Date: 11th July 2012
REPORT TITLE: 2011/12 SCHOOL BALANCES
Report by Yannick Stupples-Whyley
Contact details: Telephone: (01245) 433171;
1. Purpose of report
1.1 To update the Forum on the level of School Balances at the 31st March 2012.
2. Recommendations
2.1That Forum supports the Authority’s plans to further analyse school balances at 31st March 2012 and to ask the EFA for details of balances of academies.
3. Relevance to Strategic Plans
3.1The Schools Budget supports the strategic objections of the LA to develop a world class education system in Essex.
4.Finance Implications (Forecasted Outturn)
4.1Annex A shows for each maintained school the opening revenue balance brought forward from 2010/11, the closing revenue balance at 31st March 2012, the in-year movement, the total 2011/12 budget share and the closing revenue balance as a percentage of the 2011/12 budget share. In addition the last 3 years DFC funding is shown with the closing capital balance at 31st March 2012. The closing capital balance is shown as a percentage of 3 years DFC funding.
4.2Opening and closing balances have been adjusted to remove funding held by schools on behalf of clusters and consortiums.
4.3It can be seen in Annex A that school revenue balances for maintained schools has increased by £17.783 million (58.17%) to £48.354 million at 31st March 2012.
4.4The table below shows by phase the number of schools above the recommended 8% threshold for nursery, primary and special schools and 5% for secondary schools.
£,000
Nursery / 2 / 1 / 0 / 99.8
Primary / 432 / 260 / 3 / 35,440.9
Secondary / 32 / 12 / 2 / 10,635.9
Special / 16 / 8 / 1 / 2,177.0
Total / 482 / 281 / 6 / 48,353.6
4.5Capital Balances at 31st March 2012 are £9.054 million, of which £2.2 million is held by schools and £6.854 million held by the Authority on behalf of schools.The total capital balances held represent 22.9% of the total amount of Devolved Formula Capital issued to schools between 2009/10 and 2011/12. Schools that have a committed project are permitted to carry forward more than 3 years DFC allocations.
4.6Although the Balance Control Mechanism has been removed from the Scheme for Financing Schools, the Authority will analyse school balances and challenge schools to ensure schools use balances as intended. The Authority will reinstate collecting data from schools on their proposed use of balances.
4.7The Authority will bring a report to the October Forum meeting on schools’ proposed use of balances.
5. Other Resource Implications
6. Background
7. Consultation with stakeholders
8. Background / Supporting papers
Annex A – School Balances 2011/12