Agenda item

To ensure that final 2023-24 budget decisions can be made at the January Forum meeting in order to meet the 20 January 2023 statutory deadline.  Therefore, updated proposals for the Schools Block and Central Schools Services Block elements of the Schools’ Budget are now presented for consideration with a small number of decisions to be made.

The Forum considered a report which sought to ensure that final 2023-24 budget decisions could be made at the January Forum meeting in order to meet the 20 January 2023 statutory deadline.  Therefore, updated proposals for the Schools Block (SB) and Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) elements of the Schools Budget were presented for consideration with a small number of decisions to be made.

The council was waiting for the Department for Education (DfE) to release the verified October 2022 census to enable the calculation of final budget.  Therefore, changes were likely to this update which was based on BF data on pupil numbers but no update on current pupil profiles e.g.  deprivation measures.  From the data currently available, BF has seen a larger increase in pupil numbers this year than in the recent past and this would generate extra income from the DfE settlement. 

Taking account of the new data, the proposals contained in the report indicated that to fully implement the factor values used by the DfE in the National Funding Formula (NFF) there would be a funding surplus of £0.046m, with schools on average receiving a 2.0% increase in per pupil funding.  Adding the circa 3.5% expected from the autumn statement meant on average, schools would receive around a 5.5% increase in per pupil funding.

Options were being considered for use of a surplus if this remained in the final budget proposals.

Despite the funding increases, it appeared that these would be below the expected increase in costs that schools would face with an initial estimate indicating a funding gap of between 0.5% and 1.5%. 

Following publication of this report, the DfE had announced a funding update for schools.  This confirmed additional capital funding for schools of £500m, which would be paid at £0.010m per school plus £20 per weighted pupil. 

There had also been clarification of the additional £2billion announced in the autumn statement: £400m to be allocated to LAs for high needs funding, and the remaining £1.6billion would be allocated as a new grant which BF estimated would add around 3.5% to per pupil funding allocations.  There were no formal details of that grant but the informal information from the DfE was that it would be similar to the school supplementary grant being paid this year.  The council had included the additional 3.5% funding from the autumn statement into this report.

The Forum recognised that the council had presented as much information as it could in advance with the information available. 

Paul Clark highlighted that the department was recommending a change to the funding policy for significant in-year growth as some schools were expected to move from the new school funding formula to the main BF Funding Formula.  In recognition of the impact of those potential transitions, the policy had been reviewed to ensure that all schools were treated fairly and that the basis of the policy was to meet the actual costs arising at schools and not necessarily just crossing a funding threshold. 

The Forum noted that the projections showed fewer spare places in reception than anticipated and asked whether schools which had previously gone from 2 FE to 1 FE should revert to 2 FE, as opposed to other 1 FE schools expanding.  Paul Clark replied that he was not foreseeing an immediate pressure and was not aware of anything that needed to happen now.  However, the situation would be monitored and there was usually a window of opportunity to make any changes needed. 

RESOLVED

1.     to AGREE that subject to any late changes proposed to the Forum in January, the 2023-24 budget is set in accordance with the supporting information, as summarised in Table 1 of the report, and in particular:

i.        that the Growth Fund including appropriate elements is set at the amount reported in Annex 2 of the report; and

ii.       that the elements of the CSSB and relevant budget amounts were as detailed in Annex 3 of the report; and

2.   to AGREE the proposed amendment to the funding policy for significant in-year growth (Annex 1 of the report); and

3.   to NOTE the options available to balancing the Schools Budget in advance of a decision in January (paragraph 6.36 of the report).

Item for Maintained Primary School representatives only

RESOLVED to AGREE that the per pupil deduction amounts for existing de-delegated services be increased by 5.0%, the average increase in per pupil funding expected to be received by schools (paragraph 6.26 of the report). 

Item for Maintained Secondary School representatives only

RESOLVED to AGREE that the per pupil deduction amounts for existing de-delegated services be increased by 5.0%, the average increase in per pupil funding expected to be received by schools (paragraph 6.26 of the report).