Schools Forum

Meeting date:8th April 2014

From:Caroline Sutton

Assistant Director – Schools and Learning

AdditionalSEN Allocation 2014/15

1.0Executive Summary

1.1From April 2014, it will be mandatory for schools to provide the first £6,000 of additional educational support for pupils with special educational needs. Schools in Cumbria currently provide the first £3,000 of additional education support. To aid schools in funding the additional £3,000 from April 2014, as recommended by the Schools Forum and agreed by Cabinet following consultation with all schools, £3.259m will transfer from the High Needs Block to the Schools Block to be delegated to schools through the funding formula. Despite this transfer of funds, the mandatory requirement has led to significant turbulence for school budgets as £3,000 of statement funding for each statemented pupil no longer directly follows the pupil.

1.2The DfE guidance permits local authorities “to provide additional funding to maintained schools and academies outside the main funding formula on a consistent and fair basis where the number of their high needs pupils cannot be reflected adequately in their formula funding”. Following consultation with all schools, Schools Forum recommended and Cabinet agreed for a central fund of £0.300m to be retained within the High Needs Block to be allocated to those schools for which the number of statemented pupils is more than 3% of their total pupil numbers (comprising pupils from reception up to year 11). These schools will receive a lump sum of £3,000 per statemented pupil above the 3% level. In January 2014, following further communication between local authority officers and the Education Funding Agency, Schools Forum recommended that this percentage threshold be lowered to 2.5%

1.3On 13th March 2014, the Local Authority was informed of amendments to its High Needs Funding allocation for 2014/15. This included an additional allocation of £0.320m. The DfE confirmed this funding on 31st March 2014.

1.4The Council Cabinet recommended to the Schools Forum at its meeting on 3rd April 2014 that the £0.320m is used to lower the eligibility threshold from 2.5% to 2%.

1.5The Schools Forum is asked to agree to Cabinet’s recommendation ofa threshold of 2% and to consider whether there needs to be a consultation with all schools on this change.

2.0Strategic Planning and Equality Implications

2.1Targeting additional funding to schools in respect of statemented pupils impacts onto the following objective in the Council Plan:

‘To safeguard children and ensure that Cumbria is a great place to be a child and grow up’.

3.0Recommendation

3.1The Schools Forum is asked to agree to Cabinet’s recommendationthat a budget of approximately £0.870m is retained within the high needs budget to be allocated to schools that have more than 2% of pupils with a statement as at October 2013, without the need to consult all schools.

4.0Background

4.1From April 2014, it will be mandatory for schools to provide the first £6,000 of additional educational support for pupils with special educational needs. Schools in Cumbria currently provide the first £3,000 of additional education support. To aid schools in funding the additional £3,000 from April 2014, as recommended by the Schools Forum and agreed by Cabinet following consultation with all schools, £3.259m will transfer from the High Needs Block to the Schools Block to be delegated to schools through the funding formula

4.2The DfE guidance permits local authorities “to provide additional funding to maintained schools and academies outside the main funding formula on a consistent and fair basis where the number of their high needs pupils cannot be reflected adequately in their formula funding”. Following consultation with all schools, Schools Forum recommended and Cabinet agreed for a central fund of £0.300m to be retained within the High Needs Block to be allocated to those schools for which the number of statemented pupils is more than 3% of their total pupil numbers (comprising pupils from reception up to year 11). These schools will receive a lump sum of £3,000 per statemented pupil above the 3% level. The establishment of this central fund meant that 74 schools were losing more than £3,000 of their comparable statement funding in 2013-14 and the greatest loss by a school was £36,589.

