The meeting was scheduled to discuss a range of topics including an update on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget, the Schools Monitoring report, and proposed funding formulae for 2025-26. The forum was also scheduled to consider proposed budgets for the Central Schools Services Block and Pupil Growth Fund for the 2025-26 academic year. Finally, they were scheduled to vote on proposals to de-delegate Trade Union Facilities Time and School Effectiveness functions to the local authority for the 2025-26 financial year.

DSG Update 2024-25

The report pack includes an update on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget for the 2024-25 financial year. It shows a projected overspend of £9.639m for the year. This means that the total projected cumulative deficit is £24.213m.

The national pressure on services to support the education of children with additional needs is well documented. This has been exacerbated by the ongoing impacts of COVID on children and young people’s health and wellbeing. Many Councils are struggling to contain expenditure within the budget available to meet needs. The mitigation actions that are available often have front loaded costs and benefits are felt over the course of many years. Whilst funding has been increased, this has not reflected the full increase in needs that are being identified.

- Agenda Item 03 - 2024-25 DSG Update QTR2

There are significant pressures across all areas of the High Needs Block, which are summarised below:

• Independent Provision: £2.702m pressure driven by sufficiency issues with local authority maintained and academy places and the significantly higher costs of Independent Providers. The average cost of a place at an independent special school is £72,000 per year, compared with £22,000 at a maintained school or academy. The report pack shows that 202 children are currently placed in independent special schools, and this is projected to rise to 220 by the end of the financial year.
• Alternative Provision: £2.808m pressure, driven by a lack of access to high quality local authority alternative provision places and the need to commission tuition and therapeutic provision to support children who would otherwise be in school. This provision also covers home tuition for children waiting for a special school place, which the report pack shows is increasing.
• Mainstream Top Up: £3.099m pressure due to a significant increase in the number of pupils with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) attending mainstream schools. The report pack explains that this is intended to reduce pressure on the specialist placement budgets.
• Local authority special school and SEN Unit top up: £1.802m overspend because of the creation of additional special school and SEN Unit places.
• SENDIF Plus: £373,000 overspend as a result of an increase in the number of children in pre-school settings receiving funding. This has risen from 55 children at the time of the budget setting, to 182.

There are a number of actions in place to try to mitigate these pressures, including:

• Commissioning support from local special schools to provide training and support to mainstream schools, to support children with emerging special educational needs and those with EHCPs.
• Family Hubs to provide a range of support services to families in a single location. The report pack explains that this is intended to enable earlier intervention.
• Investment in a Brokerage and Commissioning Service to shape the independent market and provide better value.

The report pack shows an underspend of £1.252m in the Early Years Block. The report pack explains that this underspend is related to funding that was carried forward from 2023-24.

Schools Monitoring

The report pack includes the second quarter monitoring report for schools, which covers the period from April 2024 to September 2024. It includes details of all of the local authority maintained schools in North Northamptonshire. The report pack explains that the second quarter forecast may be impacted by pay awards for support staff and teachers, which have not yet been made.

Nine schools are currently projected to be in deficit by the end of the year, including four that were identified in the first quarter report. The schools that are in deficit at quarter two are:

• Broughton Primary
• Corby Old Village Primary
• Mawsley Community Primary
• HIGHAM FERRERS JUNIOR SCHOOL
• Nassington School
• South End Infant School
• Warmington School
• The Avenue Infant School
• South End Junior School
• HIGHAM FERRERS INFANT SCHOOL
• EARLS BARTON PRIMARY SCH
• Whitefriars Primary School
• Hayfield Cross School
• NCC Denfield Park Primary
• Barton Seagrave County Primary
• Henry Chichele Primary
• Croyland Primary School
• Geddington C of E Primary
• Grendon CE Primary
• TITCHMARSH C of E PRIMARY
• All Saints CE Primary School
• Brigstock Lathams CE Primary School
• KINGS CLIFFE ENDOWED SCHOOL
• Wilby CE (VA) Primary
• St Patricks RC Primary
• Little Stanion Primary School
• Millbrook Infant School
• Millbrook Junior School
• Stanion CE Primary School
• The Latimer Arts College
• Rowan Gate Primary School

The five newly identified schools are Wilby CE School, Croyland Primary School, Denfield Primary School, Rowan Gate Special School and Mawsley Primary School. Recovery plans for the four schools that were already in deficit are being reviewed and will be presented to the Licensed Deficit Panel in January. The local authority is working to provide support to all of the schools in deficit.

