The West Northamptonshire Schools Forum was scheduled to discuss the financial performance of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the 2025-26 academic year, alongside proposals for High Needs Budgets and Early Years Funding for 2026-27. The meeting also included updates on the SEND Sufficiency Strategy and the Council's School Organisation Plan.

DSG Monitoring 2025-26

The report for this item was scheduled to provide an assessment of West Northamptonshire Council's (WNC) financial performance against its approved 2025-26 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) budget. It was intended to incorporate key financial risks, issues, and opportunities identified since 1 April 2025. The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is a ring-fenced grant from the Government to support education-related services. The report detailed the Department for Education's (DfE) four-block funding model: Schools Block, High Needs Block, Central Schools Services Block, and Early Years Block.

A significant concern highlighted was the forecast in-year overspend of £35.2 million for the DSG, largely attributed to increasing demand and complexity within the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision. This represented an increase of £4.2 million from previous reports. The cumulative DSG deficit was forecast to reach £57.0 million by the end of the financial year, with the High Needs Block deficit making up £65.0 million of this. The report noted that the Government has a statutory override in place until March 2028, which allows councils to ring-fence DSG deficits from their core budgets. The Government is also proposing to take over the funding of SEND from 2028-29 onwards, though details on addressing historic deficits were still awaited.

The High Needs Block specifically showed a forecast overspend of £36.8 million, an increase of £4.6 million. This was driven by a 70% increase in Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) since vesting day, rising costs due to inflation, and a lack of local placement supply. Independent sector and out-of-area expenditure was forecast to exceed budgeted levels by £14.7 million, with a significant portion attributed to independent special schools.

Conversely, the Early Years Block was forecasting an underspend of £1.1 million, with £0.6 million on inclusion and disability access funds and £0.5 million on the Early Years Central Team due to staff vacancies. The Schools Block was forecasting a £0.4 million underspend, primarily due to the Growth Fund.

Early Years Special Educational Needs Inclusion Funding, Distribution 2025-26

This report was scheduled to address the distribution of the Early Years Special Educational Needs Inclusion Fund (SENIF) for 2025-26. SENIF is provided to local authorities to support early years providers in meeting the additional needs of young children with SEND who are accessing their funded early education entitlements. The fund aims to promote inclusive practice and ensure children with SEND can access early education without providers being financially disadvantaged.

The report indicated an underspend within the current 2025-26 budget allocation for SENIF. The proposal was to distribute this underspend using a statistical approach, rather than solely application-based distribution, to support the sector and address growing demand and pressures. A one-off payment of £500,000 was proposed for SEND support within the 2025-26 financial year, to be distributed based on the number of 3 and 4-year-olds accessing provision, using summer 2025 headcount data. This cohort was chosen as children older than two are considered easier to identify with emerging SEND.

High Needs Budgets 2026-27

This report was intended to inform the Schools Forum about the high needs places set for 2026-27, the special school indicative budgets, and the Resource Allocation System (RAS) rates for the same period. It also aimed to provide an update on the overall high needs budget setting progress for 2026-27.

The report highlighted that approximately half of the special schools' budgets for 2026-27 would be fixed through place funding. The remaining top-up funding (element 3) for pupils with EHCPs would be based on a RAS score, indicating the level of need. RAS rates for special schools were not planned to increase for 2026-27 due to the high needs funding shortfall.

A significant structural deficit of £42 million was identified for the 2026-27 high needs budget. This was projected to increase to £65.4 million after accounting for demand-led growth, planned expansions, inflation, and identified savings. The report noted that the increase in the High Needs Block allocation for 2026-27 was £6.2 million, which was insufficient to cover the structural deficit and in-year demand. The report also detailed the projected expenditure for various categories within the High Needs Block, including Alternative Provision, Independent and Out of Area placements, and Special Schools, all of which showed significant increases.

Early Years Funding 2026-27

This item was scheduled to present the proposed Early Years Funding Formula rates for 2026-27. West Northamptonshire Council had consulted early years providers on the principles and approach for setting these arrangements, with the findings having been considered by the Schools Forum in December 2025. The proposed rates for 2026-27 were stated to align with all agreed decisions.

Key proposals included passing on the full increase in 3 and 4-year-old funding to the base rate for universal and extended hours, with 97% of the total budget for 3 and 4-year-old funding to be paid to providers, and WNC retaining 3% centrally. A similar pass-through rate of 97% was proposed for under 2s and 2-year-old funding. The deprivation supplement was to continue for 3 and 4-year-olds only, as per DfE guidance. The Early Years SEN Inclusion funding (SENIF) rate was proposed to increase to £12.00 per hour for eligible children.

The report detailed the proposed hourly rates for various entitlements, showing increases for under 2s, 2-year-olds (disadvantaged and working families), and 3 and 4-year-olds. The SEN Inclusion Fund rate was also set to increase by £2.00 per hour. The report also outlined the comparison between DfE rates and WNC rates paid to providers, and discussed the implications of the shift to termly census data for funding allocations.

A separate section addressed Maintained Nursery School (MNS) Supplementary Funding, which is ring-fenced within the DSG early years block. WNC proposed to continue distributing 100% of this funding directly to MNS settings, using a lagged basis and the same methodology as agreed for previous years. The report provided a breakdown of the proposed supplement distribution for 2026-27 across five MNS settings.

West Northamptonshire Council School Organisation Plan [verbal item]

This was listed as a verbal item, with Shazia Umer scheduled to present. No further details were available in the provided documents regarding the specific content of this discussion.

SEND Sufficiency Strategy - Update [presentation]

This item was scheduled as a presentation by Ben Pearson. The report pack did not contain further details on the specific content of this update.

West Northamptonshire Council Budget Proposals 2026-27 [verbal item]

This was also listed as a verbal item, with no further details provided in the documents.

Schools Forum Meeting Dates 2026-27

The agenda included a proposal to confirm the meeting dates for the Schools Forum for the 2026-27 academic year. These were listed as 19 May 2026, 7 July 2026, 13 October 2026, 8 December 2026, 2 February 2027, and 11 May 2027. Most meetings were scheduled to be held in person at The Forum, Towcester, with the July meeting planned as an online-only event.

Forward Plan

The Forward Plan outlined standing items for future meetings, including DSG Monitoring, DfE/ESFA Funding announcements, School Budgets, High Needs, Early Years, and the National Funding Formula. Specific items for upcoming meetings were also listed, such as the election of Chair and Vice Chair for 2026-27, the DSG Deficit Management Plan, and consultations on Schools and Early Years Funding for 2027-28.

Urgent Business

This item was included on the agenda, but no specific details were provided in the documents.