Agenda item

Report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People)

The Cabinet considered a report of the Deputy Chief Executive (People) that detailed the results of the consultation on proposed changes to the Fair Funding Scheme of Delegation ("the Scheme") and sought approval for recommended changes to the Scheme and the Fair Funding Formula.

Under Section 48 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, Local Authorities (LAs) were required to have schemes of delegation which set out the financial controls and arrangements that would operate between schools and the LA. Any proposed revisions to these schemes and/or the Fair Funding Formula must be the subject of consultation and required approval by the Schools Forum.

The Department for Education (DFE) published the "Schools Revenue Funding 2018 to 2019: Operational Guide" that set out the school revenue funding arrangements for 2018/2019. They had not introduced any significant directed changes to the operation of the local school funding formula for 2018/2019; however the introduction of a National Funding Formula to allocate funding to LAs had introduced some additional flexibilities, as well as setting a level of expectation amongst schools.

The consultation document was circulated to Head Teachers including Academy Head Teachers/Principals, Chairs of Governing Bodies, Trades Unions, Diocesan authorities, the Coventry Governors Association, members of the Schools Forum, Early Years Free Entitlement providers in the private, voluntary and Independent (PVI) sectors on 3rd November 2017. The 4 week consultation period ended on 1st December 2017.

Stakeholder groups were briefed throughout the consultation period, including Primary and Secondary Head Teachers and the School Forum (which includes Trade Union representatives). The consultation document also sought to act as an information document to school stakeholders regarding anticipated local budget pressures.

The DFE held a consultation on the National Funding Formula (NFF) in early 2017; under this approach all but 4 Coventry Schools would have received less funding. The majority of schools would have seen up to a 1.5% per pupil funding reduction in 2018/2019 rising to a 2.9% reduction by 2019/2020. These reductions would have been higher if national funding protection arrangements had not been put in place, as the majority of Coventry schools were on the funding floor.

The published outcomes of the consultation introduced some minor changes to the operation of the NFF, but most significantly, included an increased level of protection which meant that all schools would see a 0.5% increase in per pupil funding in 2018/2019 rising to a 1% increase by 2019/2020. This was a more positive position as it would result in an additional £2.3M of resource through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for Coventry’s schools block over the next two years; but it remained the case that the pure NFF (without protection) delivered significantly less resource for Coventry schools. It was not clear what protection arrangements would be in place after 2019/2020. The estimated value of protection in 2019/2020 for Coventry schools was estimated to be £12M.

The DFE had implemented a ‘soft’ National Funding Formula for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 financial years. This meant that the DFE would run the NFF for each school and the sum total of Coventry schools’ allocations would become the total budget available for schools in Coventry. The LA was still required to go through the usual budget setting process and run the local schools funding formula to distribute the resource. The national announcements surrounding the 0.5% increase, and the publication of individual school allocations, had set a level of expectation that all schools would see a 0.5% per pupil increase in their funding.

RESOLVED that the Cabinet:

1)  Approves the recommended changes to the Fair Funding Formula and Fair Funding Scheme of Delegation, which are summarised in Section 2 of the report.

2)  Delegates authority to the Director Education, Libraries and Adult Learning, following consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills and the Schools Forum, to make necessary amendments to the final detail of the recommended changes, in order to comply with the School Finance (England) Regulations 2017, and implement any other necessary changes.