The Bexley Schools Forum met to discuss a range of issues, including the appointment of a chair and vice-chair, early years funding, high needs block monitoring, and the Safety Valve programme¹. The forum was also scheduled to discuss the 2026/27 schools block and the preparation of central budgets for 2026/27.

Safety Valve Update

The forum was scheduled to receive an update on the Safety Valve programme, including a summary of progress between April and June 2025. The update included sight of the Safety Valve Agreement Summary Report: Update 2 to the DfE and Safety Valve Early Interventions Headlines Years 1 and 2.

According to the Safety Valve Update, the council has continued to provide monitoring reports tri-annually to the DfE, and the DfE has approved the release of the next funding payments. A total of £18.786m has been received since the Safety Valve Agreement was approved in March 2023. The next report to the DfE is due for submission by 3 December and is currently being prepared.

The report stated that the Shenstone School expansion buildings works are on target for pupils to move into the new facilities for the 2025/26 academic year. It also noted that for September 2025, 32 learners are moving from independent schools or out of borough special schools, for whom places have been confirmed at new post-16 settings, with an average saving per learner of £36,787, and a total saving of £1,177,191.

The Marlborough School Outreach project aims to upskill and improve the confidence of mainstream schools to support at least 75 young people to remain in mainstream placements over the next 3 years. Since the launch in September, the project has worked with 35 students from 18 primary and 2 secondary schools.

The report also provided an update on early intervention initiatives, including:

• KS1 Talk Boost, ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistants) and FRIENDS Resiliency Programme interventions
• Early Talk Boost
• Incredible Years School Age Basic
• Early Years SEMH Assistants
• ECHO
• Secondary Language Link (SLL)

The report stated that the significant financial pressures and context within which the Safety Valve programme operates continues to be challenging, and that in response, the following 3 business cases were provided to the DfE:

• Increasing the number of learners supported by Resourced Provisions
• Development of SEND integration within Family Hubs
• Expansion of supported internships

Collectively, it is anticipated that these 3 business cases could provide £7m in cost avoidance and £0.9m in savings by the end of the programme.

High Needs Block Monitoring 2025/26

The forum was scheduled to discuss the current financial monitoring of the High Needs budget, based on analysis of data to 31 August 2025 and an allowance for further commitments expected to the end of the financial year.

The report stated that monitoring of the 2025/26 budget was expected to show a significant overspend, with a likely accumulated deficit of around £24m by March 2026. Detailed monitoring for the new financial year has broadly confirmed this position, with a forecast overspend of £5.932m which would result in an accumulated deficit at year-end of £24.816m.

The report provided a comparison of the numbers of funded EHCPs² assumed in the budget compared to the latest estimated number of EHCPs used in the forecast.

The report also included comments on the following:

• Special Schools
• Resourced Provisions
• Further Education / Supported Internships
• Mainstream provision including early years private, voluntary and independent (PVI)
• Out of borough
• Independent / independent special schools
• Tuition / Personal Budgets / Other alternative provision

Preparation of Central Budgets 2026/27

The forum was scheduled to discuss the preparation of central budgets for 2026/27. Central items are funded through the Central Schools Services Block which has its own funding allocation within the DSG³ based on its own funding formula.

The report included draft allocations for the Central Schools Services Block:

The report also included information on expenditure allocations for:

• Education Welfare / System Leadership
• Schools Admissions
• Servicing of Schools Forum
• National purchase of copyright licences
• Strategic Education Partnership
• Transfer to High Needs
• Contribution to combined budgets – early intervention services

The forum was also scheduled to discuss a contribution from maintained schools (including non-academy voluntary-aided schools) towards the costs of the council's statutory responsibilities for the maintained sector.

2026/27 Schools Block

The forum was scheduled to discuss the 2026/27 Schools Block. The 2026/27 Operational Guidance and National Funding Formula (NFF) unit values etc have not been published yet due to the mid-year spending review in June. The DfE will publish the NFF allocations and supporting documentation in the autumn. There are no changes to the NFF formula factors for 2026/27.

The Schools Budget Support Grant (SBSG) and National Insurance Contributions Grant (NICs) will be rolled into the NFF, with cash amounts added to Age Weighted Pupil Units, Free School Meals 6 and Minimum Per Pupil Level formula factors. These grants will also be added to the 2025/26 baselines for the Minimum Funding Guarantee calculation.

From September 2026, free school meal entitlement will be extended to all children in households receiving Universal Credit. Funding for this expansion will be paid via a separate grant in 2026/27. Bexley will be requesting the 0.5% transfer to the High Needs Block at the next meeting.

Matters Arising From The Minutes

The forum was scheduled to discuss matters arising from the minutes of the meeting held on 16 June 2025. This included school capacity data and EHCP data.

School Capacity Data

The Schools Forum requested the number of commissioned places at Bexley Resourced Provision and Special schools, along with occupancy levels.

Schools Forum also requested capacity data for mainstream schools.

EHCP Data

In academic year 2024/2025:

• Bexley Council received 856 EHCP assessment requests.
• 600 (70%) of these requests came from nurseries, schools and colleges and
• 244 (29%) came from parents.
• There were also 8 requests from social workers acting as corporate parents.
• 114 children and young people who have an EHCP moved into Bexley.

Bexley Council issued 541 new EHCP's in the last academic year.

• 154 (28%) to under 5's (- 12% from last year)
• 232 (43%) to 5 -10-year-olds (- 4% from last year)
• 141 (26%) to 11 - to 15-year-olds (+16% from last year)
• 14 (3%) to 16 - to 19-year-olds (+57% from last year)

The service issued 141 EHCP's to children and young people who have a primary need of SEMH⁴. This was a rise of 51 (36%) from last year making this primary needs the area of largest growth.

Bexley Council maintained 3116 EHCP's at the start of Sept 2024 and now maintain 3476 an increase of 360 EHCP's and a growth of 11.5%.

Early Years Update

The forum was scheduled to receive an update on early years funding. The budget was based on the DfE allocation published in Dec 2023, which included the funding per PTE pupil and estimated number of PTE pupils used to calculate the estimated Early Years Block.

The budget was based on the DfE allocation published in Dec 2024, which included the funding per PTE pupil and estimated number of PTE pupils used to calculate the estimated Early Years Block. Funding is allocated for 38 weeks per year, and the summer term budget pro-rated at 13/38.