The report pack reminds attendees that a local authority can issue a notice of concern to a school if:

in the opinion of the NNC Chief Finance Officer and the Director responsible for Children’s Services, the school has failed to comply with any provisions of the scheme, or where actions need to be taken to safeguard the financial position of the local authority or the school.

- Agenda Item 04 - Schools Quarter 2 Monitoring 2024-25

Proposed Schools Funding Formulae for 2025-26

The report pack includes details of the proposed local formulae for schools budgets. It explains that the local authority intends to continue to mirror the values of the National Funding Formula (NFF) for 2025-26, which means that the funding factors are all predetermined by the Department for Education. The final funding amounts will be determined by the value of the Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG), the amount allocated to the Growth Fund, and any funding that is transferred to other blocks.

The report pack explains that Stanton Cross Primary, which opened in September 2022, Glenvale Primary Academy, which opened in September 2024, and Weldon Village Academy, which opened in September 2023, will all need their funding adjusted to reflect their planned growth. There is a pause in the planned growth at Weldon Village Academy in 2025-26, so it will not need additional funding that year. The local authority is proposing to set aside an additional amount for the Growth Fund to fund additional places that are not currently planned, for example bulge classes.

The report pack sets out two options for setting the funding formula for 2025-26. The first option involves a 0.5% transfer from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block, a 0% MFG, a 0% cap on gains, and 25% scaling. The remaining budget would be allocated to the Growth Fund. The second option is the same as the first, except that it does not involve a transfer from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block. Both options are modelled in Appendix C, which shows the impact on individual schools. The report pack explains that:

With mounting pressures on the High Needs Block each year, it is crucial for the Schools Forum to consider approving this transfer to help mitigate the projected deficit in the DSG budget for 2025-26, which is driven by the overspend in the High Needs Block. If this transfer is not made this would exacerbate the financial challenges, making it imperative that proactive measures are taken now. A successful block transfer represents a critical step towards addressing these pressures in working towards financial stability.

- Agenda Item 05 - 2025-26 Mainstream Schools Funding Formula

The report pack explains that North Northamptonshire Council submitted a disapplication request to the Secretary of State to transfer 0.5% of the Schools Block funding to the High Needs Block because of the delay by the DfE in publishing the provisional NFF for 2025-26. The report pack states that the local authority would withdraw this request if the Schools Forum agrees to the transfer.

National Funding Formula Central School Services Block 2025-26

The report pack includes details of the proposed budget for the Central School Services Block (CSSB). This is funding that is given to local authorities to carry out their central education functions. The CSSB is made up of two elements:

• Funding for ongoing responsibilities: A formula-based calculation, distributed nationally.
• Funding for historic commitments: This funding is allocated at levels carried forward from previous years. Since 2020-21 the DfE has been reducing this funding by 20% each year.

The total provisional allocation for 2025-26 is £3,081,858. This is a decrease of £142,000 from the previous year.

Most of the historic commitments funding will be used to fund the contribution to combined services, which include:

• School Standards & Effectiveness
• Moderation
• Northamptonshire Safeguarding Children Board
• Educational Entitlement

The report pack shows that the funding for all of these services except School Standards & Effectiveness will be reduced to zero in 2025-26.

The majority of the ongoing responsibilities budget is allocated to statutory and regulatory duties. This will remain unchanged from the previous year. The remaining budget is allocated to:

• Admissions
• Schools Forum
• National Copyright Licences
• Teachers' Pay and Pension Grant

Pupil Growth Fund

The report pack includes details of the Pupil Growth Fund. This is funding that is allocated to schools to provide additional places at the request of the local authority. The local authority can recover PGF funding paid to academies because of the way that academy funding works.

