Agenda item

To receive and consider the Draft 2019/20 Schools Block Budget report.

The Chairman explained that the report contained options for the 2019/20 School Block Budget which had been reviewed by the Task and Finish Group.  There would be a further opportunity to look at the model just before its submission to the DfE in January 2019.

Coral Miller stated that the Task and Finish Group had looked at various options.  The first option was to keep the Funding Formula the same, with small adjustments, mainly around Minimum Per Pupil Funding which was £3,500 for primary school and £4,800 for secondary school.  She stated that most local authorities were using this option.

Coral Miller stated that another option was to go straight to the New Funding Formula (NFF), however it was felt that option allocated too much money for deprivation areas, and Wokingham was not a deprivation area according to the DfE.

Coral Miller stated that it was not certain when the NFF would come into effect, and that there was an extension of another year.

Coral Miller stated that the Task and Finish Group was recommending the adoption of option 1, which was described in detail on page 33 of the agenda.  Option 1 protected schools with a minimum funding guarantee per pupil, this option was recommended until there was more clarity around the proposed NFF, and was consistent with the funding approach applied in 2018/19.

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

·           The Chairman explained that an issue had been identified in relation to the guidance given by the DfE to calculate the funding for all-through schools.  Instead of using the number of primary children times £3,500 and the number of secondary children times £4,800, the DfE was using an average of £4,000 per pupil, and this disadvantaged schools with a larger number of secondary school pupils in relation to the number of primary school pupils.  This presented a challenged for the only all-through school in the Borough which had approximately 10 secondary pupils to 2 primary pupils.  There was a process called ‘disapplication’ in which Schools Forum could instruct Coral Miller to apply to the DfE asking for this rule not to be used in this case.  If the DfE did not agree to this disapplication and Schools Forum decided to tweak the model, every school would incur in a reduction in its funding;

·           Coral Miller tabled a paper containing a model based on the ‘fairer’ calculation of £3,500 per primary pupil and £4,800 per secondary pupil, which was dependent on applying for disapplication and the DfE agreeing to the disapplication;

·           The Chairman reiterated that if the DfE did not agree to the disapplication the reallocated money would have to be found from the Schools Block Budget;

·           Coral Miller informed that she had contacted the DfE and they said that in order to apply for disapplication the Local Authority would have to demonstrate the impact on other schools, the rational for the proposal and carry out a consultation with affected schools; also, it was noted that a disapplication application should have been made by 20 November;

·           Members believed that it seemed disproportionate to penalise all-through schools that had a small primary phase;

·           In response to a question Derren Gray stated that he was considering his options, including ‘divorcing’ the primary school;

·           In response to a question Coral Miller drew attention to the last two columns in appendix B which showed that relative to the proposed option 1 model of funding, some schools were getting more than the minimum per pupil funding, it was those schools that would likely see a reduction in funding compared to the model funding if the DfE did not agree to the disapplication.

Members were not completely clear with the numbers and asked that the Task and Finish Group looked at the three models again, taking into account the possible disapplication.  Members also instructed Coral Miller to carry out the Consultation in order to apply for disapplication.  It was noted that there was urgency in this work as the Budget would have to be submitted on 23 January.

In response to a suggestion Coral Miller stated that the Local Authority was not allowed to have a contingency in the Budget.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The Task and Finish Group would meet again to discuss possible models, including the effect of the possible disapplication;

2)     A consultation would be carried out to find out the schools’ opinion around the funding arrangements;

3)     That the Local Authority would apply for disapplication; and

4)     The Task and Finish Group would make a recommendation on a preferred option to Schools Forum in January 2019.