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Contact: Mark Leavesley 0115 876 4302
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Apologies for Absence Minutes: Paul Burke James Strawbridge
Ceri Walters |
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Declarations of Interest Minutes: None. |
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Minutes of the last meeting PDF 307 KB To confirm the minutes of the last meeting held on 25 January 2021 Minutes: The Forum confirmed the minutes of the meeting held on 25 January 2021 as a correct record. |
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Membership Minutes: The Forum welcomed new members Lisa Wilson, representing Nottingham College, and Andy Smith, representing secondary academies. |
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Proposal for targeted funding above notional SEN for primary schools PDF 239 KB Joint Report of the Director of Education Servces and the Corporate Director for People Additional documents: Minutes: Kathryn Stevenson, Senior Commercial Business Partner, introduced the report outlining rationale and criteria for providing targeted funding to qualifying primary schools. Additional funding outside the main funding formula for mainstream schools and academies where the number of their pupils with SEND and/or high needs is not reflected adequately in the funding they receive through the local funding formula.
(a)
under the National Funding Formula, schools receive funding for
additional needs, and the cost of this up to £6000 for
individual pupils, through a combination of deprivation and Low
Prior Attainment (LPA) factors. This means that where schools have
disproportionately high numbers of high needs pupils in comparison
to deprived and LTA pupils they are not adequately reflected in the
Formula; (b)
the Local Authority is proposing to identify these schools with
disproportionate numbers of high needs
pupils compared to the size of their deprived and LPA cohorts that
are generating their funding for additional needs. Where actual
numbers of high needs pupils are more than 2 above the ordinary
threshold, targeted funding will be provided from high needs to
cover in full the costs of the first £6000 of additional
needs; (c)
for 2020/21 the formula will result in 16 schools receiving
targeted funding allocations, with the first £6000 cost being
met for 55 high needs pupils across those schools; (d)
the schools with the highest proportion of high needs pupils use up
to 90% of their notional SEN budget on the first £6000 cost
of these pupils, compared to a city average of 33%. The proposed
additional funding will have the impact of bringing all schools
into the range of needing 38-59% of notional SEN budgets for
supporting the first £6000 cost of these pupils; (e) all primary schools were invited to share their views and comments on the proposals as part of a consultation which took place between 20th May and 15th June 2021. 18 responses were received, with ten schools being fully supportive and the remaining eight being uncertain on concerns about their budget being detrimentally impacted;
The following points were raised during the
discussion which followed: (f)
pupil numbers will be based on the January census so in-year
admissions may not get picked up but the system does provide a
fixed amount per year to each school for certainty and has less of
a lag build in than the previous system; (g)
it can be a major problem if several children with high needs start
at a school simultaneously with no warning. With the new system
panels are built in almost every 6 weeks to speed up funding
processes; (h) feedback on how the new system has worked can be provided when the new budget is set for next year.
Resolved to
(1)
note the new criteria for allocating targeted funding
from the High Needs budget to primary schools from April
2021; (2) note that the projected £0.330m cost of the proposal in 2021/22 will be funded from the overall £8.052m budgeted from the High ... view the full minutes text for item 38. |
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2020/21 Dedicated Schools Grant - Outturn Report PDF 301 KB Joint report of the Corporate Director for People and the Chief Finance Officer Minutes: Julia Holmes, Senior Commercial Business Partner, introduced the report setting out the 2020/21 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) outturn position and the updated reserve balance, and highlighted the following:
(a)
the overall budget allocation for
2020/21 was £289.578m. There was an
underspend of £3.789m, representing 1.3% of the total
budget. The underspend will be allocated to the Statutory School
Reserve (SSR) leaving an uncommitted balance of
£3.738m; (b)
within the Schools Block there was an underspend of £0.733m
within the Pupil Growth fund, mainly because the remaining balance
that could not be equitably allocated to all schools during the
budget setting process was allocated to this fund; (c)
within the Central Schools Services
Block there was an underspend of £0.243m mainly due to
Virtual School funding being substituted by funding from the Pupil
Premium Plus Grant; (d)
Within the Early Years Block there was an
underspend of £0.341m on funding for providers mainly
due to the lower number of children accessing provision during the
pandemic compared to the previous year. There were also underspends
on Early Years Disability Access Funding and the Early Years SEN
Inclusion Fund; (e)
Within the High Needs Block there was an
underspend on High Level Needs support in mainstream schools
because implementation was delayed due to the pandemic. There was
also an underspend of £0.928m on Behaviour PRUs and devolved
Alternative Provision as permanent exclusions were greatly reduced
due to the closure of schools, and a small underspend on Support
Services due to a combination of reduced mileage costs, staffing
underspends and income being over budget; (f)
There was an overspend on Independent and Non-Maintained Special
Schools due to a number of children moving into the City during the
year requiring specialist autism places who could not be
accommodated at Rosehill as places were not available, tribunal
decisions resulting in placements in INMSS settings and fee
increases from providers; (g) the SSR balance as at 1 April 2020 was £6.999m, but after in year movements during 2020/21 the balance is £9.485m, with an uncommitted balance of £3.738m as of 1 April 2021. Schools Form Sub-Group meetings will be set up to review the usage of this reserve to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 and reduction of exclusions, taking into account risks, grants and ‘bigger’ picture discussions.
The following points were raised during the discussion which followed:
(h)
a possible usage of the reserve could be
to support schools with Pupil Premium funding that was affected due
to moving of the census date by the government. This will be
explored to see if it will be possible under funding
regulations; (i)
the Local Authority is in a good position in having a reserve, as
many other Local Authorities do not have one; (j)
the Sub-Group will need to know how much
of the SSR is available and what it can legally fund before making
any decisions. Resolved to
(1) note that the 2020/21 financial outturn position of the DSG was an under spend of £3.789m (1.3% of ... view the full minutes text for item 39. |
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Meeting dates for the 2021/22 academic year For the Forum to meet on the following Tuesdays at 1.45pm:
2021 12 October 7 December
2022 18 January 1 March 26 April 28 June
Minutes: The Forum agreed to meet on the following Tuesdays at 1.45pm:
2021 12 October 7 December
2022 18 January 1 March 26 April 28 June |