SCHOOL FUNDING IN ENGLAND

SUMMER TERM UPDATE 2012

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SCHOOL FUNDING REFORM

As noted in Circular 12-085/SSEE, the DfE has published a further consultation document on school funding reform. The document makes a number of announcements on changes to funding arrangements, including on funding for facilities time, but also consults further on some key areas where final decisions have not been taken.

The NUT nationally will also respond to the consultation. See the Advice and Guidance > School Funding section of the NUT website at: www.teachers.org.uk for updates and further information. A briefing for division secretaries circulated in late April is available here: http://www.teachers.org.uk/node/15607.

Overview of the Changes

·  The Government has decided against introducing a national funding formula before the next spending review period begins in 2015.

·  There will, therefore, be no redistribution of funding between local authorities before 2015. For 2013-14 and 2014-15, local authorities will be funded on an historic basic (with 2013-14 funding based on 2012-13 funding). The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) of minus 1.5 per cent per pupil will also continue for 2013-14 and 2014-15.

·  Changes to funding rules for 2013-14, however, will require local authorities to distribute funding using a simpler formula and delegate as much funding to schools as possible. New Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) blocks will be introduced for schools, high needs and early years, with funding capable of being moved between the blocks.

·  Academies will now be funded according to the current year local authority funding formula for schools (but will still be funded on an academic year not financial year basis).

·  The new Education Funding Agency (EFA) will have an oversight role, holding observer status at Schools’ forums, reviewing local authority compliance, calculating academy budgets and investigating potential unfairness.

The consultation document is available on the DfE website at:

www.education.gov.uk/consultations/index.cfm?action=consultationDetails&consultationId=1817&external=no&menu=1.


PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING

Research conducted by the NAHT has shown that schools are having to use Pupil Premium funding to plug funding gaps, as the NUT predicted when it emerged that pupil premium funding was the only additional funding being provided nationally for 2011-12. Just 14 per cent of heads responding to the NAHT survey said that the pupil premium funding exceeded losses elsewhere in their budget. Most heads (53 per cent) said that pupil premium funding had not compensated their school for other funding losses; 32 per cent said the pupil premium funding was equivalent to funding losses elsewhere. Clearly, the Government’s freeze on school spending and consequent real terms cuts are not being compensated for by pupil premium funding.

ADDITIONAL LOCAL AUTHORITY CAPITAL ALLOCATIONS 2012-13

In the Autumn Statement in November 2011, the Treasury announced an additional £600 million of capital basic need funding for schools in England. On 11 April, the Secretary of State announced the arrangements for the allocation of this funding to LAs. The NUT is concerned that the funding does not go far enough in addressing the issue of a shortage in school places. It does not represent any new funding and does little to make up for the cut in capital spending by the Comprehensive Spending Review. Government figures show that 450,000 extra primary pupils will need places in England by 2015. The figure could rise to 800,000 by 2020.

The schedule of allocations at local authority level is available on the DfE website at: www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schoolscapital/a00208011/la-capital.

FREE SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES

NUT research shows that £337.2 million has been spent on the academies and free schools programme since the 2010 General Election. This includes £2.6 million to support 27 free school and £5 million for 19 new free schools that opened last September. Five former private schools that converted to become free schools received £4.26 million between them. The money spent to rapidly expand the Academy and free school programme comes at a time when the Government is saying it needs to cut public spending.

DfE INFORMATION ON SCHOOL BALANCES

The DfE recently published information on end of year revenue balances for all local authority maintained nursery, primary, secondary and special schools for the year 2010-11, based on local authorities' published Section 251 outturn statements.

The total number of schools in deficit was 1,511 (7.0 per cent), with 19,930 (92.4%) holding a surplus and 7,157 (33.2 per cent) holding an ‘excessive’ surplus (defined by the DfE as more than 8 per cent of budget for nursery, primary and special schools and more than 5 per cent of budget for secondary schools). These figures represent a decrease in the number of deficit budgets since 2009-10 and a slight increase in the number of schools holding a surplus. The full figures can be found at www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/section251/a0068022/school-balances.


EARLY YEARS

In March an all party Parliamentary Sure Start group published an interim report on Sure Start delivery. This was part of an ongoing inquiry into concerns that Government cuts has led to some councils breaching their legal duties to provide adequate childcare for families. At least 124 Sure Start centres have closed or merged since the 2010 General Election. The report found that there was widespread confusion and uncertainty around the provision of childcare in England. Sarah Teather, the Children’s Minister, was questioned on how the Government will address the problem. Evidence was also sought from local authority representatives and charities 4Children, Action for Children and the Children’s society.

