Agenda item

Joint report of the Corporate Director for People and the Director of Education Services

Nick Lee, Director of Education Services, introduced the report which outlined the proposed requirements of the Pupil Growth Contingency Fund (PGCF) for 2024/25 and seeks Schools Forum's approval to allocate £0.909m for this purpose. The funding will be used to fund pupil growth in both maintained schools and academies. As this is a report into the setting of formula for the ESFA, it will be subject to grant conditions which must be considered as part of the internal council process relating to the S114 notice.

Lucy Juby, School Organisation and Place Planning Manager, delivered the report which outlined the following information:

(a)  new DfE guidance has been issued regarding the pupil growth allocation. LA’s are still responsible for managing pupil growth locally;

(b)  there will be a reimbursed by EFSA to the DSG relating to academy funding for April to August 2024 period;

(c)  all previous funding commitments have been factored in. The PGCF is not currently required for primary growth payments as all previous commitments have been met, but there are still significant pressures on secondary school places. The LA has a statutory duty to deliver sufficient school places, supporting those schools to meet basic need, and address any funding lag for increasing pupil numbers;

(d)  funding will continue to be allocated to schools, where they have agreed with the LA to admit an extra class (or more) to meet Basic Need in the area, either on a temporary basis or as an ongoing commitment or formal expansion;

(e)  the new requirement for the 2024/25 criteria is that an extra class will be funded regardless of whether it is within or over the Published Admission Numbers (PAN). Whereas previously, only increases over PAN have been funded through the PGCF;

(f)  the forecast expenditure for 2024/25 has been costed on the basis of the current and anticipated level of growth at the secondary phase. This figure includes both existing/known commitments for secondary growth, as well as an estimated contingency figure based on expected additional capacity needs for the September 2024 academic year;

(g)  a further sum £0.348m has been set aside to allow for contingency, to support other schools accommodating additional pupils. This year’s contingency has been calculated on the basis of an estimated six additional classes required in September 2024, which includes extra capacity for Year 7 entry as well as some additional capacity for in-year admissions across other year groups;

(h)  as a minimum local authorities will have to provide funding to a level which is compliant with the following formula:

·  Primary and secondary growth factor value (£1,550) x number of pupils x Area Cost Adjustment (ACA);

Based on the values allocated in both the primary and secondary phases for a class of 30 pupils, the pupil growth criteria for NCC exceeds the minimum value per pupil of £1,550 per pupil;

(i)  for the first time in 2024 to 2025 the ESFA will be allocating funding based on both growth and falling rolls. In the next financial year, LAs will continue to have discretion over whether to operate a falling rolls fund. The LA does not anticipate that it will receive any falling rolls funding in 2024/25 as it is anticipated that the falling rolls will not meet the 10% threshold reduction of primary number on toll across the LA, between the October 2022 and 2023 censuses.

Resolved to:

(1)  approve the allocation of £0.909m to support pupil growth in 2024/25;

(2)  to note:

(a)  the requirement to allocate funding to academies for the period April 2024 to August 2024 as guided by the ESFA; but which will be reimbursed to the LA’s Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG);

(b)  the amount to be allocated (and reimbursed) is £0.302m;

(c)  the total amount of academies individual school budget shares will be netted off against the pupil growth given out for this period and the Authority's Dedicated Schools Grant for 2024/25 will be adjusted accordingly.