The meeting on 12 December 2024 was for the Schools' Forum to receive annual reports on Early Years, Alternative Provision, and High Needs, and to consider Government updates and the budget for 2025-26. The most significant items on the agenda were the reports on alternative provision and the budget for 2025-26.

Alternative Education

The Schools' Forum were asked to note a report on Alternative Provision. Alternative provision is education arranged for pupils who are unable to attend mainstream schools for reasons such as exclusion, illness or because they have recently moved to the area. In Milton Keynes, alternative provision is delivered in the primary sector by the MK Primary PRU, and in the secondary sector by Bridge Academy. The report provided an update on the use of alternative provision, how it is accessed, and the challenges of meeting demand for places.

Admission is only for children who are resident in Milton Keynes or who attend a Milton Keynes school.

Admission to alternative provision in Milton Keynes is overseen by the monthly Alternative Education Panel. The panel comprises headteachers and senior leaders from mainstream schools, local authority officers, and colleagues from other agencies. The panel reviews referrals and decides on admissions. It also moderates reintegrations from alternative provision back to mainstream schools. The report noted that the number of children accessing alternative provision in Milton Keynes has risen sharply since 2020.

In the primary phase, the number of children has increased by 768 from 27,039 in 2019 to 27,807, an increase of 2.8%.

Similarly for the secondary phase, the number of children has increased, although much more significantly, increasing by 3,679 from 16,073 in 2019 to 19,752, up by 22.9%.

The report highlighted that, in Summer 2024, the number of children placed at Bridge Academy and the MK Primary PRU exceeded the number of commissioned places.

The proportion of secondary phase children accessing a place at Bridge Academy has increased from 0.65% in 2021 to more than 1% in 2024.

The report also noted that although there are efforts to reintegrate pupils back into mainstream schools, there are some children who are unable to reintegrate and who remain in alternative provision for extended periods. The report set out projected demand for alternative provision over the next 5 years.

If we assume this trend continues we could see up to 1.3% of children in secondary school accessing an Alternative Provision

The report concluded by identifying the following next steps for alternative education in Milton Keynes:

1. Increase the number of places commissioned for 2025/6 by 20 places (+10 Primary, +10 Secondary) to support the growing demand.
2. Ensure admissions are appropriate - additional work needs to be done to support even better identification of appropriate referrals at the panel and expectations on schools ahead of panel referrals to identify any underlying long term SEN needs which could be impacting behaviour (via MKIP).
3. Ensure formal processes are in place to capture and monitor trends in alternative provision trends (via MKIP Review Group and SEND Place Planning Group).
4. Continue to increase the number of children reintegrated back to mainstream schools and monitoring the impact of new pathways (via MKIP).
5. Consider processes for identifying children accessing a place for an extended period within an alternative provision setting and understanding how they are progressed (via MKIP Review Group).
6. Devise and progress a plan to steadily increase the number of places in line with projected demand but also accounting for further increases in re-integrations. Review how this may be developed with consideration around current building capacity across Stephenson Trust and place funding implications (via MKIP Review Group and SEND Place Planning Group)

Budget Setting 2025-26

The Schools' Forum were asked to note the latest updates on the National Funding Formula (NFF) and the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), and to vote on the proposed 2025-26 budgets for the central schools services block, the Early Years central spend, and the High Needs block.

The report explained that:

Overall, core schools funding (including funding for mainstream schools and high needs) is increasing by £2.3bn in 2025/26 compared with the previous year.

Within this £2.3bn, high needs funding is increasing by a further £1.0bn in 2025/26 to help local authorities and schools with the increasing costs of supporting children and young people with SEND.

The report explained that the Dedicated Schools Grant is allocated to Milton Keynes Council by central government. This grant is ringfenced and can only be spent on schools. The council has to use the Dedicated Schools Grant to fund three different blocks of school spending: the Schools block, the Early Years block, and the High Needs block. The council decides how much of the Dedicated Schools Grant to allocate to each block, but there are rules about how the money in each block can be spent. The council is not allowed to use money from one block to fund spending in another. Once the council has decided how much money to allocate to each block, it is then responsible for deciding how that money is spent.