POST-16 FUNDING

The NUT Sixth Form College pay and funding campaign continues. Updates are available on the section of the NUT website dedicated to the Sixth Form College campaign at: www.teachers.org.uk/6fcs/campaign.

The NUT continues to take a leading role in developing a joint union campaign to resist cuts across the whole 16-19 sector, alongside seven other unions (ATL, GMB, NASUWT, NUS, UCU, Unison and Unite). Further information will be made available as the campaign develops.

EDUCATION FUNDING AGENCY

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) became operational from 1 April 2012 following the announcement by the Government to reduce arms’ length bodies. It has taken over from the YPLA and is an executive agency of the DfE. It has responsibility to allocate funding across the education and training sectors.

NAO REPORT ON COST REDUCTION IN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT

The National Audit Office (NAO) published a summary in February of cost reduction across central government as a result of the Government’s cuts agenda. The report was not able to say at this stage whether spending reductions had improved efficiency or affected services. It is likely that services have been affected given the scale and timing of the reduction in spending. The full report can be found on the NAO website at: www.nao.org.uk/publications/1012/government_cost_reduction.aspx.

OPEN PUBLIC SERVICES

In July 2011 the Government published the Open Public Services White Paper. The agenda seeks to perpetuate the argument that public services are of low quality and that the solution to this is privatisation, ignoring the need to fully invest in public services.

The first progress report was published at the beginning of April. It stated that the Government had increased the pace of the programme due to fiscal constraints. The NUT remains unconvinced that open public services will really benefit those who need them and will argue for fully funded and state supported public services.

The report is available on the Cabinet Office website at:

http://files.openpublicservices.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/HMG_OpenPublicServices_web.pdf

CUTS IMPACT ON SCHOOLS

The Government’s cuts agenda is being felt in schools. Some examples of the impact so far are noted here.

School Sports

The Guardian newspaper has reported a reduction in participation in sports events and networks and that fewer school sport competitions and after school clubs now take place with a reduction in diversity of activities and training for PE teachers.

The national network of school sports partnerships which increased the range and quality of sport on offer to children by allowing groups of schools to work together was abolished by the Education Secretary Michael Gove in October 2010. He was however, forced to agree that it would carry on until last summer after an outcry from teachers and athletes. It was also agreed that funding would continue to be provided to release a secondary teacher co-ordinator for each group of schools but for one day per week rather then the two days authorised by the scheme.

Some schools have managed to pool resources to continue the partnerships but generally school sports provision has reduced. The annual survey that collected information about pupils and sports was also scrapped making it harder to asses the impact of the cut. It is feared that primary schools will feel the impact of the cut harder as they reply on support from secondary schools to enable them to teach more of a range of subjects. Just over half of primary schools will take part in the school games tournament held at the Olympic park in May.

Arts in Education

The Government plans to concentrate the curriculum on a core of traditional subjects to facilitate the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, threatening the future of arts in education. This decision coincides with the cuts to the arts budget. For example the Arts Council England had a funding cut of 30 per cent following the Spending Review which affected the funding of ‘Creative Partnerships’ a creative learning programme that was set up by the Arts Council. The arts education charity ‘Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE) also had its funding halved to £19m. Various schemes such as the Find Your Talent scheme which gave opportunities to young people to learn a musical instrument will see their funding withdrawn.

School Meals

The Independent newspaper has reported that school meal portions have reduced due to cost cutting by schools. The NUT is particularly concerned about this given that for some children the hot meal they have in school is their only one of the day. The School Food Trust has confirmed that the number of children eligible for Free School Meals has increased.

NUT WEBSITES: SCHOOL FUNDING SECTION

Please note that this section, which continues to include a range of briefings on school funding, can be found on the Advice and Guidance > School Funding page on both Hearth and www.teachers.org.uk.

NUT SCHOOLS’ FORUM REPRESENTATIVES

The role of Schools’ Forums in the funding system is likely to become even more important under the Government’s proposed reforms. We need to maintain and develop our contact list for NUT Schools’ Forum representatives, nominated to represent whether trade unions or governors, so that we can continue to circulate information to NUT representatives on Schools’ Forums and that they can advise us of any useful or important issues. Please use the link on Hearth to update NUT Schools’ Forum representative contact details at: www.teachers.org.uk/node/13139 .

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