4.3The Local Authority worked closely with officers from the Education Funding Agency about mitigating further the impact on school budgets of the changes to the mandatory £6,000 threshold. EFA officers stated that the only option would be to increase the size of the central fund, by funding this from the High Needs Block. It was proposed therefore at the January 2014 meeting of the Schools Forum to increase the central fund to approximately £0.500m (final confirmed budget of £0.550m) and to allocate it to those schools for which the number of statemented pupils is more than 2.5% of their total pupil numbers (comprising pupils from reception up to year 11). These schools would receive a lump sum of £3,000 per statemented pupil above the 2.5% level. This increase to the central fund would mean that 5 fewer schools would lose more than £3,000 and the greatest loss by a school would be £25,107. The Schools Forum recommended this approach to be agreed by the Council Cabinet at its meeting on 3rd April 2014. The Schools Forum recommended that there was no consultation with all schools on this change.

4.4On 13th March 2014, the Local Authority received notification of changes to its High Needs Block funding allocation for 2014/15. This was following the review of all High Needs commissioned places by the DfE based on the returns submitted by local authorities in December 2013. The DfE confirmed this additional funding on 31st March 2014.

4.5The Local Authority has received the following additional funding allocations within its High Needs Block for 2014/15:

  • £0.168m in respect of a net increase in high needs places for the 2014/15 academic year
  • £0.410m relating to £5,000 per additional planned post-school place (further education colleges/ independent specialist providers) for the 2014/15 academic year
  • £0.320m additional High Needs Block allocation.

4.6Both the additional £0.410m and the £0.320m relate to the DfE identifying ‘some headroom’ within the available funding for High Needs. The £0.320m has been allocated out using a flat rate distribution based on 2014 population estimates for the 2-19 age group.

4.7The Local Authority Cabinet recommended to Schools Forum at its meeting on 3rd April 2014 to use the £0.320m to lower the eligible threshold for additional funding to 2% of pupils. This would increase the central fund to £0.870m (the final confirmed budget using the 2.5% threshold was £0.550m). Modelling indicates that the greatest loss by a school using a 2% threshold would be £8,397. 25 fewer schools would lose more than £3,000 (than using a 2.5% threshold).

4.8The Schools Forum is asked to agree to the lowering of the threshold for eligibility to 2%.

4.9The Schools Forum is asked to consider whether there needs to be a consultation with all schools on this change. It should be noted that in January 2014, the Schools Forum identified that the recommended change from an eligibility threshold of 3% to 2.5% did not require a consultation with all schools.

4.10The table below shows the impact of using a 2% threshold rather than a 2.5% threshold

2.5% Threshold / 2% Threshold
Number of schools losing more than £3,000 / 69 / 44
Number of schools losing more than £5,000 / 41 / 15
Greatest loss by a school / £25,107 / £8,397
Total number of schools losing some budget / 141 / 125

5.0Options

5.1The Schools Forum can decide to:

  • Agree to Cabinet’s recommendation that a budget of approximately £0.870m is retained within the high needs budget to be allocated to schools that have more than 2% of pupils with a statement as at October 2013, without the need to consult all schools.
  • Recommend that there is a consultation with all schools on the above option.
  • Recommend that the budget for additional SEN funding remains at £0.550m to be allocated to schools that have more than 2.5% of pupils with a statement as at October 2013, without the need to consult all schools.

6.0Resource and Value for Money Implications

6.1In order to fund schools £3,000 per statemented pupil above a 2% level, where 2% is the percentage of their pupil roll (covering reception to year 11 pupils) with a special educational needs statement, a budget of approximately £0.870m is required within the High Needs Block. It is proposed that the additional high needs funding of £0.320m is added to the current budget of £0.550m to enable this.

7.0Conclusion

7.1This paper informs the Schools Forum of additional allocations to the High Needs Block allocation for Cumbria for 2014/15. The paper proposes that the threshold for eligibility for additional allocations from the High Needs Block in respect of statemented pupils is amended to 2%. This will increase the budget to £0.870m

7.2 The Schools Forum is asked to agree to Cabinet’srecommendation of the lowering of the eligibility threshold to 2% and that there is no consultation with schools on this change.

Caroline Sutton

Assistant Director– Schools and Learning

26th March 2014

REPORT AUTHOR

Contact:

Helen Hamilton

Finance Manager – Schools and Learning

Email:

Telephone: 01228 221196

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