The Delegated Decisions by Cabinet Member for Children and Young People meeting, held on Tuesday 3 February 2026, formally approved the schools funding formula for 2026/27. This decision will be submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) to set mainstream school budgets for the upcoming financial year.

Formal Approval of Schools Funding Formula 2026/27

The meeting formally approved the schools funding formula for the 2026/27 financial year. This decision, made by Councillor Sean Gaul, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, is subject to a call-in period, meaning it can be reviewed by the appropriate Scrutiny Committee before becoming effective. The formula, which will be submitted to the Department for Education (DfE), aims to align with the National Funding Formula (NFF) as closely as affordability allows.

The report presented outlined that the local authority is required to set the funding formula annually for all pupils of statutory school age, including maintained schools and academies. For 2026/27, the DfE has introduced changes to the NFF, including rolling over the school budget support grant (SBSG) and National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant. While these grants have been incorporated into the NFF for mainstream schools, funding for mainstream schools with special units or resourced provision has been moved to the local authority's high needs allocation.

Consultation with schools and the Schools Forum took place between November and December 2025. The Schools Forum endorsed a nil contribution to the Growth Fund, a 0.0% minimum funding guarantee, and adjusted age-weighted pupil unit factors to bridge a £2.9 million budget gap. Additionally, the Schools Forum endorsed a £0.4 million transfer from the Schools block to the High Needs block to continue funding the Special Schools outreach programme.

The report detailed the specific funding factor rates for Oxfordshire, including Area Cost Adjustment, deprivation measures (such as Free School Meal eligibility and IDACI bands), English as an additional language, pupil mobility, low prior attainment, lump sums, sparsity, and split sites. The National Funding Formula for primary schools has an Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) of £4,131.69, while for Key Stage 3 it is £5,780.70 and for Key Stage 4 it is £6,516.76. The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) was set at 0.0%, and the Growth Fund Contribution was £0. The total funding allocated through the Schools Funding Formula is £568.04 million, with a balance of £0.40 million (0.070%) transferred to the High Needs Block.

The report confirmed that the formula mirrors the NFF within the acceptable +/- 2.5% threshold. The decision to approve the formula was made by Councillor Sean Gaul, who thanked officers for their work. The minutes of the meeting confirm that there were no declarations of interest, questions from county councillors, or petitions and public address. The minutes of the previous meeting held on 16 December 2025 were also approved.

The decision to approve the funding formula is a requirement for the submission of the Authority Proforma Tool to the DfE. There are no additional financial, staffing, equality, or sustainability implications arising from this report, as schools and academies manage their delegated funding. The primary risk identified was the affordability of the formula within the allocated grant funding, which was addressed in the report.

The meeting was attended by Councillor Sean Gaul (Cabinet Member for Children and Young People), Jack Ahier (Senior Democratic Services Officer), Jane Billington (Strategic Finance Business Partner – Children's Services), and Lisa Lyons (Director of Children's Services). Martin Reeves, Chief Executive, was also noted in the documentation.