experience unavoidable costs arising from the Key Stage 1 class size regulations that are not resourced through the Funding Formula.
Numbers in reception, Year 1 and Year 2 will be collected termly from the relevant school census to determine the total number of pupils in each school affected by the relevant Regulations. Where the aggregate number of pupils does not equate to a multiple of 30, additional resources will be added at the amount required to cover the cost of appointing a teacher on Main scale Point 6 – salary and employer on-costs - for the relevant period, after taking account of the minimum funding delivered through the Funding Formula. The minimum amount of per pupil funding delivered through the BF Funding Formula is based on the Minimum Per Pupil Funding amount (MPPFL) as determined by the Department for Education. The MPPFL calculation includes all funding delegated to schools through the BF Funding Formula with the exception of business rates. Funding will be added on a “missing pupil” basis.
The allocated funding may need to be scaled if demand significantly exceeds the budget allocation, with final decisions to be determined each year by the Schools Forum.
An illustration of the funding calculation is as follows which would need to be updated each year to reflect budget decisions and the cost of employing a teacher (all units of resource are based on values at the start of 2021-22 financial year.):
The attached Annex sets out funding top-up rates, based on the cost of employing a teacher at £51,500 and the BF Funding Formula delivers sufficient funding to appoint a teacher provided there are 13 or more pupils above the 30 multiples. These factors and amounts are subject to annual re-calculation.
Children admitted in-year as an “excepted pupil” in accordance with The School Admissions (Infant Class Sizes) (England) Regulations 2012, or other relevant legislative requirement will not be included in the calculation for top up funding as they will not impact on the need to recruit a teacher. The exclusion will apply for the full period the child is on roll at the school to the end of Key Stage 1.
“Excepted pupils” currently include those that are admitted to the school outside a normal admission round:
· are looked after;
· were in error initially refused admission;
· are from a service family.
“Excepted pupils” on the roll of a school at the October census will generate per pupil funding for a school in the next budget. These funds will be taken into account in any top up funding calculations.
Separate calculations will be made each term, based on data obtained from the relevant census.
Exceptions:
There are two exceptions to the general rule set out above:
Approved by the Schools Forum on 16 July 2020.
Changes now being proposed by the council are shaded yellow.
Deletions are limited to updating values in the funding top-up calculation and have been excluded for ease of reading.
Annex 4
2020-21 Funding allocations to support schools needing to meet the
Key Stage 1 Class Size Funding regulations
Annex 4
2020-21 termly allocation detail for Key Stage 1 Class Size Funding
Annex 5
2020-21 allocations from the SEN Specific Contingency
Annex 6
Criteria for the allocation of additional funds to support schools
facing financial difficulties
Outline of the scheme
School Funding Regulations allow for additional funds outside the normal operation of the Funding Formula to be provided to schools considered to be in financial difficulty. In agreement with the Schools Forum, de-delegated funding has been set aside in the School’s Budget for this purpose. The criteria to be used to allocate this funding has also previously been agreed, and a school would qualify for additional financial support if, in the opinion of the Council’s Director responsible for schools and the Council’s Director responsible for finance, they:
1. were unable to set a balanced budget and were in need of a licensed deficit arrangement at the start of the relevant financial year, and/or
2. were in or likely to fall into one of the Ofsted categories of causing concern, including serious weaknesses or special measures.
3. Were a 1 form of entry school judged good or better that have more than 5% empty places
Where additional funding is agreed, it is on condition that the senior managers and relevant governors of each school attend regular monitoring meetings with officers of the Council, provide such financial and other information that is requested, and do not make any significant deviations in spending, either in magnitude or by type without the approval of the Council’s Director responsible for schools.
Before any proposed allocation of such funds is passed on to relevant schools, they are reported to and agreed by the Schools Forum. However, this can cause uncertainty and result in a delay in releasing resources to meet an immediate need.
Powers delegated to the Director responsible for schools
In order to allow funds to be allocated within an appropriate time scale it is recommended that a set of principles be agreed by the School Forum which allows the Council’s Director responsible for schools discretion to allocate funds up to but not exceeding a set level dependent on the Ofsted category of the school. Any such allocations would subsequently be reported to the Schools Forum.
The level of allocation of funds would be:
With a maximum value of aggregate allocations of £150k in any one financial year without the express approval of the Schools Forum.
Arrangements to support and monitor schools also includes:
1. a Declaration of Concern (DoC) where a school is at risk of being judged as Requiring Improvement or inadequate at its next inspection.
2. following this a Rapid Response Board is established for the first 12 weeks. Where effective action is being taken this is then monitored through a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) on a termly basis. Where required there is an independent chair.
3. the SMB reviews evidence provided by school leaders and LA staff after 12 weeks and a decision made as to whether leadership are taking effective action following the DoC.
4. an SMB is also established where schools enter an Ofsted category of concern (judged to have serious weaknesses or placed into Special Measures)
5. the processes are clearly shared within the Learning and Improvement Strategy / Annex A School Improvement
Where the school is unable to fund these actions from its own delegated budget the SMB can request that additional resources be sought. Any such requests are approved by the Council’s Director responsible for schools. Funds would be allocated to the school from those held for schools in financial difficulty
Where schools enter an Ofsted category of
concern (judged to have serious weaknesses or placed into Special
Measures) the LA establishes a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB).
