The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Schools' Forum was scheduled to meet on Monday, 17 November 2025, to discuss several key issues, including the Schools' Forum constitution, recommendations from the High Needs Budget Review Group, Dedicated Schools Grant budget monitoring, and the local funding formula review. The forum was also expected to discuss early years deprivation overpayments.

Here's a breakdown of the topics listed on the agenda:

2026/27 Dedicated Schools Grant Position and Local Funding Formula Review

The Schools' Forum was expected to discuss the 2026/27 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) position and the local funding formula review. According to the report pack, the publication of the notional schools and high needs national funding formula (NFF) allocations for 2026/27 had been delayed. The report pack included options to consider for the local funding formula to be used to calculate individual school budgets in 2026/27.

The report pack stated that local authorities must continue to move their local formula factor values at least a further 10% closer to the corresponding NFF values. It also noted that local Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) protections were expected to remain in place for 2026/27, which in 2025/26 was required to be between plus 0% and minus 0.5% per pupil compared to per pupil funding in 2024/25.

The Schools' Forum was scheduled to consider three options for the local funding formula:

• Move a further 10% towards the NFF factor values for all factors.
• Move a further 15% towards the NFF factor values for all factors.
• Move a further 20% towards the NFF factor values for all factors.

The report pack stated that officers believed that option 1 was the most suitable option, meeting all the principles with a lower total MFG than the other options.

Dedicated Schools Grant Budget Monitoring 2025/26 and Forecast School Balances

The Schools' Forum was scheduled to receive an update on the revised Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocation, budgets set, and forecasts for 2025/26. Information on estimated school balances was also to be provided.

According to the report pack, the Dedicated Schools Grant allocation for 2025/26, based on information published by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in July 2025, was £87.387m.

The report pack also noted that school's forecast reports estimate that the total of reserves held by schools at 31st March 2026 would be £3.656m, a reduction of £1.204m, from £4.860m at 31st March 2025. It also stated that a balance control mechanism (BCM) would be introduced from 2026/27, based on balances at the end of 2025/26.

Recommendations from the High Needs Budget Review Group

The Schools' Forum was expected to discuss feedback and recommendations from the High Needs Budget Review Group (HNBRG).

The report pack stated that the Schools' Forum on 15th January 2025 agreed the high needs block budgets for 2025/26. The 2024/25 outturn position was a high needs block underspend of £0.913m and an overall DSG underspend of £0.841m and a cumulative deficit of £3.287m.

The HNBRG considered RBKC's SEN Specialist Provision Commissioning Plan including the current pattern of pupil needs, national data, and a forecast of RBKC's future demand.

The HNBRG endorsed a forecast which assumes continued growth in EHCPs¹ albeit below both the London and national average, at 3% per annum. To meet predicted growth, RBKC will need capacity for at least 60 additional specialist places, some will be SRPs² hosted in mainstream schools.

The HNBRG also discussed the financial pressure facing primary schools when exceptionally vulnerable pupils arrive unexpectedly and their transition into school calls for early intervention that exceeds the ordinarily available provision. The HNBRG proposed establishing a fund which RBKC maintained primary schools can draw on in these circumstances.

Update on Early Years Deprivation Overpayments in 2024/25

The Schools' Forum was scheduled to receive an update on early years deprivation payments. The report pack stated that a deprivation funding supplement is allowed for families living in areas among the six deprived-area bands defined by the DfE based on IDACI³ 2019. However, the deprived area bands used to implement this weighting in the funding portal for 2024/25 were incorrectly based on IDACI and IMD⁴ deciles 1–6, which comprise the 60% most deprived areas of England.

The report pack stated that overpayments for 2024/25 had been recalculated based on the DfE guidance.

We recalculated overpayments for 2024/25 based on the DfE guidance and the methodology covered above in order to identify providers that had been overpaid and underpaid. Since there is no additional funding in the Early Years DGS block to cover for these overpayments, we have written to providers to apologise for the error and inform them of the amounts they had been overpaid/underpaid and offered them three options regarding repayments (paying the full amount as one lump sum, pay the amount by the end of March or over 10 payments. We have also specified that providers that would struggle financially could request to extend these repayments beyond the 10-month period in recognition of smaller businesses' needs).

The 2025 Constitution

The Schools' Forum was expected to discuss and approve the 2025 Constitution. According to the report pack, the Senior Schools Governance Adviser reviewed the Constitution over the summer and autumn of 2025. The only alteration proposed was to change 13.1 from ESFA[^6] to Department of Education, as the ESFA was disbanded.

Membership

The Schools' Forum was scheduled to agree the committee membership as nominated by the constituent groups and to note the terms of office ending for members.

The report pack included a list of the current membership of the Schools' Forum, including representatives from primary schools, secondary schools, academies, nursery schools, special schools, and non-school representatives.