Issue - meetings

The Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement presented a report on the Dedicated Schools Budget and Schools Funding Formula for 2022/23, which included an update on the Government’s plans to move to a National Funding Formula (NFF) from 2023/24 onwards.

The Cabinet Member opened by thanking the Borough’s family of schools for their ongoing efforts in the most challenging of circumstances and to Council officers for their work.  With regard to the Government’s NFF proposals, it was noted that they would ultimately result in allocations being set in accordance with a fixed formula and distributed directly to schools, without any input from the local authority or adjustment for specific local circumstances.  Furthermore, the NFF would see a shift of funding from primaries to secondaries and result in London schools being treated less favourably over time, as well as a gradual eradication of funding to cover the support services provided to schools by local authorities.

The Cabinet Member referred to the provisional allocations for 2022/23 across the four funding areas of the Schools block (the main allocation to schools), the Central block (central costs for core Local Authority education services), the High Needs block (additional costs for Special Educational Needs pupils) and the Early Years block (childcare and pre-school services).  The overall allocation for 2022/23 was £321.054m compared to £312.403m in 2021/22, with several areas suffering a real term cut especially in the main Schools block.  The High Needs block was to receive a 10.1% increase in 2022/23 to £46.861m, although it was noted that there had been many years of underfunding in that area and the Borough’s schools were reporting a large increase in demand that was likely to lead to an overspend in the current financial year.  With that in mind, the Cabinet Member together with Dame Margaret Hodge MP and the Cabinet Member and Champion for Disabled People had recently written to the Secretary of State for Education calling for a solution to the crisis in funding for children with complex needs which had been exacerbated by the pandemic.

The Cabinet Member outlined the main principles underlying the allocations for 2022/23 and confirmed that the proposals had been consulted on and approved by the Schools Forum and local schools. 

Cabinet resolved to:

(i)  Note the update on the latest Education Funding Changes and, in particular, the move towards a fixed National Funding Formula;

(ii)  Note the indicative allocation of Dedicated Schools Grant for 2022/23 as set out in section 3 of the report;

(iii)  Approve the 2022/23 strategy for the Schools Block as set out in section 4 of the report;

(iv)  Approve, subject to consultation with schools and (vi) below, the proposed principles for the design of the Local Schools Funding Formula as set out in section 4 of the report;

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

(vi)  Note the allocated funding and strategy for the Central Services Block as  ...  view the full minutes text for item 63