This paper provides an update on the DSG and Growth Fund allocation for 2015/16.  It asks Schools Forum to note and approve the 2016/17 DSG allocations for Growth Fund and School Forum.  It asks Schools Forum to consider and approve £31 per pupil de-delagation for maintained schools only for the purpose of contingencies (schools in financial difficulties and deficits of closing schools).

 

The Forum received a report which provided an update on the 2015/16 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and Growth Fund allocation.  In addition, the Forum were asked to note the 2016/17 funding arrangements and the F40 group update.  Also to consider and approve £31 per pupil de-delegation for maintained schools only for the purpose of contingencies (schools in financial difficulties and deficits of closing schools.

 

From 2013/14, the DSG would be split into three notional blocks: Early Year, High Needs and Schools.

 

The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) was set at negative 1.5% per pupil for 2015/16.

 

It was noted that the Chief Finance Officer (CFO) is no longer required to complete two statements annually instead the DfE have now requested one annual outturn statement, confirming that the DSG received by the Authority was fully deployed in support of the school budgets in accordance with the conditions of the School Regulations.  In addition, it will also include a Non Maintained Special School (NMSS) statement and Fraud cases reported in school statement.

 

The DSG allocation for 2015/16 is £192.114(M).

 

The Schools Block is calculated using the school block unit of funding (SBUF). For 2015/16 the SBUF is £4,289.09 (after the CRC deduction of £7.51) an increase of £144.62 from 2014/15.  There has been an increase of 718 pupils to 35,866 based on the October 2014 census data.

 

The DfE has transferred £353k for Central Bedfordshire University Technical College (UTC) for the 2015/16 formula base multiplied by the October census data uplifted by the Minimum Funding Level (MFL) increase.

 

The High Needs Block for 2014/15 has been carried forward plus:

·                Increase in places for academic year 2015/2016

·                Additional top-up of £47m (Nationally) distributed based on the 2 – 19 aged population in each LA.  For CBC this is £233k in 2015/16.

 

The Early Years Block for 2015/16 is comprised of 3 elements:

·                Three and four year old entitlement - £3,979.80 (same as 2014/15 rate) multiplied by the January 2014 census for the provisional allocation. This is updated for January 2015 pupil numbers.  

·                Early years pupil premium (EYPP) – the hourly rate of 53p per child per hour (for each eligible child that takes up the full 570 hours with them).The indicative allocation for CBC is estimated at £171k.  Following an autumn survey to check take-up adjustments will be made in January 2016.

·                Funding for disadvantaged two year olds – CBC allocation is £1.64m.  This is allocated based on the number of eligible participating children.

 

The licences listed in paragraph 19 of the report includes four new contracts which are centrally paid. 

 

The Forum noted the breakdowns of the distribution of the DSG, in paragraph 21 and the centrally retained DSG in paragraph 22.

 

2015/16 Growth Fund

 

The Growth Fund is for significant pre-16 growth in schools where the Council has commissioned new school places.  Funds are available to both maintained schools and academies.  Where a school has elected to expand they are not eligible for the Growth Fund.  The Fund 2015/16 included an adjustment of £248k which was for payments made to Academies.

 

2016/17 Growth Fund

 

The amount for 2016/17 was proposed to be set at £2m. The Forum approved the amount.

 

2016/17 Schools Forum Budget

 

The Forum agreed that the Schools Forum Budget should remain at £3,000 for 2016/17.

 

De-delegation of £31

 

The Senior Finance Officer informed the Forum that an additional top slice of DSG would be required for the three schools which were closing.  It was noted that the 2015/16 approval to de-delegate £500k for the purpose of ‘schools in financial difficulty’ had been refused by the Forum.  The LA did not request the Secretary of State to adjudicate on the de-delegation but instead applied to the Secretary of State to top slice DSG from all schools.  The Secretary of State approved the proposal for 2015/16.  The Forum noted that a further £500k would need to be top sliced to cover more of the shortfall caused by the schools closing.  The Senior Finance Officer advised that an application had been made to the Secretary of State to allow an additional top slice of £500k to be taken from all schools.  The Secretary of State refused the application and advised de-delegated funds support ‘schools in financial difficulty’. 

 

The Forum debated the issue and again stated that it was not fair that only the maintained schools should have their DSG top sliced to cover the deficits of the three closing schools, which were caused by the changes in the age ranges to other schools in the area.

 

It was noted that the estimated deficit would be approximately £1.3m.

 

The Forum voted within their phases and both the Primary and the Secondary phases voted unanimously to refuse the request for the £31 de-delegation.  The LA may apply to the Secretary of State to adjudicate where the Schools Forum does not agree with LA proposals for de-delegation.

 

Funding Announcement for 2016/17

 

Schools Block

 

The DfE announced that the SBUF for 2016/17 and confirmed that the extra £390m fair funding uplift would continue in base-line budgets for 2016/17 and beyond.

 

The SBUF for 2016/17 is £4,294.39 (an increase of £5.30 for the former Non-Recoupment Academies (UTC).  The pupil numbers were based on the October 2015 census and had increased by 777 to 36,643.

 

Early Years Block

 

The Early Years Block for 2016/17 is comprised of 3 elements:

·                Three and four year old entitlement - £3,979.80 (same as 2015/16 rate) multiplied by the January 2015 census for the provisional allocation. This is updated for January 2016 pupil numbers.  

·                Early years pupil premium (EYPP) – the hourly rate of 53p per child per hour (for each eligible child that takes up the full 570 hours with them).

·                Funding for disadvantaged two year olds – CBC allocation is £4,778.50 per pupil rate multiplied by the January 2015 census (344 FTEs).  This is allocated based on the number of eligible participating children.

 

The High Needs Block for 2015/16 has been carried forward plus:

·                Increase in places for academic year 2016/2017

·                Additional top-up of £92.5m (Nationally) distributed based on the 2 – 19 aged population in each LA.

 

Paragraph 34 of the report detailed the indicative DSG 2016/17 for all three blocks.

 

RESOLVED

 

1.         That the update to the 2015/16 DSG allocations be noted.

2.         That the update to the 2015/16 Growth Fund be noted.

3.         That the 2016/17 DSG allocation for Growth Fund to be set at £2m be approved.

4.         That the 2016/17 DSG allocation for Schools Forum to be set at £3k be approved.

5.         That the £31 per pupil de-delegation (for maintained primary and secondary) for the purpose of school contingencies be refused.

6.         That the 2016/17 funding announcement be noted.