To consider the outline of how the centrally retained DSG has been used in 2013/14 and recommendations for the use of centrally retained High Needs Block for 2014/2015.

 

 

Prior to discussion three Forum members declared interests:

Richard Holland is the Chair of HAST

David Brandon Bravo is the CEO of HAST

Shirley Ann Crosbie is a member of the EYSS and has a granddaughter who uses the VI unit.

 

The Forum received and considered a report which outlined how the centrally retained DSG had been used in 2013/14 and recommended uses of the centrally retained High Needs Block for 2014/15.  The High Needs Block is not ring-fenced and can be moved within the three DSG blocks, with School Forum agreement.

 

The budget agreed for 2013/14 had been £12,332,619 as at April 2013.  Allowing for adjustments made through the year the budget was £12,770,463 as at December 2013.

 

Early Years Children with Disabilities retained panel and support function (£23,970)

 

The DSG funding for this had been commissioned through a contact to the Ivel Valley and The Chiltern Area.  The support provided to the children is coordinated through one individual and the salary element has been increased to £26,011 resulting in a small increase.  The budget will cover two people plus on costs. It was proposed that the budget be moved from the top up element of DSG as the core budget had supplemented the DSG for 2013/14.

 

Advisory Support Teachers retained within the Psychology and Advisory Support Team (£113,680)

 

There are two staff who meet the needs of children with SEN and Disabilities within the Early Years setting.  The Budget has been supplemented by core budget and therefore requires an increase of £7,531 to cover the actual costs in 2014/15.

 

Visual Impairment Service (£218,120)

 

The contract for the Visual Impairment Service has been awarded to HAST from January 2014 for £252,576 and will be included in the ‘’Commissioned Services’’ budget, paragraph 29 of the report.  Three months of the contract were paid from the 2013/14 budget and it is anticipated that the budget will underspend by £10k.

 

Due to an increase in the number of young children with severe visual impairments, HAST has reviewed the support requirements needed whilst the children are in the school system and have increased the staffing levels. 

 

Other functions supported by the High Needs Block

 

Support for high needs children in Early Years:

 

The children with high needs, who do not yet have a statement, requiring additional support receive support paid for from this budget.  Due to the number of children requiring this service, the spend to date has been the following:

 

Base budget £169,800 (including in year increase of £19,800)

The current commitment will total £174,676 resulting in an overspend of £4,876.  The anticipated overspend for the 2013/14 year is £10k should the anticipated requests be approved at Panel.  It has been requested that the budget be increased to £190,000 for 2014/15.

 

Therapies:

 

The service is commissioned on an individual child basis and it is anticipated that the £70k budget will be spend by the end of the financial year.  The spend to date had been £48,936.

 

Statements:

 

Statements are a needs led budget area and the budget reduces as statements are  made.  It is anticipated that the £449,900 budget will be underspent by £158,900 which will be redistributed to schools in 2014.  It was noted that the budget would not be reduced due to changes to the SEN code of practice and Childrens & Families.

 

Academy Statements:

 

Statements are a needs led budget area and the budget reduces as statements are  made.  The budget is £2,967,238 of which £2,094,641 had been allocated by November 2013.  It was noted that the budget would not be reduced due to changes to the SEN code of practice and Childrens & Families.

 

High Cost Pupils:

 

Support is provided for the additional exceptional needs of the most complex pupils in special schools.  The budget for this service is £199,900 and to date £166,098 has been allocated and it is anticipated that more pupils will require additional support before the end of the financial year.

 

Pre 16 Out of County Placements:

 

It was noted that currently there were 13 pupils who were 16 years of age or under placed out of Authority by education, 2 by Social Care and 1 by Health, where DSG funds the education element.  4 of the children transferred into the Post 16 provision in September 2013.  These children have been placed out of county as there needs cannot be met locally.  The budget for this area is £1,689,330 and has historically helped fund the Post 16 funding for High Needs pupils.

 

Additional Pupil Support:

 

Support is provided to children who are undergoing assessments and at risk of permanent exclusion.  The support provided is through specialist agencies and is a needs led budget.  The budget is £219,050 and the spend to date has been £140,000 with earmarked funding of £15,000 for new requests to be appointed at Panel and also £20,000 for an Independent Hospital facilities.  There will be an underspend of approximately £44,050 which will offset the overspend in high needs children in early years.

 

High needs Post 16:

 

All provision for pupils who are post 16 and high needs college placements (previously funded by the YPLA) is provided and paid for by the Council since April 2013.  This area includes the out of county placements of which there are 9 pupils, 4 pupils transferred from pre-16 provision so only 2 terms of costs were required and 4 pupils left school at the end of the summer term so only 1 term of provision was funded.  It is forecast the budget will be overspent by £296,294 and this will be offset by the underspend in the out of county pre 16 support.

