The Cornwall Schools Forum met on 17 October 2025 to discuss school funding arrangements for the 2026/27 financial year, including block transfers from the schools block to other areas, the use of Dedicated Schools Grant funding to support central running costs, and the implementation of exceptional circumstances factors within the funding formula. The forum was also scheduled to receive verbal updates on membership, the SEND Strategic Plan and Joint SEND Commissioning Strategy, the Pupil Growth Formula for 2026/27, and progress against the work plan.

School Funding Formula 2026/27

The Cornwall Schools Forum was scheduled to consider a report about school funding arrangements for the 2026/27 financial year.

The report set out the council's request to transfer Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding from the schools block to support budgets within the high needs block and central schools services block. The report also detailed the authority's option of retaining up to 4% of their early years DSG block to support central expenditure, and the use of optional exceptional circumstances factors within the funding formula to support schools with costs that cannot reasonably be met through their delegated budget share, and for small secondary schools that would otherwise be financially unviable.

The report recommended that the schools forum approves the proposed block transfers for the 2026/27 financial year, including:

• A transfer of £0.134m from the schools block to cover the Music Hub budget. The Cornwall Music Education Hub administers funding on behalf of schools to provide a subsidy scheme for instrumental and vocal lessons as well as instrument hire and ensemble membership.
• A transfer of £0.054m from the schools block to cover the Cornwall Association of Primary Heads (CAPH) budget.
• A transfer of £0.026m from the schools block to cover the Cornwall Association of Secondary Heads (CASH) budget.
• A transfer of £0.108m from the schools block to cover Inclusion Support. The Inclusion Support Fund was introduced with the aim of reducing exclusions through a combination of additional funding, advice, guidance, and support.
• The transfer of the balance of the 0.5% to the high needs block to fund the high needs protection formula.

The report also recommended that the schools forum approves the use of £0.373m of early years block Dedicated Schools Grant funding to support central running costs in 2026/27, and the continued use of exceptional circumstances factors to support schools with external rent costs, and additional sparsity for small rural secondary schools.

High Needs Protection Formula

The report pack included a discussion of the High Needs Protection (HNP) formula, which is a non-statutory funding mechanism used by Cornwall Council to support schools with a higher-than-average number of pupils with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP). The HNP formula allocates an additional £6,000 for each full-time equivalent pupil with an EHCP above the set threshold, based on the percentage of such pupils in the school population.

The report stated that the council considers the continuation of the HNP funding formula an important element of the funding process for mainstream schools, ensuring inclusive schools have the necessary resources to deliver the best possible outcomes for pupils.

Capping

The report noted that because Cornwall's schools block of DSG is anticipated to continue to be below the national average, the authority is required to cap the year-on-year increase in per pupil funding that some schools receive. As a result, many schools within the authority remain below the full NFF funding levels.

Of the 267 schools in Cornwall, 129 had some level of capping applied to their budget in 2025/26. This ranged from £38 to £152,972.

Early Years

The report stated that since 2024/25 there has been a significant increase in the number of children eligible for free nursery care, with entitlements now covering:

• 15 hours for working parents of children from 9 months to 2 years old (extended to 30 hours from 1 September 2025)
• 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of 2-year-old children (extended to 30 hours from 1 September 2025)
• 15 hours entitlement for families of 2-year-olds receiving additional support
• universal 15 hours entitlement for all 3 and 4-year-olds
• additional 15 hours entitlement for working parents of 3 and 4-yearolds

Provisional census data estimates 12,080 children will access some form of nursery entitlement in 2025/26 compared with 7,247 in 2023/24 (67% increase).

Other Matters

The agenda also included:

• Election of a chairman.
• Election of a vice chairman.
• A verbal update on membership.
• A verbal update on the SEND Strategic Plan and Joint SEND Commissioning Strategy.
• A verbal update on the Pupil Growth Formula 2026/27.
• A verbal update on progress against the work plan.
• Any other business that the chairman considers to be of urgency.