Agenda item

This report informs Schools Forum of the provisional DSG block funding allocations announced for 2022/23.

7.            Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Funding Update Report 2022-23

Folake Olufeko, Senior Finance Analyst at Brent Council introduced the report, which detailed the provisional Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) block funding allocations for 2022-23 allocations that would form the basis of further detailed work regarding funding.

Key points highlighted within the report were as follows:

·                The provisional school funding allocations announced in July 2021 had indicated that core funding was expected to increase nationally by £2.3 billion in 2022/23.  This was in line with the confirmed 2020 Spending Review increases to funding for schools in England by £7.1 billion by 2022/23 compared to 2019/20.

·                Overall the schools block funding in Brent would increase by £1.8 million in 2022/23, representing a 0.7% increase. This was lower than the national increase of 2.9% and lower than the average of 1.7% for London.  Factors which had contributed to the lower increase in funding included London having a lower share of primary and secondary schools, with a per pupil funding level below the 2022/23 minimum per pupil rate of £4,265 per primary school pupil and £5,525 for secondary school pupils alongside the impact of decreases in primary pupil numbers.

·                High needs block funding would see an increase of £5.3 million, representing an 8% increase however the Forum was advised this would still not be sufficient to cover the identified deficit brought forward from 2020/21 DSG of £10.5m and any further increase in demand for ECHPs in 2022/23.

·                The Central Block would also see a reduction of 6% totalling approximately £145,000 in Brent with London also experiencing smaller than average percentage increases in funding for ongoing responsibilities.  This was driven by the decrease in pupil numbers across the borough and London as a whole.

·                As part of the Chancellor of the Exchequers 2021 Spending Review £4.7billion growth had been announced for school’s core budgets by 2024/25.  This would include funding to cover the cost of the temporary increase in National Insurance Contributions and salaries although it was still unclear as to whether this funding would be subject to a levelling up process in the DFE’s steps towards a hard National Funding Formula (NFF). The Review had also included £2.6 billion to support SEND provision, with further details now awaited on how the funding would be allocated.

In terms of the overall Schools Block allocation, the Forum noted the plans being considered by the Government to move towards compulsory implementation of a full National Funding Formula (NFF).  Funding allocated through the schools NFF had been increased by 3.2% overall in 2022/23 and by 2.8% per pupil (2% per pupil for Brent which represented the minimum increase).  In recognition of the potential impact any compulsory move may have the 3.2% increase was seen as a positive step towards matching the current local Brent formula, which included average funding levels per pupil of £5,408 for primary pupils and £6,826 for secondary pupils.

As no further issues were raised the Forum RESOLVED to note the 2022/23 allocations as the basis for further detailed work to allocate funding to individual schools and settings at the January 2022 School Forum meeting.