Agenda item

Report ED18039

The Sub-Committee considered a report which provided information on the 2018/19 Dedicated Schools’ Grant and how it would be allocated.  The Department for Education had confirmed the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Allocation for 2018/19 as follows:

The Local Authority (LA) had reviewed each of the four blocks individually to identify any financial pressures.  The Early Years block was shown to be self-funding, whilst there were some areas deemed to be overspent these were being supported by underspends within the same block.  The High Needs Block was projecting an overspend of £2million.  Following the decision of the Schools’ Forum at its meeting in November 2017, the LA submitted an application to the Secretary of State to formally request a disapplication of the regulations which would allow £1million funding to be moved from the Schools’ Block to the High Needs Block without the support of the Forum.  The Head of ECHS Finance reported that the Local Authority had been notified that that the Secretary of State had approved the application.  It was therefore proposed that the remaining £1million overspend would be funded by a contribution of £1million from the Revenue Support Grant, which had been approved by Executive on 10 January 2018.  SEND4change would continue to carry out a full review of current SEND spend and any savings identified would be invested in the transition period as the LA moved towards a more cost effective and more sustainable High Needs Block position.

As a result of the decision from the Secretary of State £202.4million would be allocated to schools.  The LA had the option to either move to the National Funding Formula (NFF) for 2018/19 (and 2019/20) prior to the planned introduction of the NFF in 2020/21, or to remain with the Bromley Funding Formula (BFF). 

In the Central School Services Block there was a projected overspend of £173,000.  Expenditure in this Block had been reviewed and no immediate short-term savings had been identified.  It was therefore proposed that the projected overspend in this Block would be met from any commensurate underspend of DSG in 2017/18.

Prior to the meeting the draft minutes from the Schools’ Forum meeting on 11^th January 2018 had been circulated to Members of the Sub-Committee for information.  In relation to the funding formula, the Head of ECHS Finance informed the Sub-Committee that at the Schools’ Forum meeting views between Primary Representatives and Secondary Representatives had been polarised. The issue had come down to a vote which had supported recommendation of Option 1a (NFF), this was the formula which was supported by secondary representatives on the Forum.  However, Primary Representatives had highlighted that there were two Primary Representatives vacancies on the Forum which would have had an unfair impact on the vote.

In response to a question from the Chairman concerning the recommendation of Officers, the Head of ECHS Finance highlighted that with the NFF there was a gain of 0.3% across the board in terms of pupil numbers and the view of Officers was that a move to the NFF would prevent Primary Schools facing a ‘cliff edge’ drop in funding and would  facilitate a more seamless transition.

The Chairman also noted that Secondary representatives had made the point that there was an imbalance in funding that they wanted redressed.

Following discussions, the Sub-Committee agreed to recommend that the DSG be distributed in line with the National Funding Formula.

RESOLVED: That

1. the DSG allocation for 2018/19 be noted; and

2. the Portfolio Holder for Education, Children and Families be recommended to approved the Dedicated Schools Grant allocation and distribution via the National Funding Formula.