The Shropshire Council Schools Forum met to discuss a range of financial and strategic issues relating to education in the area. These included updates to the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), early years block allocations, and the impact of the AP/Inclusion Development Fund. The forum was also scheduled to discuss future meeting dates and communication strategies.

Updated Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Monitoring

Collins Elechi was scheduled to present an update on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) monitoring for 2025-26. The report pack included a summary of Shropshire's latest updated 2025-26 DSG allocation, comparing it with the previous provisional DSG allocation that was reported to the Schools Forum in January 2025.

The report pack noted that the Department for Education (DfE) had announced provisional 2025-26 local authority DSG allocations in December 2024, and updated them in March 2025, with a further update expected in July 2025. The March update included recoupment academies and deductions for high needs places funded by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

The report pack included a table summarising the provisional 2025-26 DSG as presented to the Schools Forum in January 2025, but excluding the July 2025 update. This table provided a breakdown of the funding blocks:

The report pack indicated that the Central Schools Services Block (CSSB) allocation had increased by £210,000 due to increased funding for historic commitments. It also stated that in line with schools operational guidance, there would be a redetermination of school budget shares to reallocate funding for permanently excluded pupils for both maintained schools and academies¹.

The report pack stated that the early intervention and prevention programme through AP/Inclusion Development Fund initiatives in Autumn 2023 had shown a significant reduction of 43% of permanent exclusions, and a budget of £0.600m was allocated this year to consolidate the achievements made last year.

The report pack also noted adjustments to the High Needs Block, including an update to the import/export adjustment, which reflects the net place funding costs of other local authority pupils placed in Shropshire's high needs settings and vice versa. Shropshire is a net exporter of high needs pupils, and the 2025-26 import/export adjustment shows a deduction of £0.936m from High Needs Block funding, subject to collaboration with other local authorities.

Early Years Block Allocation 2025-26

Andy Nicholls was scheduled to present information on the allocation of the Early Years block for the financial year 2025/26. The early years block funds factors relating to three and four-year-olds and disadvantaged two-year-olds in nurseries, private, voluntary and independent settings, and maintained schools. Following the announcements in the Spring Budget 2023², the block now includes funding for the new free entitlement for children from working families aged 2 years (from April 2024) and aged 9 months (from September 2024), expanding to 30 hours for all children of working parents from 9 months+ from September 2025.

The free entitlements (FE) covered by this funding are as follows:

• The universal annual FE of 570 hours of early years education and childcare for all 3 and 4 year olds
• The extended annual FE of an additional 570 hours of early years education and childcare for 3 and 4 year olds from 'working families'
• The FE of 570 hours of early years education and childcare for 2 year olds from 'disadvantaged families'
• The expanded annual FE of 570 hours of early years education and childcare for 2 year olds from 'working families'
• The expanded annual FE of 570 hours of early years education and childcare for 9 month olds from 'working families'
• From Sept 2025 the expanded annual FE of 570 hours of early years education and childcare for 9 month olds from 'working families'

The report pack included a summary of the indicative Early Years block funding for 2025/26. Historically, the overall indicative allocation of the EY block has been determined by applying an hourly rate per hour per child and multiplying this by the number of children on roll within the local authority at the time of the EY census in the previous January. The level of funding is then adjusted using data gathered in the EY census in the following January (A) and again based on census in the following January (B), with the final figure received being based 5/12ths on January A and 7/12ths on January B census.

For 25/26, the following per hour per child funding rates have been announced:

• Funding for the universal and extended three- and four-year-old entitlements: £5.71 per hour per child (phpc)
• Funding for the disadvantaged and expanded two-year-old entitlements: £7.55 phpc
• Funding for the 9-month-old entitlement: £10.23 phpc

Using the combination of January 24 known census data for the existing entitlements, and expected take up of the new entitlements, this will result in the following initial indicative overall funding within the Early Years block:

The EY block is used to fund the following factors:

1. Payment to providers to fund the provision of the free entitlements set out above and the following supplements. It also proposed this year (for the first time) to include a nominal SEND allowance in the funded entitlements for all 3 and 4 year olds.
2. Provision of the EY SEND fund to provide additional resources to support children accessing their free EY entitlements who have high levels of SEND³.
3. Provision of a disadvantaged fund to provide additional resources to settings with high levels of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
4. Provision of a sustainability fund to ensure continued provision in areas where numbers of children alone will not generate sufficient funding to cover basic costs for providers.
5. Meeting the local authority costs for the on-going requirement for the provision of information, support and guidance to EY providers.

The report pack stated that the proposed supplementary costs budget for 25/26 included:

• EY SEND fund: £1,250,000
• Provision of the disadvantaged supplement: £300,000
• Sustainability funding: £300,000

The report pack stated that the overall EY block available for distribution to EY providers through the hourly rate will therefore be reduced by a total of £1,850,000 to cover the costs of the SEND, disadvantaged and sustainability supplements, amounting to 4.38% of the overall allocation.

The report pack also stated that central retained costs were budgeted at £1,050,000 for 25/26, to manage the Early Years central team function, recruit new EY SEND Advisory Officers, enhance the centralised training function, and enhance and upskill centrally retained colleagues. This amounts to 2.40% of the overall allocation, within the 4% ceiling set out by the DfE.

The following hourly rates of funding to providers is to support the provision of the free entitlements:

The report pack also noted two other elements of the overall Early Years block:

• Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP): Paid as an additional amount to any child accessing their free early years entitlements who also meets the eligibility for Free School meals, at a rate of £1 per hour per child. The overall funding allocated through this element of the block is £287,435.
• Disability Access Fund (DAF): Paid to any child who accesses their free early years entitlements who are also eligible for Disability Living Allowance, at an annual rate of £938 per child in 2025/26. The overall funding allocated through this element of the block is £192,290.

Impact of the AP/Inclusion Development Fund

John Rowe was scheduled to present on the impact of the AP/Inclusion Development Fund. This item was carried forward from the March 2025 agenda.

Other Business

The agenda included the following items:

• Schools Balances as at March 2025 (Stephen Waters (Jo Morris))
• Growth Fund Allocations 2024-25 and 2025-26 (Andy Nicholls)
• Dedicated School Grant Monitoring 2024-2025 Outturn (Stephen Waters)
• Communication
• Future meeting dates