Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Michelle Ginty and Nisha Lingham.

The Forum was advised that existing forum vacancies would be advertised in the Head teachers and Governors Bulletin scheduled to go out at the end of the Autumn term 2023.

None.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Tuesday 20 June 2023 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on 20 June 2023 as a correct record.

To consider any actions arising from previous meetings.

The Forum was advised that:

·             Action Point 89 – For the Forum to receive details of Early Years Panel Funding criteria, would be addressed at the next meeting of the Schools Forum in January 2024.

·             Action Point 90 – For the Forum to receive an update of the delivery of the DBV Programme, would be addressed at the next meeting of the Schools Forum in January 2024.

·             Action Point 91 –The Forum was advised that Special Schools were eligible for funding in relation to the Mayors Free School Meals scheme.

·             Action Point 92 – For the Forum to receive an update on the Mayors Free School Meals Scheme, would be addressed at the next meeting of the Schools Forum in January 2024.

This report provides the Schools Forum with an update on the forecast financial position for 2023/24.

Folake Olufeko, Senior Finance Analyst introduced the report that provided an update on the forecast financial position for 2023-24.

The Forum noted the following key points as part of the update provided:

·             The cumulative deficit at the end of the financial year 2023/23 was £13.8m. The increased demand for High Needs provision was forecast to lead to the overall DSG expenditure exceeding income by £0.8m in 2023/24, this resulted in a forecast cumulative deficit of £14.6m by the end of the financial year. This was mainly due to the increased number of children and young people with Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).

·             The detailed financial monitor of the DSG Schools Budget was presented in the accompanying Appendix 1, this provided details of the spends against each block of the DSG.

·             The Schools Block was currently forecast to breakeven, of the total £261.7m Schools Block budget allocated by the DfE to Brent, £139.0m has been recouped and allocated directly to academies. £1.3m had been transferred to the HNB and £1.9m had been deducted for National Non-Domestic Business Rates to be paid by the DfE directly to the billing authority, leaving £119.5m directly allocated to Brent maintained schools and to fund centrally retained items including the growth fund.

·             The High Needs Block budget, excluding the proportion allocated to academies was £74.7m, this allocation included the £1.3m transfer from the Schools Block that was previously approved by the Schools Forum.

·             Place funding of £8.8m (£8.6m in January 2023) for Academies had been recouped from the Block and allocated to Special Academy providers, additionally there was a £0.3m in year adjustment by the DfE in July 2023 to increase the HN funding for Brent children attending schools in other local authorities.

·             Overall, the HNB was projecting a deficit of £0.8m, section 7, Table 2 of the report provided a breakdown of the income and expenditure against different categories in the High Needs Block.

·             A pressure of £1.1m was projected against the cost of Post-16 provision, however the Forum noted that it was difficult to accurately forecast the Post-16 costs due to delays in various settings confirming their charges to the local authority and the issue of pupils joining mid-year, therefore the forecast pressure of £1.1m was subject to change later in the financial year, with the Forum due to receive an update at the January 2024 meeting.

·             The overspends were partly mitigated by an underspend in the mainstream and academy budgets due to the increased utilisation of in borough SEND placements.

·             The HNB Management Plan was in place to monitor and address the deficit, this included looking at longer term actions to reduce the deficit over time. A task group chaired by the Corporate Director of Children and Young People was in place to coordinate and monitor actions in the Plan, an updated Plan would be presented at the January Schools Forum.

·             The Early Years Block was currently forecast to break even. However, this position was likely to change over the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

This report informs Schools Forum of the provisional DSG block funding allocations announced for 2024/25.

Olufunke Adediran, Head of Finance introduced the report which updated the Forum on the provisional DSG block funding allocations announced for 2024/25.

The Forum noted the following key points as part of the update provided:

·             The Forum was asked to note the provisional 2024/25 allocations which would form the basis of further detailed work to allocate funding to individual schools and settings at the January and February 2024 meetings, once the final funding was confirmed.

·             The core factors in the NFF (such as basic per-pupil funding, and funding for additional needs such as deprivation) would increase by 1.4%, however a number of changes had been introduced, following the requirement for schools to move to the hard funding formula, as detailed in section 5 of the report.

·             As discussed at previous Schools Forums, a small number of Brent schools would be affected by the split site funding; these schools had met with the finance team to discuss how their funding would be impacted.

·             A further notable change was that, for the first time, in 2024/25 the DfE would allocate funding to local authorities on the basis of falling rolls, as well as growth. Local authorities could use the funding to support schools that experienced a short-term fall in the number of pupils on roll.

·             A further change for 2024/25 would see local authorities being required to provide growth funding where a school or academy had agreed with the local authority to provide an extra class to meet basic need in the area (either as a bulge class or as an ongoing commitment)

·             In relation to the high needs block, the national increase for 2024/25 compared to 2023/24 was 4.3% or £440m. The NFF would ensure that every local authority received an increase of at least 3% per head of population, compared to 2023/24, and no more than 5%. Brent would receive the minimum 3% increase like other Outer London boroughs. This was the lowest increase in the past few years, the Forum was advised that if demand continued to grow the funding would not be sufficient to meet the pressures and the deficit was likely to increase. This could have a significant impact for Brent and many other councils in the event that the statutory override ceases in 25/26 and local authorities are expected to clear any deficits from their general funds.

·             Central Block funding in 2024/25 would see an increase of 1.57% for the ongoing responsibilities that local authorities continued to have for all schools, whilst funding for historic commitments in relation to pension costs within this block would decrease by a further 20% from 2024/25.

·             The 2024/25 Early Years’ block funding allocations were due to be announced in December 2023, with the revised rates setting the basis of the EY budget allocations to be presented at the January 2024 Schools Forum.

·             The DfE had announced that they would support the teacher’s September 2023 pay award with additional grant funding, the indicative allocation for Brent mainstream schools (excluding special schools)  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

To note the schedule of dates for future meetings during 2023/24 as follows:

·       Tuesday 5 December 2023 (additional date if needed)

·       Thursday 25 January 2024

·       Tuesday 20 February 2024

Unless otherwise notified all meetings to be held online starting at 6pm.

The Committee noted that the provisional meeting scheduled for Tuesday 5 December 2023 was no longer needed and proceeded to agree and note the schedule of dates for the remainder of the 2023/24 municipal year.

·      Thursday 25 January 2024

·      Tuesday 20 February 2024

The Chair asked the Forum if they would like to consider a mixture a face to face and online meetings for future Schools Forums. The Forum was positive about the option of hybrid meetings so that they had the choice of in person or online attendance, dependant on their other commitments. It was therefore suggested that the first meeting of the next municipal year was held as a hybrid meeting at Brent Civic Centre and dependant on the success of this, the remaining meeting schedule could be agreed accordingly.