Agenda item

Susan Woodland explained that all budgets were indicative until sign off by full Cabinet, who were scheduled to meet on Thursday 18 February 2021 (update: now scheduled for Monday 22 February).

Just under £194m settlement had been received before recoupment for academies or High Needs, leaving an approximate net settlement of £186m to date.  Academy recoupment was due in February and information would be duly updated.

The primary and secondary unit funding for 2021/22, as compared to 2020/21 was highlighted as there had been large increases of approximately 6.5% in primary and 7% in secondary. This was due to Teachers’ Pay and Pension grants now being included in the DSG and the increase accounted for approximately £10m more on the previous year.  It was stressed that schools would no longer receive these grants separately. 

As noted by the 5-16 Task Group, there had been some changes in variances in the allocation of schools’ budgets. This included models being based on the October 2019 census and indicative budgets on the October 2020 census. There were some notable large fluctuations in some schools, with overall primary numbers being reduced by about 160 pupils, mainly in Reception, and an increase in the secondary sector. This reflected the rise in primary numbers a few years previously, now moving through the secondary sector.  Some schools had experienced more movement, with Our Lady of Peace losing more than 40 pupils and Lynch Hill having admitted 66 in KS4 and 48 in KS3. Overall, there was a 303 pupil increase across the combined primary and secondary sectors.

Indicative budgets could change following the submission to the DfE; any changes would be implemented and shared when the final figures became available. It was confirmed that any differences from the modelled budgets were likely to be due to changes in pupil numbers and it was suggested schools review any significant pupil number changes upon receipt of their budgets.

As part of the DfE’s checking process figures could change when the APT was submitted. Susan Woodland explained one reason had been the settlement being funded on less pupils than paid for. Further to investigation, it appeared this was due to duplicates in the academy sector as the LA could not run the same reports for academies as they could for maintained.  Academies should have resolved such issues directly with the ESFA. Following the LA’s discussions with the ESFA about the schools concerned it was thought dual registrations were the cause, as they took time to resolve following census day.  Any adjustments on the APT would be cleared by the ESFA. No further changes were anticipated but final sign off by the ESFA and Cabinet would be awaited prior to issuing final budgets to schools.  It was confirmed that the figures had been predicated on the introduction of full NFF funding rates although ‘mobility’ was not yet being used.

Table 2 was noted, showing the transfer from the High Needs Block (HNB) to Admissions, as agreed at the previous Schools Forum meeting.

It was pointed out that the Maintained Nursery Supplement (MNS) was indicative until September 2021 and would be conditional from September 2021 to March 2022, to be treated as unconfirmed. It was confirmed that the LA had not received any indication of what the conditional issues would be or when they might receive a final answer.  Michael Jarrett added that the MNS issue had been raised with the DfE as a financial risk and a long-term plan had been requested. However, it was felt unlikely there would be anything to update whilst annual settlements remained in place.