Agenda item

To receive and consider the 2020/21 High Needs Block Budget and Improvement Programme Update report.

Lynne Samuel presented the 2020/21 High Needs Block (HNB) Budget and Improvement Programme update.

Lynne Samuel stated that the Council had received and additional £1.6m (8.6%) for the coming financial year, in recognition of the increasing pressures faced in the HNB by the Local Authority.  This additional funding was welcome, however the HNB still faced challenges, with a projected in-year deficit of £1.7m.  It was also recognised that budgets had been static for a number of years, with no increases in top up funding.

Lynne Samuel stated that the Local Authority was required by law to submit a balanced budget to the DfE (regardless of what the reality was).  The appendixes showed the breakdown of the figures, with some small adjustments still to be made.  She stated that home to school transport budget had been moved to the Council’s general fund.

Sal Thirlway stated that extensive work was being undertaken to reduce the HNB deficit.  These are some of the comments he made:

·           The Resource Bases work continued, this was a challenging but positive piece of work, with the strategic commissioning team involved;

·           Northern House special school – the Council continued to work with the Northern House Trust and the Regional Schools Commissioner to find a new provider for the school.  This represented a challenge for the Local Authority as many Wokingham children were placed there;

·           The SEND Improvement Board had met the day before and they had had a robust meeting;

·           The SEND Strategy was moving forward with the six strands of work which were identified as priorities (but not limited to those six strands of work);

·           The provision of home to school transport was being considered in the context of broader arrangements in the Council, he believed that this service should sit with Children’s Services;

·           There had been a deficit recovery meeting with the ESFA and SEND Improvement colleagues, the Council had provided them with a clear overview.  However, it was unlikely that the deficit would reduce as the Local Authority had not been given the level of resources that were needed.

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

·           Lynne Samuel stated that going forward she expected that there would be more communication with the EFSA and more clarity on how to deal with the deficit;

·           Lynne Samuel stated that there were challenges in achieving a balanced in-year position and in dealing with the historical deficit;

·           Sara Attra stated that Addington School had received interim top ups from other neighbouring Local Authorities who used the school.  She warned that this represented a large amount (for 44 pupils) and if it was reduced would have an impact;

·           The Chair stated that the Out of Borough independent non-maintained schools represented the largest amount of money (30% of the annual HNB Budget), the report did not contain the narrative around this.  Lynne Samuel agreed to include the relevant paragraph with the minutes;

·           Sal Thirlway stated that this issue was being looked at, more places were being created within the Borough.  However, for some children whose needs were very high, it may never be appropriate to bring them back to the Borough;

·           Carey Tulloch, Senior Specialist People Commissioning stated that there was a robust review of processes taking place, looking at resources, spend, commissioning, contracts, financial monitoring and outcomes for children;

·           Sara Attra stated that the Local Authority should consider bringing children back to the Borough at transitions points;

·           Sara Attra stated that in order to bring children back to the Borough, it was necessary to increase the provision of therapy in schools;

·           Brian Prebble stated that there was an element of parental choice that had to be considered;

·           Sal Thirlway recognised that this issue had been going on for a long time and that this was frustrating for the Forum.  However, he ascertained that the service was now undertaking the necessary work to tackle these issues;

·           Corrina Gillard pointed out that there seemed to be a disconnection between School Admissions and SEN teams, she asked if this was going to improve;

·           Sal Thirlway stated that it was his intention that those teams, as well as home to school transport worked together to improve the delivery of the services;

·           Lynne Samuel stated that HNB updates were now standing items in Schools Forum agendas, the finance team would continue to update the Forum on the progress and any changes to the HNB.

Schools Forum members wished to place on record that this was the clearest HNB report in a number of years, they expressed their gratitude to all involved in producing it.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The report be noted;

2)     High Needs Block updates would become a standing item in Schools Forum agendas.