Issue - meetings

Schools Out-turn report 1819

Meeting: 10/07/2019 - Schools Forum (Item 55)

55 Schools Out-turn report 18/19 pdf icon PDF 364 KB

To receive and consider the final Schools Out-turn 2018/19 report.

Minutes:

Coral Miller, Interim Senior Finance Specialist presented the report.  Coral stated that the 2018/19 in-year Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) outturn position was a net overspend of £1.05m representing 0.76% of the 2018/19 DSG budget.  Given the brought forward deficit balance of £527k from 2017/18, this resulted in an overall DSG deficit balance at the end of 2018/19 of £1.57m, equivalent to 1.14% of the £136.925m 2018/19 DSG.

 

Coral Miller stated that this position put the local authority over the 1% threshold set up by the Department for Education (DfE), and a recovery plan was required.  The majority of the overspend was in the High Needs Block (HNB) which was going to be discussed separately.

 

Coral Miller stated that the HNB had an in-year deficit of £872k against funding of £18.44m (4.7%).  This taken with the brought forward deficit from 2017/18 of £527k put the year end position at a total HNB deficit of £1.399m.

 

Coral Miller stated that forecast figures previously reported to Schools Forum projected a year end deficit of £2.5m, the improvement of £1.1m was largely as a result of a reduction on spend for Independent Special Schools against that which what was anticipated.  This continued to be a key focus area for improvement.

 

Coral Miller stated that there was an overspend in the Central Block due to changes in the treatment of licensing costs that were not identified at the time of Budget setting.  This overspend would be carried forward and would be addressed through ongoing planning to deliver financial sustainability for the Central Block.

 

Coral Miller stated that there was an overspend in staff cover and an underspend in contingencies within the Schools Block.  This was being considered as part of the review of the de-delegated budges for 2020/21 budget setting.

 

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

 

·           Janet Perry pointed out that the staff supply cover budget had been overspent for the last few years and was only available to maintained schools.  She asked why was this budget persistently overspent, why was this element of the de-delegated costs not increased?

·           Coral Miller stated that this was part of the de-delegated money, therefore only costed to maintained schools, and it did not affect the schools’ Block Budget;

·           Paul Miller asked if this difference would be adjusted in future calculations, and Coral confirmed that it would;

·           In response to a question Coral Miller stated that she was not allowed to change the figures in-year once the Budget had been submitted to DfE;

·           Janet Perry was of the opinion that the current system was not working, with many schools converting to academies and a deficit being seen in the de-delegated budget;

·           Some Members stated that the description was misleading and that it should be called additional maternity cover and not staff supply cover;

·           Janet Perry stated that academies had to take insurance for maternity cover;

·           Carol Simpson stated that maintained schools were not able to make a decision.  She had made some  ...  view the full minutes text for item 55