The Southend Schools Forum were presented with a report pack that contained proposals for the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget in the 2025/26 financial year. The pack proposed that mainstream schools should be funded in line with the national funding formula, and set out how the Dedicated Schools Grant would be divided up between the different blocks of funding. The attendees at the meeting were also asked to note the make up of the Resources Sub Group.

Dedicated Schools Grant budget 2025/26

The Dedicated Schools Grant, or DSG, is a grant that is paid by central government to local councils to cover the costs of providing school places for pupils.

The report pack asked the Southend Schools Forum to approve a number of proposals about how the DSG should be used to determine the budgets of schools in Southend.

Individual schools block funding

The largest element of the Dedicated Schools Grant is the individual schools block. This is the money that is paid directly to schools to fund their teaching and running costs.

The report pack proposed that, in line with the existing trajectory, Southend's schools should have their budgets set according to the national funding formula for the financial year 2025/26.

With regard to mainstream individual school’s budget (ISB) planning for 2025/26, to continue on the trajectory of adopting the principles of the National Funding Formulae (NFF).

It was also proposed that St Mary's Primary School ¹ should continue to receive extra funding to support the rental costs for part of its site.

Early years funding

Early years funding covers the cost of providing childcare places for children under the age of 5.

The report pack noted that the final details of early years funding would be agreed during a meeting to be held in January 2025, and that a utilization plan for the Early Years block reserve fund had already been agreed and was being administered.

Growth funding

The meeting was asked to note that any decisions about growth funding ² would be made at a meeting in January 2025.

High Needs block funding

The High Needs block is the money that is used to provide extra support for pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

The report pack proposed that the details of how the High Needs block funding would be allocated would not be determined until a meeting in June 2025.

Central block funding

The central block is the money that is retained by the council to pay for services that are provided to all schools.

The report pack noted that the central government Department for Education are continuing to gradually reduce the central block funding available to local councils. The report pack proposed that for 2025/26, the available central block funding should be allocated as follows:

• £237,212 to be divided between a number of different services provided by Children's Social Care, the School Improvement service, and a contribution toward Domestic Violence support.
• £158,594 for CLA/MPA licences.
• £294,317 for schools admissions.
• £18,700 for servicing the Schools Forum.
• £95,322 for centrally employed teacher contributions.
• £481,800 for retained duties.

Resources Sub Group

The meeting was asked to note that there were two vacancies on the Resources Sub Group:

Appropriate composition of the 7 group membership was discussed and agreed that the remaining 2 vacancies should seek to be filled by an academy primary head teacher and an academy secondary school head teacher.

The meeting was also asked to note that the Resources Sub Group would require a new Chair, who it was suggested should also be either the Chair or Deputy Chair of the Southend Schools Forum.