Agenda item

Joint report of the Corporate Directors for People and Finance and Resources

Nick Lee, Director of Education Services, introduced the report which requested the approval of the ongoing commitments within the CSSB for the financial year 2024/25. If approved, there will be requirement for individual services in receipt of this funding to go through the additional internal approvals. 

Julia Holmes, Senior Commercial Business Partner (Childrens and Education), delivered the report which outlined the following information:

(a)  approval is sought for ongoing budget commitments of £2.275m, the details of which are set out in Appendix A of the report. This is proposed to be funded from the estimated allocation for ongoing commitments of £1.767m from the ESFA for the financial year 2024/25 and subject to approval from Schools Forum £0.508m from a High Needs to Central Schools Services Block transfer as outlined in agenda item 4 – ‘Proposed approach to DSG budget setting 2024/25 by block’ - Recommendation 2; 

(b)  the estimated cost of Copyright Licences totalling £0.264m does not require approval as the licences are managed and procured by central government. The final figure will be updated and built into the Schools Budget report for the January Schools Forum meeting;

(c)  the indicative funding allocation is based on the October 2022 pupil numbers, but the final budgets will be based on the October 2023 pupil numbers once they have been received. Any additional funding as a result of increased pupil numbers is proposed to be allocated towards the costs of retained duties as there is a forecast shortfall in funding on this budget;

(d)  the services funded through ongoing commitments include the Admissions Team, copyright licences, administrative support for the Schools Forum, retained statutory duties and the Teachers Pay and Pension Contribution for centrally retained teachers;

(e)  from 2018/19 onwards, funding for LA’s ongoing responsibilities is calculated through a formula which is distributed on 90% per-pupil basic factor and 10% based on the deprivation factor. However, in the financial year 2024/25 a third factor has been introduced, a copyright licences per pupil factor to fund the additional costs of copyright licences that local authorities faced in 2023/24;

(f)  the total national budget for ongoing responsibilities in 2024/25 is around £304m.  This includes £5.5m to cover the increased cost of copyright licences that LA’s faced in 2023/24. 90% of this (c.£274m) forms the budget to be allocated to LA’s through the basic per-pupil factor (the remaining 10% (c.£30m) will be allocated through the deprivation factor;

(g)  LA’s continue to be protected so that the maximum per-pupil year-on-year reduction in funding for ongoing responsibilities is -2.5%, while the year-on-year gains cap will be set at the highest affordable rate of 5.51%. In 2024/25 Nottingham City will receive a 3.2% increase in the CSSB unit rate;

(h)  Table 2 highlights the CSSB unit rates of funding and total funding for ongoing responsibilities from 2019/20 to 2024/25. The rate for 2024/25 will be £40.88, which is a rise of £1.26 compared to the previous year. This figure includes an additional £0.67 per pupil for increased cost copyright licences costs faced by LA’s in 2023/24. The total allocation for ongoing commitments is £1.768m. This will change once the pupil numbers for October 2023 are known. If there is an increase in the number of pupils in city schools, then the budgets will need to be adjusted and there will be less for retained duties;

(i)  the estimated cost for statutory retained duties for 2024/25 is £1.358m however, to keep within the funding envelope of £2.275m (subject to approval from SF for the High Needs Block transfer to the Central Schools Services Block of £0.508) the LA has used the statutory retained duties budget to balance the funding available for ongoing commitments. This is why the amount requested for approval by SF is £1.291m as shown in Table 3;

(j)  any budgets not approved will provide issues for the DSG. In this case, a consultation with stakeholders will need to take place and there will be an impact on the delivery of statutory requirements.

Resolved to:

(1)  approve the ongoing commitments budgets set out in Table 3 totalling £2.275m, noting the additional historical detail set out in Appendix A. £0.508m of this total is subject to the approval of the High Needs to the Central Schools Services Block transfer outlined in agenda item 4 – ‘Proposed approach to DSG budget setting 2024/25 by block’ - Recommendation 2 which was approved at this meeting;

(2)  note that the estimated cost of Copyright Licences totalling £0.264m does not require approval as the licences are managed and procured by central government;

(3)  note that where values are based on estimated pupil numbers, this report has used the latest October 2022 census however; once the October 2023 census and final allocations are issued from the DfE these figures will be updated and represented in the final budget report;

(4)  approve that should any additional funding for ongoing commitments be received from the Education & Skills Funding Agency above the £1.768m that it is allocated to the LA to cover the cost of retained duties;

(5)  note that the final decision will be subject to the Spending Control Board.