This meeting of the Schools Forum was scheduled for 4pm on 11 December 2024. The agenda included a number of topics relating to the funding of schools in Southampton for the 2025-26 financial year, the high needs budget, and funding for trade union activity.

Schools in Financial Difficulty

The Schools Forum was to receive a report on the Schools in Financial Difficulty grant. 8 schools in Southampton had a deficit balance greater than 10% of their core funding. They were:

• Compass Pupil Referral Unit
• Hardmoor Early Years Centre
• Valentine Primary School
• Mansbridge Primary
• Mason Moor Primary
• Shirley Warren Primary
• Townhill Junior
• Polygon

The report recommended that £559,332 of funding be allocated to these schools, pro-rated by the size of their deficit, subject to the schools each producing a deficit recovery plan, submitting quarterly monitoring to the council, refreshing that plan with each budget update, and using the Department for Education's School Resource Management Adviser where necessary .

SEND/High Needs Block Update

The Schools Forum was to consider a report on the SEND/High Needs Block. The report included information about:

Independent Non Maintained Special Schools (INMSS) Projections and SEND Place Forecasting

• The forum received a report on the projected rise in placements at INMSS.
• The report described difficulties the council had experienced accurately forecasting the number of children requiring places at these schools.
• The report described work being undertaken to better understand the need for SEND places.
• The report noted that the council's data on the number of children with Education and Health Care Plans (EHCPs) did not match the numbers published by the DfE, and that this discrepancy had been raised with the DfE.

SEND Improvement Plan Update and Any Impact on the HNB

• The forum noted that the SEND Partnership Board had received the first tranche of reporting for the SEND Improvement Plan.
• The report identified five key areas of action in the plan:
  • Improvement of uptake in the Healthy Child Programme Offer
  • Improvement in transitions at all phases, but especially to adulthood
  • Improvement in the quality of EHCP planning including oversight and monitoring of children in residential placements but without social worker involvement
  • Reduction in neuro diversity waiting lists for assessment and prescribing
  • Workforce development

Update on the Mainstream Cluster Funding Programme

• The forum noted that the council was working with Camden Council to understand their cluster programme.
• The forum noted that the council planned to run a voluntary, unfunded pilot of their own cluster programme with two clusters in Spring 2025.
• The forum noted that a funded pilot scheme would be run in Spring 2026.

Update on the Time Limited Mainstream Inclusion Grant

• The forum noted that only five schools in Southampton had not applied for funding from the Time Limited Mainstream Inclusion Grant.
• The forum noted that the total allocation for the grant was £237,500.
• The forum noted that the council had received strong push back from a small number of schools about the council's requirement to have oversight of how the grant money was spent.

Update on Pupil Referral Unit Funding Review

• The forum noted that the report's author had decided to increase funding for hospital schools by 7% from April 1 2025, in line with recommendations in the government's provisional national funding formula.
• The forum noted that this would equate to an increase of £39,000.
• The forum noted that the Compass PRU had sufficient funding for children with EHCPs, but might have insufficient funding for permanently excluded children.

Rationale/Impact of the Transfer of Funds from Schools Block to the Central School Services Block.

The Schools Forum was to consider a report on the transfer of funds from the Schools Block to the Central School Services Block (CSSB). The report noted that:

• The CSSB was set up when the Education Services Grant was stopped, and is intended to support the work the council is still legally required to do.
• This work is divided into historic commitments and ongoing responsibilities .
  • Historic Commitments are principally funded by the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) MASH Contribution, the funding for which has been cut by 20% each year since 2021-22.
  • Ongoing Responsibilities include things like the admissions service, National Copyright Licences, and Statutory and Regulatory duties including education welfare and attendance.
• In January 2022 the Schools Forum had voted to transfer £103,000 to the CSSB because otherwise the Education team would have been unable to continue supporting schools.
• A further £83,000 was transferred in 2023-24.
• A further £50,000 was to be transferred in 2024-25.
• In total, these transfers maintained the level of provision for the following activities:
  • Planning for the education service as a whole
  • Revenue budget preparation, preparation of information on income and expenditure relating to education, and external audit relating to education
  • Authorisation and monitoring of expenditure not met from schools’ budget shares
  • Formulation and review of local authority schools funding formula
  • Standing Advisory Committees for Religious Education (SACREs)
  • Functions in relation to the exclusion of pupils from schools, excluding any provision of education to excluded pupils
  • School attendance
  • Responsibilities regarding the employment of children
  • Licenses negotiated centrally by the Secretary of State for all publicly funded schools
  • Admissions
  • Servicing of school’s forums
  • Writing to parents of year 9 pupils about schools with an atypical age of admission, such as UTCs and studio schools, within a reasonable travelling distance
  • Contribution to combined budgets
• £220,000 is the equivalent of the cost of 5 Education Welfare Officers, or 5 Admissions Officers, or 5 Inclusion Services Officers.
• The Education service was being redesigned from April 2025.
• It was likely that the council would ask to make a further block transfer in 2025-26 so that the redesigned service can be delivered within the existing budget.

