Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement presented a report on the latest position regarding the Government’s education funding reforms and the proposed allocation of funding to schools for 2020/21.

The Cabinet Member referred to the provisional allocations for 2020/21 across the four funding areas covering the main allocation to schools (Schools block), central costs for core Local Authority education services (Central block), additional costs for Special Educational Needs pupils (High Needs block) and childcare and pre-school services (Early Years block).

The Cabinet Member reported that following intensive lobbying from many interested parties, including local councillors, MPs, headteachers, governors and the teaching unions, the Government had increased the overall funding available. For Barking and Dagenham, that had resulted in an increase of 3.4% in the main Schools block.  The High Needs block had increased by 17.6%, proportionately the largest increase in the country, although the Cabinet Member clarified that the increase merely brought the level of funding more in line with the growth in demand for High Needs services in the Borough, and did not compensate for the years of underfunding.

The Schools’ Forum had been consulted on the proposed funding factors for 2020/21 and the specific allocation for each school was currently subject to final consultation with Headteachers and Governing Bodies. 

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the latest position on the national Education Funding Reform and the expected implications for Barking and Dagenham, as set out in section 2 of the report;

(ii)  Approve the 2020/21 strategy for the Schools Block as set out in section 3 of the report;

(iii)  Agree, subject to consultation with schools and (iv) below, to adopt the proposed model as the method for allocating school funding in 2020/21, as set out in section 4 and Appendix A of the report;

(iv)  Note the allocated funding for the High Needs Block as set out in section 5 of the report;

(v)   Approve, subject to final confirmation of Early Years funding, the increased hourly rates for two, three and four-year olds as set out in section 6 of the report; and

(vi)  Delegate authority to the Director of People and Resilience, in consultation with the Chief Operating Officer, the Schools Forum and the Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement, to approve the final 2020/21 school funding formula submission to the Education Funding Agency.