Agenda and minutes

Apologies for absence were received from Josh Greaves (Chief Operating Officer, Wellspring Academy Trust), James Todd (Governor, Woodlands Infant and Nursery School) and Geraldine Willders (Head Teacher, St Mary's Catholic Primary School).

No declarations of members' interest were made at this stage of the proceedings.

To receive a joint report from Mark Popplewell, (Head of Finance, Children's Services) and Michelle Andrews (Children's Services Manager, Early Years), on the implementation of the Government's Early Years National Funding Formula in 2017/18, and Lincolnshire's proposed funding formula and centrally-held budgets for 2017/18)

Consideration was given to a joint report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance, Children's Services and Michelle Andrews, Service Manager, Children's Services, which provided the Forum with a summary of the Early Years National Funding Formula for 2017/18, and sought agreement for the Local Authority's proposals relating to a number of centrally retained budgets.

The Chairman highlighted to the Forum that recommendation 3 should read 'Approve the Local Authority's proposals to centrally retained funding'.

The Head of Finance, Children's Services advised that on the 11 August 2016, the government had announced a consultation for a national funding formula for early years.  The proposal was for the government to deliver a fair and transparent funding system worked out on a formulaic basis.

The outcome of the above said consultation released in December 2016, advised that it was intending to implement the new funding formula in April 2017.  The Forum noted that the national funding formula for early years had lacked sufficient detail with regard its evidence-based approach, and that it was unclear how the overall level of funding had been determined at a national level.  It was further highlighted that the government would also be providing Local Authorities with additional funding from September 2017, to fund the extension of early years 3 & 4 year old entitlement for working families.

In guiding the Forum through the report, reference was made to:-

·         The formulaic approach to funding Local Authorities using early year's factors of 'base rate' and 'additional needs'.  An example of this was given in Table 1 of the report.  The Forum noted that using Lincolnshire's 3 & 4 year old pupil numbers and characteristics, the formulaic approach to funding Lincolnshire had determined a funding level of £24.266m for the delivery of early year's entitlement, which converted to an hourly rate of £4.16 per pupil, which was detailed in Table 2.  It was highlighted that in response to the consultation, the government had announced a 'minimum funding rate' of at least £4.30 per hour to Local Authorities.  The Lincolnshire rate had been increased to £4.30 per pupil, per hour, set at the government minimum funding rate, which would provide indicative early years funding of £25.060m, leading to an increase of £2.522m from 2016/17 spending levels.  It was further highlighted that the increase had been positive for early year's providers in Lincolnshire, but it remained below the £4.78 national average across Local Authorities.  The Forum was also advised that Lincolnshire's overall funding for the additional 15 hours for 3 & 4 year old children of eligible working families, was £4.582m.  Lincolnshire's overall indicative funding for early years entitlement for 2017/18 was £29.642m;

·         Local universal rate - The Forum was advised that the government required Local Authorities to have a local universal rate across all types of providers by 2019/20, which was a significant shift away from the current arrangements where cost differences between different types of providers were recognised;

·         The Forum noted that this decision by the government would have a significant impact on the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

(To receive a report from Mark Popplewell, (Head of Finance, Children's Services), which provides an overview of the Government's stage 2 consultation on the National Funding Formula for schools to be implemented in 2018/19)

The Forum gave consideration to a report from Mark Popplewell, Head of Finance, Children's Services, which provided a summary of the schools national funding formula consultation.

The report provided the Forum with background information relating to the schools national funding formula consultation; and provided a link to the consultation document.  It was highlighted that the closing date for the consultation was 22 March 2017; and all members of the Forum were encouraged to get colleagues involved in the consultation.

In guiding the Forum through the report, the Head of Finance, Children's Services made reference to the proposed 13 funding formula factors, as detailed in the report presented; and that the proposed formula was grounded in the current distribution of funding, as opposed to looking at the costs of running a school and understanding the cost of pupil needs.  It was clarified that the schools national funding formula was a re-distribution of schools funding nationally.  Details of the key points from the proposed schools national funding formula were detailed on pages 14/15 of the report.  The main points referred to are summarised below:-

·         That the government intended to maintain the primary to secondary relation in line with the current national average of 1:1.29;

·         Continue to differentiate basic per-pupil funding between primary; Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4, to reflect the higher cost as pupils progress;

·         Maximise the proportion of funding allocated to pupil-led factors, which will reduce spending on school-led factors e.g. lump sum;

·         That the basic per-pupil factor would distribute 73% of total schools funding, and that 91% of total funding would be allocated through per-pupil factors;

·         That every school would continue to be provided with a lump sum, but that this would be at a lower level than the current national average;

·         That the lump sum rate would be set at £110,000 for all schools;

·         Provide small and remote schools with additional funding;

·         Recognition of the higher salary costs faced by some schools.  It was noted that Lincolnshire schools did not trigger any additional funding through this route;

·         To incorporate an overall 'funding floor'.  It was questioned as to whether this was a sustainable option long term by government;

·         That during the transition period to the hard national funding formula the minimum funding guarantee of minus 1.5% per-pupil would continue to operate providing further stability for schools; and

·         That schools could receive gains of up to 3% per-pupil in 2018/19, and then up to a further 2.5% in 2019/20.

The Forum noted that Lincolnshire currently received a low funded schools block which was used to distribute funding to mainstream schools.  For 2017/18 Lincolnshire's per pupil value was £4,305.40 compare to an England average of £4,618.63.  It was highlighted that the introduction for the national funding formula was positive news for Lincolnshire schools.  Appendix 1 to the report provided the Forum with financial modelling data for Lincolnshire schools on the national funding formula.  The report also provided tables showing the financial impact by Lincolnshire schools prior, and after the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.