28 February 2017 weekly update

Dear Colleague

School Budgets

I am pleased to inform you that the 2017-18 Delegated Formula, Pupil Premium and Indicative Devolved Formula Capital budget templates for all maintained schools are now available on Kent Education Learning and Skills Information (KELSI) website:

• 2017-18 School Budgets (ZIP, 819.5 KB)

If your school is an academy, I thought it would be helpful to clarify the elements of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding that the Local Authority (LA) is responsible for passing directly to you and also highlight some changes to Kent’s delegated formula budget for schools which are reflected in your General Annual Grant (GAG).

The Local Authority has produced a 2017-18 financial year budget template specifically for academies, and this is now available on Kelsi:

• Academy template 2017-18 (ZIP, 362.1 KB)

We are now in the seventh consecutive year where the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) has received no uplift to fund inflationary pressures, known as ‘flat cash’. The government has indicated that ‘flat cash’ DSG settlements will continue until at least 2019-20. I am all too aware that with each year that passes the ability for schools to generate further efficiency savings to offset these inflationary pressures is becoming more challenging.

The key points to note for the 2017-18 school budgets are:

• The Government’s Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) has again been set at -1.5%. This is intended to ensure no school has a reduction in its budget of more than 1.5% per pupil (excluding exempt items and high needs funding) before any Pupil Premium funding is allocated.
• The process for funding High Needs pupils in mainstream schools is now established and many schools are now in receipt of this funding to support individual pupils with Special Educational Needs. When this process was originally introduced, in April 2015, £10m was transferred from the Schools’ funding formula Low Prior Attainment factor into the new High Needs block. This was our best estimate of the costs of this new national system at that time. What is now apparent is that the demand from schools for High Needs funding has exceeded the available budget allocation and we discussed a range of options with the Schools’ Funding Forum in December 2016 on how to resolve this. It was agreed that a further £5m should transfer from Low Prior Attainment and it was further agreed that this adjustment should be made to the Primary phase only as this is where the most demand for additional support is largely coming from.
• For the second year running the Government has altered the deprivation measure. The bandings associated with the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) factor have been reviewed by Government. The effect of this re-banding exercise has had no impact on overall funding across all Kent schools, but individual schools funding may be affected.
• There have been no changes to Pupil Premium or Infant Free School Meals funding.

A guidance note explaining the changes in more detail can be accessed on Kelsi:

• Maintained Schools (DOCX, 70.5 KB)
• Academies (DOCX, 50.8 KB)

In relation to future years, the DfE is currently consulting on the introduction of a National Funding Formula (NFF) from 2018-19. Details of this consultation were brought to schools’ attention via the 24 January 2017 e-bulletin, which highlighted the key implications for Kent and its schools. The consultation closes on 22 March and I would encourage you to respond to the consultation with your views. We are not expecting a response from the Government until July at the earliest.

Maintained schools are required to submit their three year financial budget plan to the Local Authority (LA) by 31 May and this should be based on the LA assumptions around MFG. We know that our assumptions may need to be adjusted once there is greater clarity around the National Funding Formula, but for now we want Kent schools to be able to plan on a consistent basis. As soon as we receive any information from the Department for Education about future years’ school funding we will let you know, but we are not anticipating anything until later this year.

If you experience difficulties when setting the budget for your school please contact Yvonne King, Schools Financial Business Manager on 03000 41 54 15 or email schoolsfinancialservices@kent.gov.uk.

The detailed budget guidance notes accessible on Kelsi include a list of contact names dependent on the nature of your query. Please contact Simon.Pleace@kent.gov.uk, Finance Business Partner for Education and Young People’s Services if you have any questions on overall policy issues.

Please share this message with the School Business Manager.

Spring Headteacher Meeting Dates

The focus of these meetings will be on the development of the Education Services Company; School Funding Changes and the Children and Young People’s Services Integration Programme. We very much hope that you will be able to attend one of the following four meetings.

The dates, times and locations for the Spring Headteacher Meetings are:

• East Kent: Thursday 9 March - 9am for 9:30am start - 12noon - The Spitfire Ground (Canterbury Cricket Ground), St Lawrence, Old Dover Road, Canterbury CT1 3NZ
• West Kent: Monday 13 March -1pm for 1:30pm start - 4pm - The Mercure Great Danes Hotel, Ashford Road, Hollingbourne, Maidstone ME17 1RE
• North Kent: Friday 17 March - 9am for 9:30am start - 12noon - Mercure Dartford Brands Hatch Hotel, Brands Hatch, Colin Chapman Way, Dartford DA3 8PE
• South Kent: Monday 20 March -1pm for 1:30pm start - 4pm  - Ashford International Hotel, Simone Weil Avenue, Ashford TN24 8UX

To book yourself a place, please email eypssupportteam@kent.gov.uk confirming your name and school, and the session you are able to join.

Patrick Leeson, Corporate Director Education and Young People’s Services