The report noted that, in 2025-26, the Dedicated Schools Grant will increase by £10.795m to £355.035m.

The report explained that:

Despite several reviews and discussion at the schools forum regarding the growth fund criteria, the cost of the growth fund is expected to exceed the amount of funding available in 2025/26 and in future years.

The report identified several different ways that this funding pressure could be managed:

• Surplus Balances: schools could voluntarily agree to re-centralise ‘excess’ surplus balances back into DSG circulation. MKCC does not currently have a policy regarding the clawback of surplus balances but this could be considered in future.
• Cap on Gains: LAs continue to have the ability to apply a cap on schools that gain to manage pressures in the wider school’s block. The same percentage cap would have to be applied across all gaining schools. This would obviously then only effect schools that have gained so wouldn’t be an even share of the pressure across all schools.
• Reduction in the AWPU: the impact of this would need to be assessed as this could simply result in more protection through other formula factors (e.g. MFG and the minimum per pupil funding levels). However, local authorities will be required to bring their own formulae closer to the schools NFF from 2023/24. This means local authorities must move their local formula factor values at least 10% closer to the NFF, except where they are already mirroring the NFF.
• Reduction in formula factors: the formula is made up of other factors such as deprivation, English as an additional language, free school meals, prior attainment and deprivation. Any of the factors could be considered for reduction however this would not affect schools evenly as this funding is intended to recognise the additional need of those pupils. As above local authorities will be required to bring these factor values at least 10% closer to the NFF.
• Minimum per pupil funding levels: this is now a mandatory factor within the NFF but LAs can apply to the DfE for this not to be applied in certain circumstances. Choosing to disapply this factor would likely impact the schools receiving the least funding as the minimum per pupil funding level is in effect a top up on the factor funding to a minimum level.

The report went on to explain that Milton Keynes Council is required to retain a proportion of the Early Years Block to fund central services such as the administration of funding, quality and improvement, early intervention, access to early years education, supporting inclusion, and ensuring children are school-ready. The report noted that:

An important change to note is that the DfE have announced that they will be increasing the pass-through requirement to 96% in 2025/26 (The minimum pass-through funding level set by government has been 95% since 2018/19).

The report then set out the council's proposed budgets for Early Years central spend and for High Needs, and provided some additional information about other school funding updates such as the PE and Sport Grant and the Universal Infant Free School Meals Grant.

Annual Report on Early Years

The Schools' Forum were asked to note the annual report on Early Years and to give consideration to the funding request included as part of the budget setting discussion. The report noted that access to high quality early years education can have a positive impact on children's outcomes. The report went on to describe the Milton Keynes early years marketplace, and to explain that Milton Keynes City Council:

maps the current and projected future supply and demand for early education provision across the city and publishes the information annually

The report explained the different types of free early education available in Milton Keynes and explained that:

Whilst there is no legal obligation on parents to access early education provision, the evidence is clear that accessing good quality early years provision can generate immediate positive impacts on development, and sustained, significant improvements on children’s long-term outcomes, reducing inequalities in later life, particularly for those otherwise disadvantage children.

The report went on to explain that:

Funding for ‘free’ two-, three- and four-year-old entitlement places is provided to local authorities via the Early Years Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

Annual Report for High Needs

The Schools' Forum were asked to note the annual report for High Needs. The report explained that:

The High Needs Block (HNB) of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) became ring fenced in April 2018. This combined with continued demand for provision in relation to SEND means that it remains a highly pressured and potentially volatile element of the DSG.

The report went on to describe recent national developments relating to high needs and explained that:

Our new Government are aware that around two thirds of all LAs are in deficit in their HNB, with reported pressures escalating, this is driven by high-cost placements, especially within the Independent sector, an increased demand of EHCPs through parental expectation and rights and schools requesting additional funding to meet the needs of their most complex children and young people.

The report went on to explain that there is an increasing demand for high needs funding and that:

Demand for special school places remains high and work on future demand and provision continues to be progressed through a Specialist Provision Place Planning Group.

The report concluded by explaining that a full review of the high needs budget was underway and would be reported to the Schools' Forum in January 2025.