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Summary
The Buckinghamshire Council Schools Forum is scheduled to meet on Tuesday 2 December 2025, to discuss a range of issues including school funding, budget monitoring, and pay awards. The meeting will also cover proposals for de-delegation of funding and facilities funding for teacher unions.
National Funding Formula and School Budget Proposals
The Schools Forum is expected to discuss the National Funding Formula (NFF) operational guidance and school budget proposals for the 2026-27 financial year. The NFF1 is how the government allocates funding to local authorities for schools.
De-Delegation Proposals
The forum is scheduled to consider proposals for de-delegating funding for certain services in the 2026/27 financial year. De-delegation2 involves the local authority retaining funding centrally to provide services on behalf of all schools, rather than allocating the money directly to individual schools.
Dedicated Schools Budget Monitoring
The Schools Forum is expected to review the Dedicated Schools Budget (DSB)3 revenue budget monitoring for the 2025-26 financial year. This involves examining the income and expenditure of the DSB to ensure that it is on track and that resources are being used effectively.
Schools Forum Membership
The Schools Forum is scheduled to discuss its membership. The Agenda frontsheet notes the current membership, which includes representatives from various schools and organisations, such as Mrs G Bull from Sir Henry Floyd Grammar School, Dr A Gillespie from Burnham Grammar School, Ms S Barcock-Wood from the National Education Union, and Councillor Alan Sherwell from Thomas Hickman Primary Combined School.
Schools Support Pay Award
The Schools Forum is expected to discuss the Schools Support Pay Award. There are two items on the agenda relating to this: item 8, Schools Support Pay Award
and item 10 Schools Support Pay award verbal report
.
Facilities Funding for Teacher Unions
The Schools Forum is scheduled to discuss facilities funding for teacher unions for the 2026/27 financial year.
Other Items
The agenda also includes:
- Apologies for absence.
- Declarations of interest.
- Minutes of the previous meeting.
- Date of the next meeting, scheduled for 13 January 2026.
- A motion to exclude the press and public from the meeting for a specific item due to the likely disclosure of exempt information, as defined in the Local Government Act 1972.
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The National Funding Formula (NFF) is a system used by the UK government to distribute funding to schools in England. It aims to create a fairer and more transparent way of allocating resources based on the needs of pupils and schools. ↩
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De-delegation is when a local authority retains funding centrally to provide services on behalf of all schools, rather than allocating the money directly to individual schools. This can cover services like school improvement, special educational needs support, or insurance. ↩
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The Dedicated Schools Budget (DSB) is a ring-fenced grant that local authorities receive from the government to fund maintained schools and academies in their area. It covers things like teachers' salaries, learning resources, and school maintenance. ↩
Attendees
Topics
No topics have been identified for this meeting yet.