The proposed funding rates for the 2025-26 financial year are based on average teacher costs:

• Secondary schools: £82,339 per 30 additional pupils. This includes £52,587 for a teacher, £26,752 for a learning support assistant, and £3,000 for resources.
• Primary schools: £56,843 per 30 additional pupils. This includes £41,648 for a teacher, £14,195 for a learning support assistant, and £1,000 for consumables.

The report pack explains that funding is prorated for part form entry. For example, half of the amount would be paid for an increase of 15 pupils.

The total proposed budget for the Pupil Growth Fund in 2025-26 is £3.903m. £1.2m of this is allocated to secondary schools and £397,901 to primary schools. The remaining £2.305m is to be allocated to address bulge class and in-year pressures. The report pack explains that:

New and emerging trends of in-year migration are being carefully tracked in terms of admissions applications. It is likely that we will need to determine and allocate further growth fund as this academic year progresses into the 25/26 financial year and into next academic year.

- Agenda Item 08 - Growth Fund Policy Update

Trade Union Facilities Time

The report pack includes a proposal for maintained school forum members to vote on the de-delegation of their funding for trade union facilities time. If the proposal is agreed, the local authority would pool the funding and use it to provide trade union representatives for maintained schools.

The report pack explains that North Northamptonshire Council has a Recognition Agreement with trade unions, and that this agreement automatically covers all local authority maintained schools. It explains that facility time is intended to support union representatives in a number of activities including:

• Negotiations with the employer
• Consultation on redundancies
• Consultation on the transfer of schools to academy status

The report pack sets out the advantages and disadvantages of this arrangement for maintained schools. It states that the benefits of a pooled arrangement include:

• Ensuring that the local authority and schools can meet their legal obligations
• Providing consistent and cost-effective representation for trade union members
• Avoiding the situation where a single school has to bear a disproportionate cost

The disadvantages are that individual schools would have to:

• Consult with each recognised trade union on all employment and health and safety matters
• Develop their own recognition agreements with trade unions
• Make their own arrangements for trade union representation
• Experience longer resolution times for employment relations matters

The report pack includes a joint statement from the recognised trade unions which provides additional detail on how facility time is used.

The report pack explains that it is proposed that from April 2025 trade unions will contract directly with academies to provide facility time.

The maintained school forum members were to be asked to vote on two options for setting the funding rate for facility time:

1. Retain the current rate of £3.79 per pupil.
2. Increase the rate to £4 per pupil.

School Effectiveness

The report pack includes a proposal to de-delegate funding for School Effectiveness functions to the local authority for the 2025-26 financial year. The proposed funding rate is £13.48 per pupil, which would generate a budget of £110,341.

The report pack explains that the School Effectiveness team works with all schools in North Northamptonshire, but that it focuses on those that are judged to require improvement or that are inadequate. The team is made up of a Head of Service, an Associate Head Teacher, and a number of School Improvement Partners. They provide a range of services to schools, including:

• Providing an interim head teacher
• Coaching and mentoring senior leaders
• Providing training to middle leaders
• Providing support to governors with head teacher recruitment
• Facilitating school-to-school support
• Providing training and support to governors

The report pack provides details of the impact that the School Effectiveness team had during the 2023-24 academic year. This includes:

• Providing mindful leadership training to head teachers
• Launching the Leading English in the Primary School programme
• Working intensively with schools that are judged to require improvement
• Supporting the amalgamation of two schools
• Supporting schools that were due to be inspected
• Providing statutory assessment and moderation training

The report pack explains that the School Effectiveness team are aiming to improve outcomes at local authority maintained schools so that they are at or above national average. The current figures are:

• Early Years Foundation Stage: 69.4%, above the national average of 67.7%.
• Year 1 Phonics Screening Check: 80.1%, broadly in line with national average.
• Key Stage 2 Reading, Writing and Maths combined: 59.2%, 1.8% below the national average.
• Key Stage 2 Reading: 76.3%, 2.3% above national average.
• Key Stage 2 Writing: 71.8%, in line with national average.
• Key Stage 2 Maths: 73.9%, above national average.

The report pack explains that the local authority has a statutory power to de-delegate funding for school improvement. If the proposal is not agreed, the local authority will have less funding available to support schools that are judged to require improvement.