Agenda and minutes

Members of the Forum must declare an interest in any agenda item where the outcome may give them a direct pecuniary advantage or avoid a disadvantage. 

No declarations of interest were made.

To receive any public questions.

Questions can be asked on the day or sent to the Clerk before the meeting. If you would like to ask a question on the day of the meeting, please contact the Clerk Joanne Bolton (email: joanne.bolton@gloucestershire.gov.uk) (Tel: 01452 324197), by 10:00am on Thursday 14 March 2024, so that arrangements can be made as the

meeting is being held remotely via video conferencing.

The Chair will advise the timescale for any questions asked on the day of the meeting or received less than 3 working days before the meeting. A written answer will be provided if questions are received 3 clear working days before the date of the meeting.

No public questions had been received.

To agree the minutes of the meeting held on 11 January 2024 and note actions.

The minutes of the previous meeting held on the 11 January 2024, were approved as a correct record.

4.1     The Head of Early Years presented a report which set out the proposed use of the Early Years Teachers Pay Award Grant, and the use of the carried forward Early Years balances (2022/23).  The report also confirmed the hourly rates distributed to Early Years providers, following consultation on options agreed at the January Forum.

4.2     It was reported that Gloucestershire County Council had received £124K for 2023/24 for Early Years Teachers Pay Award Grant.  The funding had been provided to local authorities to address increases in teacher pay from 1 September 2023; however, as there was no maintained Early Years provision in Gloucestershire, the local authority had been advised to consider how the funding was targeted to take account of the additional pressures that Early Years providers faced.

4.3     Members were informed that the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Early Years block funding was calculated using the numbers from the claims submitted in the January census multiplied by a nationally set hourly rate.  Funding was not used equally across the academic year, partly due to variation in the length of academic terms and partly due to variations in take-up of the Early Years entitlement.  This could lead to a surplus when the lagged effect was adjusted in June/July of the following year.  The reconciliation for the academic year 2022/23, identified a balance of £612K.

4.4     The Forum agreed that the surplus Teachers Pay Award Grant of £124K (2023/24) be added to the Early Years balance of £612k (2022/23), and the total amount of £736k be used as follows:

Ø   Retain 200K (27%) for contingency. 

Ø   Allocate £536K (73%) to providers proportionately, based on the full academic year hours 2022/23.

4.5     The Early Years block for 2024/25 provided an hourly rate of £10.33 for under two-year-olds, £7.60 for two-year-olds, £5.47 per hour for three- and four-year-olds.  The local authority consulted with the Early Years sector on the two options set out in the report for devolvement of the hourly rate to providers.  The Forum noted that option 1 was selected by the majority of providers and had subsequently been agreed.  Further consultation with the Early Years sector was now taking place to agree the payment schedule, including consideration of moving from termly to monthly payments.

4.6     In response to a question on how the Forum could get involved in the Early Years funding campaign, officers explained that many local authorities had been providing robust feedback to the DfE on the challenges being faced by the sector, particularly around the need to ensure that the funding rate was sufficient to enable implementation of government’s childcare reforms.  Early Years was a core focus of the f40 Group’s campaign work, and a member of the Early Years Alliance was involved in the f40 Group representing Early Years providers.  The f40 Group’s key message to government was that if there was future investment in Early Years, then the focus should be on investing in the sustainability and quality of Early Years education.  There had been  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.1      The Head of Education Strategy and Development presented a report on High Needs which provided the draft High Needs Budget for the financial year 2024/25; information on the impact of a 3% inflationary uplift to the SEND banding; and the proposal for the delivery of a SEND targeted support funding model for mainstream schools.

5.2      He informed members that in the draft High Needs budget 2024/25 there was a gap of £23.583M between the expected levels of expenditure and the High Needs funding allocation.

5.3      The key assumptions were as follows:

Ø   The mainstream and Early Years top-up budgets were modelled, assuming a          similar growth in the number of funded Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) that was experienced in 2023/24.  In addition, it included an assumption, subject to approval by the Cabinet, of a 3% increase in the banding levels.  This resulted in an expected increase in spend of around £2M across the four budget lines.

