Agenda item

The Committee considered the report of the Corporate Director of Resources that provided members with information on school funding in Durham (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

The Finance Manager for Children and Young People’s Services was in attendance to present the report and deliver a presentation (for copy of presentation, see file of minutes).

The presentation provided members with details of the dedicated school grant which was the main source of funding for schools; mainstream schools funding and the formula; pupil-led factors; additional pupil needs; minimum per pupil funding; school-led funding; premises-led funding; minimum funding guarantee/growth; future developments and other funding for mainstream schools.

Members were advised there were 164 maintained schools and 100 academies in county Durham, 211 mainstream primary schools and 30 mainstream secondary schools. Funding for these schools was provided via the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) which was notionally split into several blocks – schools block; central services block, high needs block, and early years block. Members were advised that the focus of the presentation was the schools block. He confirmed that local authorities needed consent from the schools forum and the Secretary of State to transfer funds between blocks and funding was ringfenced.

Information was given that as well as the basic funding per pupil there were additional pupil needs that were considered and included deprivation, English as a second language; mobility (members noted that this was on the movement of pupils from on school to another within the year), and low prior attainment.

The Finance Manager CYPS advised that in 2018 the Government had indicated their intention to replace local funding formulas with a national funding formula which constrained local funding formulas and limited their use. In County Durham the process was started to align the local funding formula and now it mirrors the national funding formula.

Members were made aware that Durham did not expect much turbulence as we move to a national funding formula.

Councillor Townsend advised that she was hearing from schools about the impact of inflation on their budgets and the funding they received from government was not enough and asked if they had heard of any relief coming from central government.

The Finance Manager for Children and Young People’s Services responded that they were waiting to see what came out of the Autumn Statement, but they were hoping that funding would be held at the levels promised for 2023/24.

Councillor Walton asked the Officer to explain about the additional pupil needs funding and that it should not be linked to individual pupils.

The Finance Manager for Children and Young People’s Services responded that proxy indicators were used which were the number of pupils on the school roll at the time of the October school census, the number of pupils receiving free school meals or having English as an additional language or live in a particular post code area. These statistics would suggest if additional support was required and don’t know the individual characteristics of that pupil but are saying because of what these statistics suggests that they will need additional support and funding is received for those pupils. It is then up to the school to assess the overall needs of all of their pupils and make decisions on how they can best support those pupils. Just because you are in a particular post code does not suggest that you will have any additional needs but there was more chance of it.

Councillor Sterling indicated that they hear from families a lot that when a child is being assessed for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) it can take a long time and the school need to support the child through the funding. However, schools are reporting that if they do not have an EHCP then they were unable to allocate any extra support and asked if that was the case.

The Finance Manager for Children and Young People’s Services responded that within the school formula there was a national SEN budget, this was a calculation within every school to say you are receiving money. They would expect a proportion of those pupils to be funded the first £6,000 of support from the school budget for that pupil that was not linked to individual pupils. Beyond that £6,000 cost they would need to speak to the local authority about what additional support they needed in terms of a top up fund.

The Strategy Manager SEND, and Inclusion Strategy Assessment and Provision advised Members that he would be talking about SEND funding in his presentation, but the key point was that you did not have to have an EHCP in place to receive funding. Schools could apply for funding with a SEN Support Plan that did not take 20 weeks for an assessment. He was happy to send to members the Local Offer that was written for parents by parents on how the system works in County Durham.

The Head of Education indicated that the school-led funding for primary schools five years ago was around £175,000 a year and were now down to around £121,000 that had a significant impact on schools. He commented that small schools were still benefiting from this payment but schools who had around 90 to 130/140 pupils were struggling, and the authority had a few schools with these numbers.

The Chair thanked the Officer for his presentation.

Resolved: That the contents of the report and presentation be noted.