Technical Adjustment for PFI Schools

The Schools Forum was asked to vote on a proposal to make a technical adjustment to the funding formula for schools to disapply Private Finance Initiative (PFI) costs. The report explained that:

• There are 3 schools in Southampton with PFI contracts.
• The contracts last 30 years, from 29/10/2001 to 28/10/2031
• PFI schools have higher costs than other schools, and the funding formula takes this into account using a PFI factor
• The government had announced that in 2025/26 the PFI factor would be increased in line with the Retail Price Index, excluding mortgage interest payments.
• The council intended to pass on the full value of this increase to the 3 PFI schools.
• Making a technical adjustment to disapply PFI costs would mean that PFI schools would benefit from the Minimum Funding Guarantee in the same way as other schools.

Trade Union De-Delegation

The Schools Forum was asked to vote on a proposal to de-delegate school budgets to fund trade union activity. The report explained that:

• Schools in Southampton can opt to create a central pot of money to fund trade union activity, to which schools that employ trade union representatives can apply for funding to cover those representatives' salaries.
• Maintained schools can vote to have an element of their budget paid into the central pot, while Academies, Special Schools and Pupil Referral Units can choose to buy into the scheme.
• No money had been paid into the central pot in the 2022-23, 2023-24, or 2024-25 financial years, but this meant that there would probably be insufficient funds in 2025-26.
• The forum was asked to vote on a proposal for maintained schools to de-delegate funds to the central pot, with a notional de-delegation amount per pupil of £1.45 for primary schools.

LA Update on DFE/ESFA Funding

The Schools Forum was to consider a report that provided an overview of the government's recently published provisional national funding formula for 2025-26.

Background

• The report noted that a general election meant that the government had been unable to publish the national funding formula in its usual timeframe, but that they had published a summary policy note on 6 November 2024, and then the final allocations and documentation on 28 November 2024.
• The report noted that no information had yet been provided about Early Years funding.
• The report stated that the council did not intend to make any significant changes to their local funding formula, and planned to use any additional funding to increase the hourly funding rate for providers.
• The report compared the provisional funding allocation for 2025-26 with the allocation for 2024-25.

School Block Update 2025-26

• The report explained that the national funding formula would use the same factors as in 2024-25, except for some changes to the PFI factor.
• The report explained the change to the PFI factor.
• The report explained that the teachers' pay additional grant, the teachers’ pension employer contribution grant, and the core schools budget grant would all be rolled into the schools NFF in 2025-26.
• The report compared the provisional funding allocations for the different elements of the Schools Block with the allocation for 2024-25.
• The report provided a table of the provisional unit values for each factor in the National Funding Formula, excluding the Area Cost Adjustment.
• The report explained that Minimum per pupil levels would remain mandatory, guaranteeing a minimum of £4,955 per primary pupil and £6,465 per secondary pupil.
• The report explained that the Minimum Funding Guarantee would be reduced, so that in 2025-26 the allowable range for the MFG is to be between -0.5% and +0.0%.
• The report noted that SCC's local funding formula was already fully aligned with the government's national funding formula.
• The report provided a table showing the provisional mandatory funding factors for 2025-26.
• The report noted that local authorities would be able to transfer up to 0.5% of their total Schools Block allocations to other blocks of the DSG, with Schools Forum approval.

High Needs Block Update 2025-26

• The report noted that the budget announcement on 30 October 2024 had included national increases in schools funding, with an extra £2.3 billion allocated to the core schools budget. £1 billion of this would be directed to SEND and Alternative Provision.
• The report noted that the structure of the High Needs National Funding Formula would remain unchanged, because the government wanted more time to think about what changes to make.
• The report explained that the funding floor factor and gains limit factors had been changed to ensure that all local authorities saw an increase of between 7% and 10%.
• The report provided a table comparing the provisional funding allocation for the different elements of the High Needs Block with the allocation for 2024-25.
• The report noted that the Minimum Funding Guarantee would continue to apply to special schools at the same rate as 2024-25.
• The report noted that TPAG, TPECG and CSBG for special schools and alternative provision would be allocated separately from the High Needs National Funding Formula in 2025-26.

Central Services Block Update 2025-26

• The report noted that the Central Schools Services Block would continue to have two elements: ongoing responsibilities and historic commitments.
• The report explained that in 2025-26 the Central Schools Services Block would include additional funding for increased copyright licence costs, as well as funding for centrally employed teachers.
• The report provided a table comparing the provisional funding allocation for the different elements of the Central Services Block with the allocation for 2024-25.
• The report explained that the Central Schools Services Block ongoing responsibilities allocation for 2025-26 would be based on the October 2024 Census data.
• The report noted that funding for historic commitments was being reduced by 20% from the 2024-25 allocation.

Schools Forum Forward Plan

The final item on the agenda was for the Forum to consider the Schools Forum Forward Plan, which set out when during the 2025/26 financial year the forum would meet to consider the various elements of school funding.