Ø   Increase of 38 special school places and the full year impact of 50 places at Sladewood School.  It also included capacity to extend Early Years specialist provision for 2024/25.  This resulted in an expected increase in spend in special school place funding of £1.235M.

Ø   As a consequence of the additional places and the proposed increase in banding rates by 3%, the cost of EHCP top-ups for maintained schools was expected to rise by around £750k.

Ø   Net increase of 71 placements into independent special schools.  This was forecast to increase the independent schools’ budget, including post-16 placements, by £1.7M.

Ø   Pressures on Hospital Education services were also high.  Adjustments to the service offer were being made to strengthen support.  As a consequence, the forecast expenditure had been increased by £500k.

Ø   Continued rise in demand for Education Other Than At School, Personal Budgets, and Special School Bespoke packages.  This accounted for an expected increase in spend of £1.45M.

Ø   Local authority staffing budgets have had a 3% inflationary increase applied to ensure that pay awards can be made without a reduction in the service offer.

5.4         The Head of Education Strategy and Development explained that the draft High Needs budget 2024/25 was broadly in-line with the Dedicated Schools Grant management plan forecast for 2024/25.  Forecast expenditure was £119.5M and income £95.8M, which showed a forecast deficit of £23.7M.  The final High Needs budget for 2024/25 which was subject to approval by the local authority (including the proposed 3% inflationary uplift), would be presented at the June Forum meeting. 

5.5      Two Forum members representing secondary school headteachers, strongly emphasised that schools were at crisis point as there was simply not enough funding for schools to adequately support children with SEND.  One member reported that the budget for his school would be in a significant deficit position this year, and this was directly related to an overspend on support for pupils with SEND.  Both members stressed that at some stage there would come a point when schools would not be able to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.

6.1      The Head of Education Strategy and Development gave an update on recent f40 Group activities.  A series of meetings had taken place over the past few weeks to explore the work being undertaken by the f40 Group ahead of the forthcoming general election, in an aim to ensure that education was a key priority in political manifestos.

6.2      He reminded members that the f40 Group believed that based on demand and inflation from 2015 - 2023, £4.6bn was needed for SEND funding over that period.   As a consequence of the funding not keeping pace with the level of demand, it was expected that the national High Needs deficit would be at £3.6bn by March 2025. 

6.3      He explained that if the full level of funding needed could not be provided by government, then the next consideration would need to be around policy reforms.  The f40 Group had now commenced with developing a model for policy reforms, and the key areas of focus were as follows:

Ø   Investment into Early Years and mainstream education.  As part of this work the f40 Group was making it clear that changes were needed to the NFF, as there were a number of proxy factors in the NFF which were used to identify the complexity of a school’s cohort.  However, the way in which the Minimum Per Pupil Funding Level (MPPFL) was applied mitigated the benefit of these factors. Under the NFF, schools with less complex cohorts initially received less funding, but once the MPPFL was applied, they would be brought up to the same funding level as other schools.  The widely held view was that the additional needs proxy factors needed to be applied after the MPPFL, to ensure that funding was properly responding to the needs of the school’s cohort.

Ø   The need for clarity around the national notional SEND funding formula, to ensure consistency in approach in terms of how it was funded and used, and also the need for a reporting mechanism around the formula. 

Ø   The need to ensure that nationally there was the required level of specialist places in the system to reduce the reliance on independent special schools, and that this should be funded through a one-off significant investment of capital funding.

Ø   The need for visibility and oversight around the role of the independent special school sector within the education landscape.

6.4      The Head of Education Strategy and Development reported that Jon Millin, Forum member representing Primary School Headteachers had recently joined the f40 Group. 

The next meeting of Gloucestershire Schools Forum will take place on Thursday 13 June 2024 at 2:00pm.  The meeting will be held remotely via Teams. 

The Forum noted that the next meeting would take place on Thursday 13th June 2024 at 2:00pm.  The meeting would be held remotely.