Agenda item

SH presented the agenda paper on the Central School Services Block (CSSB).  SH asked Forum members to note the actual costs being faced and how that relates to the budget proposals for 2024-25. The CSSB forecast outturn for 2023-24 is slightly over budget by around £7k.  This masks an overspend on admissions of around £19k compared to budget, compensated for by not utilising the full staffing budget in some other areas. This means the allocated funding is very tight.

The CSSB allocation is made up of two elements – an allocation per pupil, and an allocation for historic commitments. Slough receives a per-pupil rate of £27.98 per pupil, compared to the average for England of £40.27;  the LA receives a lower level than both the national average our neighbouring local authorities. In addition, the allocation for historic commitments is also low, and is based on some spending figures from  2017. The allocation for historic commitments is also reducing at 20% per year.

NH added that there does not seem to be a mechanism for challenging and changing the allocation, but that given Slough’s situation and the level of scrutiny over finance, we ought to challenge the fact that a local authority that's struggling so much financially is being so poorly funded in this area. NH also stated that the LA had raised this with the DfE, but with the response that there is no right to request a recalculation, and that nothing will change unless there was a change to how the CSSB is actually calculated.

NH asked whether Schools Forum could provide a letter expressing concern about funding level allocated, and the pressure that puts on the budget. The Chair confirmed that he would be happy to write on behalf of Schools Forum. MW endorsed this and commented that we still seeing the impact of an error from  7-8 years ago;  as this was an error on the part of the LA it may not have originally attracted much sympathy from DfE. The Chair confirmed that block transfers into CSSB from the schools and High Needs blocks in the past had been necessary because the DfE would not accept any form of re-baselining or recalibration of the block. SH commented that different LAs seemed to report their historic commitments differently, and that the situation doesn't seem equitable. The Chair agreed to look back and see what Forum records showed about the original CSSB allocation. Cllr Bedi advised that she meets with the DfE Commissioner quite regularly and it would always be helpful to have information which would help ‘fight our corner’.

SH set out the 2024-25 budget which largely followed the same themes as previous years. Uplifts had been applied in some areas and the resulting budget was balanced.  However, the same difficulties were anticipated in 2024-25 as were seen in 2023-24.

The Chair thanked SH and advised Forum members of their statutory responsibility for approving this budget. There were no further comments or questions, and the Chair confirmed that the proposed CSSB budget was approved.