The Board has an independent chair and senior officers of the LA as
members. The headteacher and Chair of Governors of the school are
invited to attend the SMB to report on progress. A support plan
outlines the actions to be taken by the school and the LA in order
to effect rapid improvement. Where the school is unable to fund
these actions from its own delegated budget the SMB can request
that additional resources be sought. Any such requests are approved
by the Director of Children, Young People and Learning. Funds would
be allocated to the school from those held for schools in financial
difficulty.
Approved by the Schools Forum on 16 July 2020.
Changes now being proposed by the council are shaded yellow and are added for reasons of clarification and completeness.
Deletions are
struck through
.
Annex 7
2020-21 funding allocations to schools in financial difficulties
Allocations agreed under the Director’s delegated powers
Taking account of proposals from the Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) meetings at relevant schools and 1 FE primary schools with over 5% empty places, funding allocations totalling £0.081m were agreed during the year as follows:
1. £5,040 to New Scotland Hill to support quality of teaching coaching, in particular in strengthen the quality of teaching and learning with specific reference to NQT’s and those early in their career.
2. £13,125 to the Pines Primary to fund supply cover to develop middle leaders to include phase leaders and subject leaders to ensure they are able to monitor the phase/subject effectively and to ensure they are fully competent as leaders. Additionally, to develop teaching and learning to ensure there is consistently high-quality teaching and learning across the school. To ensure children make at least expected progress that is demonstrated in books as well as in any standardised assessments.
3. £22,000 to Easthampstead Park. Two requests were approved: £19,000 to support disadvantaged students on cultural and curriculum experiences including support for independent reading, transition from Year 11 into the sixth form, arts activities and vocational learning. And £3,000 to develop curriculum leader understanding of their role in leading high impact, student-centred curriculum design and delivery.
4. £8,571 to Winkfield St Marys for as a 1 FE with low pupil numbers. There were 197 on roll at October 2020 which results in 6% of empty places.
5. £20,000 to New Scotland Hill Primary School as a 1 FE with low pupil numbers. There were 189 on roll at October 2020 which results in 10% of empty places. Funding would have been £31,428 without the policy funding cap.
6. £11,428 to St Michael’s Sandhurst Primary as a 1 FE with low pupil numbers. There were 189 on roll at October 2020 which results in 10% of empty places.
Arrangements to support and monitor schools also includes a Declaration of Concern (DoC). A DoC is called where a school is at risk of being judged as Requiring Improvement or inadequate at its next inspection. Following this a Rapid Response Board is established for the first 12 weeks. Where effective action is being taken this is then monitored through a Standards Monitoring Board (SMB) on a termly basis. Where required there is an independent chair. The SMB reviews evidence provided by school leaders and LA staff after 12 weeks and a decision made as to whether leadership are taking effective action following the DoC. The processes are clearly shared within the Learning and Improvement Strategy / Annex A School Improvement.
LA expenditure
In addition to these school allocations, the Forum has also agreed that up to £60,000 of School Adviser and other professional staff support time, such as HR and Finance can be funded from this budget to support the SMBs and other additional arrangements provided directly by the council.
Eligible expenditure against the schools contingency
Background
The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations define “expenditure on the schools specific contingency” as:
“Central
expenditure deducted for the purpose of ensuring that monies are
available to enable an increases in a school’s budget
share after it has been allocated, and where it subsequently
becomes apparent that a governing body has incurred expenditure
which it would be unreasonable to expect them to meet from the
school’s budget share, which may include expenditure in
relation to:
• schools in financial difficulty;
• the writing-off of deficits of schools which are discontinued, excluding any associated costs and overheads;
• new, amalgamating or closing schools;
• circumstances which were unforeseen when the school’s budget share was initially determined.”
In order to be provide greater clarity, and to be able to fund all of the circumstances permitted by the DfE, which takes account of comments received from schools to the consultation on the school loan scheme, the following text is proposed to be approved.
Eligible expenditure from the BF schools’ contingency fund (de-delegated)
• Unexpected and unavoidable costs in schools, which it would be unreasonable to expect governing bodies to meet from their delegated budget, and where the amount required and the circumstances giving rise to the additional costs were unknown at the time of setting the budget. These would ordinarily need to exceed £5,000.
Claims will be considered on a case by case basis by the Heads of Service covering Finance, Human Resources and Property before formal presentation to the Forum for a decision. Where relevant, this consideration will take account of whether any advice was sought from the council, the appropriateness of that advice and the actions then taken by schools and their impact.
• Correction of formula errors
• Where a school is closing and a deficit is likely, every effort should be taken to achieve break-even. Where a school is becoming an academy, they should also ensure costs are only incurred that relate to the school, and for the period it is a maintained school. However, where a school closes with a deficit, where the EFA does not reimburse for this, the cost must be picked up by the Dedicated School Grant (DSG).
• Funding for schools in financial difficulties where this is not the result of poor local management decisions. [Note a separate policy is in place for this category].
Approved by the Schools Forum on 16 July 2020.
Changes now being proposed by the council are shaded yellow.
[1] The DfE define basic need as the statutory duty on local authorities to make sure there are enough school places for children in their local area. This requirement does not extend to individual planning or school designated areas within an authority.