Purpose

In 2026/27, as in
previous years, West Sussex County
Council is responsible for
deciding local funding formulae for mainstream schools in its area.
The funding levels that schools, both Local Authority (LA)
maintained schools and academies, receive will be determined by the
County’s local formula.
 
The County Council
is required, under national funding regulations, to consult schools
and the Schools Forum on proposed changes to funding arrangements
affecting school budgets, when setting its local formula each
year.
 
Since
the County’s local funding formula now uses
the full National
Funding Formula values, no consultation document was sent out to
mainstream schools for 2026/27, although Schools Forum were still
consulted.
 
Feedback from Schools Forum has
been considered in the development of the local funding formula for
mainstream schools in 2026/27. Approval is now sought to progress
the proposed changes to the funding arrangements.
 

Decision

The Cabinet Member for Children, Young People
and Learning has agreed the approach to the 2026/27 local funding
formula for mainstream schools as set out in section two of the
report and approved the proposals in paragraphs 2.27 to 2.29
to:
 

(1) Adopt the National
Funding Formula rates in full,

(2) Set the Minimum
Funding Guarantee level at 0% (the maximum level allowed),

(3) Set the
county’s growth fund budget at £1.080m.