Agenda and minutes

Apologies were received from Emma Allen (Special Head Teacher, Terry Hudson substituting) Georgina Delmonte (Primary Head Teacher), Kate Ridley-Moy (Primary Academy Governor) and John Delaney (Trade Union - NEU).

Minutes attached.

The minutes of the meeting of the Forum held on 7 November 2019 were agreed as a correct record.

The following matters arose from the previous meeting:

Item 16 Minute 6 – The DfE had advised that their response to the consultation on extending the Risk Protection Arrangements to LA Maintained Schools would be published on the 17^th January 2020.

Item 17 - The Council withdrew the request for disapplication of the minimum funding guarantee relating to the embedded grants in the per pupil funding of three secondary schools following the strong objections from school and the advice from the Department for Education that it would be refused.

Report and appendices attached.

The report presented to the Forum put forward the Local Authority’s recommendations on the funding of schools and academies in the 2020-21 financial year. This followed consultation with schools on the proposals and later release of the October 2019 data.

Schools are protected with a minimum funding guarantee of 0.5% with only 5 schools in the borough needing extra funding to reach this and the cost of protection reducing by £50k to £848k from the October 2018 to the October 2019 data. Schools also have a cap of 4% on increases to their per pupil funding and the number of schools subject to the cap had reduced by 14. Without the cap, an additional £1.07 million would be required which is unaffordable. This amount had reduced by £200,000 from October 2018 data. The Forum noted that 16 more schools, a total of 39 (49%) were now funded according to the national funding formula without the need for protection or capping. The Forum also noted that pupil numbers have increased by 302 between October 2018 and October 2019, generating an extra £1.4 million for the School Funding Block. The formula for calculating the distribution of funds has to be submitted to the EFSA by 21^st January 2020.

The summary of responses of schools to the Schools Funding 2020/21 consultation showed that most of the schools responding were in favour of the LA proposals although some schools that were subject to the 4% cap, particularly those that were already in financial difficulty, expressed their concern about losing money.  It was noted that these schools would receive a 4% increase per pupil which is a higher increase for many years and may be eligible to receive financial support from other budgets.

A summary of responses (without additional comments) is as follows:

The forum:

·         Agreed the Local Authority adopt the national funding formula rates for the funding of schools and academies in financial year 2020-21 and also ensures that all  ...  view the full minutes text for item 26.

Report and appendices attached.

The report presented to the Forum outlined the process the Local Authority is taking to determine the early years funding arrangements for the 2020/21 financial year.

The Forum was advised that there had been an increase of 8p in the hourly rates used to fund Local Authorities. Based on the revised rates, Havering’s funding for 2, 3 & 4 year olds for 2020-21 was £19.1 million from which the LA should decide on a formula to distribute at least 95% to providers.

A consultation document had been sent to providers to collect their views on central retention within the 5% permitted, the SEN Inclusion Fund, the supplementary factors to be used and three options for hourly base rate increases and the respective amount that would be added to the SEN inclusion fund, which would increase the hourly rate for SEN support.

There would not be another Forum meeting until after the date that the funding formula needed to be agreed so the Forum was asked to delegate power to the Chair and Vice-Chair to agree the final funding arrangements following the Early Years Prover meeting on 28^th January 2020. The Chair expressed that he would be content to sign off the consultation, provided that no major issues arise for which he may call a special meeting.

The Forum:

·         Noted the LA’s proposals for the funding of early years provision in 2020-21

·         Noted the timeline and arrangements for approving proposals following consultation with providers

The next meetings have been arranged as follows:

19^th March 2020

18^th June 2020

All meetings to be held at 8.30am at CEME.

The next meetings of the Forum had been arranged as follows:

19 March 2020

18 June 2020

All meetings to start at 8.30 am at CEME.

There was no other business raised.