The Education Board of Southend-on-Sea City Council met on Tuesday, 23rd January 2024, to discuss the establishment of a Schools Forum and Education Strategy Group, as well as to approve the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Early Years funding rates for 2024/25 and the overall DSG budget for 2024/25.

Review of Education Board and Proposal to Establish School Forum and Education Strategy Group

The Director of Education, Early Years and Inclusion provided a verbal update on the proposals to establish a Southend Schools Forum and the Education Strategy Group. The Director mentioned that a workshop would be held with headteachers to establish the Terms of Reference for the Schools Forum, with elections planned for the summer and the first formal meeting scheduled for September 2024. The Board resolved to note the progress towards the establishment of these groups, including the SEND Partnership and Early Years Forum.

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Early Years Funding 2024/25

The Board reviewed a report from the Senior Finance Business Partner on the 2024/25 DSG budget Early Years funding rates. The Board approved the following rates:

• For 3 & 4-year-old funding, from 1 April 2024:

  • Uplift the EY Provider base rate to £5.30 per hour.
  • Uplift the eligible deprivation rate to 49p per hour.
  • Move to a 97% EY provider passport rate, retaining an additional £181,000 per annum for EY Centrally retained support.

• For 2-year-old disadvantage entitlement funding, from 1 April 2024:

  • Uplift the EY Provider base rate to £7.82 per hour.
  • Retain the existing 99.3% EY provider passport rate.

• For the new 2-year-old eligible working parent funding, from 1 April 2024:

  • Set the EY Provider base rate at £7.48 per hour.
  • Implement with a 95% EY provider passport rate, with the remaining 5% supporting EY Centrally retained.

• For the new 9-month to 2-year-old eligible working parent funding, from 1 September 2024:

  • Set the EY Provider base rate at £10.20 per hour.
  • Implement with a 95% EY provider passport rate, with the remaining 5% supporting EY Centrally retained.

• Special Education Needs Inclusion EY Provider support Fund (SENIF):

  • Implement across all funding streams at 1.4% of total funds available within that stream.

• Early years pupil premium (EYPP) and Disability Access Fund (DAF):

  • From 1 April 2024, the EYPP rate is set at 68p per hour for eligible children, and the DAF is set at £910 per annum per eligible child.

Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Budget 2024/25

The Board considered the report of the Senior Business Finance Partner presenting the 2024/25 DSG budget, including the DSG Individual School budgets for 2024/25. The Board resolved to note that the 2024/25 DSG Budget had been set in accordance with the approved funding principles of the 13 December 2023 DSG Education Board finance reports.