Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Cassie Lloyd Perrin, Gerard McKenna, Andy Prindiville and Paul Russell.

The Chair also advised with sadness he had to report that following the expiry of her role as a School Governor the membership of Geraldine Chadwick as a Governor representative and Vice-Chair on the Forum had now also now ended.  On behalf of the Forum, the Chair took the opportunity to formally thank Geraldine for her contribution and support during the 10 years as a member and also as Vice Chair of the Forum.

Give the vacancy created as a result the Chair advised that the Forum would need to appoint a new Vice-Chair, with nominations sought at the meeting.  As no nomination was received the Forum RESOLVED that the appointment of a Vice-Chair be included for further consideration and nomination at the next meeting in February 2024.

None.

None.

To approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 16 November 2023 as a correct record.

It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on Thursday 16 November 2023 as a correct record.

To consider any actions arising from previous meetings.

The Forum was advised that –

·             Action Point 89 (Early Years Panel Funding Criteria) was due to be addressed under Item 7 of the agenda.

·             Action Point 90 (Update on delivery of DVB Programme) – was due to be addressed at the next meeting of the Schools Forum in February 2024.

·             Action Point 91 & 92 (Mayors Free School Meals scheme) was due to be addressed advised under Item 6.

·             Action Point 93 (AWPU Funding for each key stage) – addressed as Appendix A under item 6 of the agenda.

·             Action Point 94 (High Needs Block Deficit Management Plan) - was due to be addressed at the next meeting of the Schools Forum in February 2024.

This report sets out the proposed DSG Schools Budget for 2024/25 for consultation and agreement by Schools Forum ahead of the Council budget being set and approved by Full Council in February 2024.

Olufunke Adediran (Head of Finance, Brent Council) introduced a report setting out the proposed DSG Schools Budget for 2024/25 for consultation and agreement by the Forum ahead of the Council budget to be considered and approved by Full Council in February 2024.  The Forum noted the following key points as part of the update provided:

·             The Forum was advised that the report focused primarily on the Schools Block, as a separate report had been provided for the Early Years Block, with the High Needs Block due to be a focal point at the February 2024 Schools Forum.

·             The DSG funding announcements for 2024-25, as detailed within section 4 of the report, which had included additional funding for the teachers pay award (Teachers Pay Additional Grant TPAG), the provision of additional support for childcare and additional funding for mainstream schools through the Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG) that had now been rolled into the National Funding Formula and included in the baseline 2024-25 Schools Block Allocation and an increase in the pupil premium for children looked after by the local authority, adopted or left care.

·             The detailed DSG Funding Block allocations for 2024-25 as set out within Table 1 of the report, with Brent to receive a total DSG funding allocation of £397m in 2024-25 compared to £379m in 2023-24 representing an overall increase of £18m.

·             The growth funding allocation for 2024-25 had remained the same (£1.2m) as in 2023-24 with the allocation based on the difference between the number of pupils on roll in each school between the October 2022 and October 2023 school censuses and the growth funding allocation included in the overall Schools Block funding for 2024-25.

·             The final High Needs Block (HNB) allocation had been announced as £85.0m, which had been £2.8m more than the allocation for 2023-24 and represented a funding increase of 3.5%.  This increase had been less than that received in previous years and whilst not contributing towards the projected cumulative DSG deficit of £14.6m it would, however, be expected to contribute towards funding any further additional pressures due to continued increases in the number of ECHPs.  It was noted that a more detailed breakdown of the HNB budget was due to be presented to Schools Forum in February 2024.

·             Given the current HNB expenditure budget forecast and increase in number of children with Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs) it had been proposed, in addition to measures outlined in the DSG deficit recovery plan, to transfer 0.5% from the Schools Block to the HNB to mitigate the growing demand, which would equate to a transfer of £1.4m.  Members were advised this would bring the total 2024-25 HNB budget to £86.4m and a net budget of £77.4m after deductions for allocations to other local authorities.

·             The changes made to the Early Years (EY) funding formula in order to reflect the changes to childcare entitlement which had been included within the Block Allocation and on which a separate report had been provided on the agenda.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

Following the confirmation of the provisional DSG Early Years’ (EY) Block funding for Brent, this report seeks Schools Forum endorsement of the local EY Funding Formula for 2024/25

Folake Olufeko, Senior Finance Analyst introduced the report, which following the confirmation of the provisional DSG Early Years’ (EY) Block funding for Brent, sought Schools Forum endorsement of the local EY Funding Formula for 2024 - 25. 

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

·             The changes introduced by the government in relation to the increase in hourly funding rate for existing childcare entitlements, further investment to enable schools and local providers to set up wraparound childcare provision so that parents of school age children can access childcare in their local area and changes to the Early Years Foundation stage (EYFS) requirements to improve flexibility for providers and workforce support.  Having consulted on the EY Funding Formula the key changes identified (as detailed in section 4 of the report) for 2024-25 had been to introduce a new national funding formula for both the existing 2-year-old entitlement for disadvantaged children and the new working parent entitlements for 2-year-olds and under; to introduce three separate hourly funding rates: 2-year-olds, which would be the same for both the disadvantaged and the working parent entitlements; 9-month-old up to 2-year-olds for the new working parent entitlement; and 3 and 4-year-olds for the universal and additional hours entitlements; and to extend the Early year Pupil Premium (EYPP) and the Disability Access Fund (DAF) to eligible children aged 2 and under in receipt of a free entitlement place from 2024/25.

·             In terms of the implications for Brent arising from these changes, the 2024-25 Brent EY Block funding had increased by £10.6m to £35.2m compared to 2023-24. Of the £10.6m increase, £6.8m had been allocated for free childcare entitlements for working parents with children under the age of 3. There had also been increases to the funding rates allocated to Brent for the existing 2-year-old, and 3 and 4-year-old provisions.

·             The details of the changes in the EY National Funding Formula (EYNFF) funding rates, as detailed within Table 1 of the report.

·             The following elements it was proposed to apply to the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF) and allocations for 2024–25 within Brent in recognition of the wider changes being made to childcare entitlements:

Ø   Funding for 3 – 4 year olds being distributed to providers as a universal base rate plus additional allocations for deprivation and quality supplement, after the 5% reduction for central spend, with the base rate being increased from £4.84 in 2023-24 to £5.39 in 2024-25 on the basis set out in section 6.1 of the report.

Ø   Following the government’s decision to mainstream the teachers’ pay and pensions grant into the 2023-24 EYNFF and additional flexibility in terms of planned funding supplements it was proposed to continue using the quality supplement to apply the additional flexibility to replace the previous teachers’ pay and pensions grant that was paid by the DfE.  The quality supplement of 2% would apply to Brent school-based nurseries and PVIs that met the criteria but not maintained nurseries.

Ø   Continuation of the maximum  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

No items of urgent business were raised at the meeting.

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

· Tuesday 20 February 2024

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

To note the schedule of dates for the remaining meetings during 2023 - 24 as follows:

Tuesday 20 February 2024 at 6pm via Zoom.