 

Access and Inclusion:

 

The budget for providing management and advice and process for exclusions and elective home education is £95,660 for 2013/14.  The budget will be reduced in 2014/15 due to the service being bought back by Academy schools.  Also the post for providing the advice is part time.  It is estimated the budget will be underspent by £18,955 in 2013/14.

 

Virtual School management and delivery:

 

The budget cost for the Virtual School for Looked After Children was £160,000 for 2013/14.  The budget will be increased to £200,000 for 2014/15 due to the requirement for a permanent Virtual School Head teacher.  The remainder of the budget remains unchanged.

 

PRU:

 

The budget of £408,942 supported the running costs of the PRU for excluded pupils until August 2013.  This amount now becomes the ‘commissioned service’ budget for the AP Free school – Academy of Central Bedfordshire for 2014/15.

 

Commissioned Services:

 

The budget of £1,417,480 is composed of the following commissioned services:

 

£145,632	for the peripatetic and management element of the Hearing Impaired Service commissioned through HAST
£270,548	For the Early Years Children with Disabilities Service commissioned through Ivel Valley and Chiltern Area Special Schools
£444,539	For the Medical Needs Service commissioned through HAST
£556,761	For the alternative to the PRU provision being commissioned through the Academy of Central Bedfordshire

 

From April 2014, the funding for Jigsaw Centre Provision of £414,645 will be centrally held and not delegated to Hawthorn Park.

 

The Forum noted that all High Needs teaching and support services will be commissioned out to school based providers.  The Forum were asked to give a view on all commissioned services contracts, which were identified to Schools through Central Essential.

 

There is an anticipated overspend in the Commissioned Services budget of £92k due to a calculation error for supply cover for the Medical needs Service and the increased number of pupils medically signed off from school requiring the service.  The overspend will be covered by an underspend in the Other Authority Top-Up payments (Pre-16).  Clarification is being sought from the EFA regarding whether the service can be included in the high needs return as Alternative Provision.

 

It was noted that an increase from 5 hours to 6 hours a week teaching hours for each pupil with a statement of SEN has required additional resources to be sought to allow the Council to fulfill its statutory duty.  HAST is working with the Council to determine better ways of working for service delivery.  £90k will be required from the Top Up budget to the Commissioned Services budget to cover the actual supply costs.

 

It was also noted that for 2014/15 £50k would be moved from the Top Up budget to the Commissioned Services budget to meet the expected demand for staff to work with children with hearing impairments.

 

Other Authority Top Up payments (Pre-16):

 

This budget was formerly known as recoupment.  The budget of £2,011,360 funds the mainstream statements in other Local Authority Schools and the top up element of the statement for pupils placed in other Local Authorities’ special schools.  In 2013, the total expenditure had been unknown when the report was presented to the Schools Forum at their meeting on 24 January 2013.  Since that time and following additional funds from the DfE and reduction of central overheads by the Council there has been an underspend of £967,478.  The main source of the underspend was the recalculation of overheads. 

 

SEN Contingency:

 

£275,670 budget pays for the Outreach services and will be renamed accordingly for 2014/15.

 

DSG Contribution to Central Overheads:

 

The budget began 2013 at £1,567,280 and was reduced during the year by £848,434 to £718,846 having taken into account the reduction of centrally retained services and the increase in commissioned services.  The reduction was added to the Top Up budget.

 

The difference of £1,164,600 between the High Needs Block allocation in 2013/14 and the forecast will be transferred to the Schools Block and be redistributed to maintained schools and academies as a one off basis via the AWPU for 2014/15.

 

The DfE will finalise the High Needs Block in March 2014, which will provide information regarding the Pre 16 and Post 16 allocations and to finalise the proposed figures for 2014/15.  Distribution of the High Needs Block settlement will be centrally retained until the following issues have been resolved with the EFA:

·                The resource implications of changes in SEND provision through the implementation of the Children and Families Bill in 2014 is determined;

·                The funding mechanism for the Academy of Central Bedfordshire to be clarified by the EFA;

·                Whether Medical Services can continue to be identified as Alternative Provision as they were previously, and so count as £8k per place;

·                The impact of Post 16 changes are known;

·                How the EFA plans to top slice Local Authorities and whether that will impact on the initial settlement;

·                How the EFA plans to apply growth in 2014/15.

 

The Forum were advised that any unspent settlement would be redistributed to schools in 2015/16.

 

The Forum requested that due to the complexity of the report, that a High Needs Technical Group should meet to review the information prior to the next report being brought before the Forum in January 2015.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.     That how the centrally retained High Needs Block has been used in 2013/14 to support high needs provision be noted.

 

2.     That the allocation of the High Needs Block for 2014/15 be supported.

 

3.     That the proposed redistribution of unspent DSG for 2013/14 be supported.