Agenda item

a) 2017/18 Draft Budget

 

6b) 2017/18 APT Submission

 

6c) EYNFF

 

6d) NFF Consultation – stage 2

 

6a) 2017/18 Draft Budget

 

CG presented the paper in IH’s absence, referring to the table on page 21. She explained it had been updated since the December meeting and includes known as well as new DfE information.

 

The gross schools block income had been updated using pupil numbers on the October 2016 census and the net figure deducts academy recoupment. The cost of copyright licensing has been factored into the total, it is a deduction from the DSG.

 

EYPP and the new Early Years Disability Access Fund (EY DAF) is also included in the DSG income total.

 

The disability access fund (DAF) is being introduces as part of the Early Years National Funding Formula (EYNFF) from 2017/18 to help children with special educational needs (SEN) access early years places.

 

Under the terms of the EYNFF, local authorities must pass on at least 93% of the funding for 3&4 year olds to providers. Barnet is complying with this, with a notional pass through rate of £5.44 to providers.

 

There will be a new school admissions post, costing £40k, to increase school numbers.

 

Lines 1.5.1 to 1.5.3 are new lines on S251 in relation to former ESG statutory (retained) duties. The expenditure on these lines is £797k, matching the allocation received and retention of this funding was approved by Schools Forum at the last meeting.

 

The main call on the DSG underspend was to fund the cost of growth.  CP stated the expected call on reserves for 17/18 would be £1.5m. Moving forward and as a result of implementation of the NFF in 2018/19 and 2019/20, there is likely to be a further call on reserve to fund growth.

 

Cllr Brian Sallinger asked with regard to school admissions whether the Education department funds investigating fraudulent school applications.  VW replied that the council bears this cost centrally.

 

6b) APT submission

 

CG introduced the paper and said that the Minimum Funding Guarantee continues at -1.5%, as in 2016/17.  She went on to explain that under capping arrangements applied for 2017/18, schools would retain up to 2.25% of any gains to ensure as many schools as possible were above the minimum funding level prior to implementation of the National Funding Formula.

 

As a result of the revised IDACI bands published by the ONS in 2015, the funded bands have been reprofiled by the DfE. 

Barnet always paid the top 3 bands, but as no Barnet pupils fell into Band 6, Bands 3, 4 and 5 were used in 2016/17.  Due to the reprofiling, Barnet now has pupils in the most highly deprived Bands, so we have reverted to funding the top 3 most deprived bands, now classified as A, B and C.

 

The formula funding rates shown on page 23 have been submitted on the APT and will be going to CELS for ratification on 21^st Feb.

 

6c) Early Years

 

KP reminded members that the EYNFF was announced in December 2016, and that an additional 15 hours free entitlement would be available for eligible children from September 2017.  The hourly rate received by Barnet will be £5.90 per hour per child. The Early Years block income has been based on estimated January 2017 EY pupil numbers.

 

Under EYNFF requirements, a universal base rate must be paid to all providers, and LAs must include a deprivation supplement within the local formula. 93% of EY funding received must be passed on to providers. 

 

KP talked about the options on page 25, which showed different early years funding proposals. Lower supplements mean a higher base rate. Option 1, with the lowest supplement of 5% and a higher base rate was chosen.  As a result of this, the base rate being paid by Barnet will be £5.17 per hour to all providers.  This base rate will be the same for the universal 15 hour entitlement and the additional (working parent) 15 hour offer.

 

The EYPP rate to providers remains at 0.53p per hour per eligible child, the same as in 2016/17. The EYPP allocation is based on actual take up, so income received matches expenditure.

 

The income received by Barnet for 2 year olds is £5.92 per hour but Barnet will continue to fund providers at £6 per hour.

 

KP explained that although the same universal base rate must apply to all providers, a maintained nursery school supplement could be paid under the EYNFF to ensure that their funding remained at 2016/17 levels.

 

Cllr BS asked why Barnet was the only local authority that doesn’t make a lump sum allocation to maintained nursery schools or why the Early Years formula does not cover NNDR.

 

CG explained a working group that was set up to discuss these issues came to the conclusion that private providers (PVIs) also faced similar premises costs as nurseries.  Barnet’s maintained nursery schools have received additional lump sum allocations agreed by the Schools Forum in the form of transitional funding in order to allow additional time to move towards the EYNFF.

 

KN asked if extra funding for nurseries would be continuing.

CG replied that it would, but only until the gap between nursery schools and other providers closes.  There will be a £0.30 supplement per hour per child for maintained nursery schools in 2017/18, to ensure that they receive the same level of funding as they did in 2016/17.  Barnet will submit evidence of this supplement to the DfE as requested to ensure we receive this allocation within the Early Years Block.

 

JM said the past 3 years have been very difficult for nurseries and that 4 outstanding nursery schools will close because of this lack of extra funding. She said qualified teachers cost the nursery schools more.

 

VW stated that many PVIs have the same issue regarding qualified staff, and also have to deal with the lower pupil:teacher ratio of 8:1  SV agreed that this is also an issue for PVI providers.

 

VW said that we would be moving to a nationally set EYNFF and funding for it was not Barnet’s decision. The Schools Forum is also consulted on funding issues and provides a balance across all sectors and types of schools.

KP continued presenting the Early Years Funding Formula paper. She provided details of the SEN Inclusion Fund and  the Disability Access Fund (DAF) – a lump sum paid to providers at the rate of £615 per child per annum for eligible children.  DAF is designed to provide greater access to Early Years for HN children.  SEN Inclusion funding is expected to target Early Years children who have EHCPs or emerging/complex needs.

 

KN asked if more SEN funding was expected due to the increase to 30 hours.

CG said yes, the SEN Inclusion Fund has been set at £200k to cover this additional demand.

 

 

6d) NFF consultation, stage 2

 

This item details Barnet’s proposed response to the NFF and High Needs consultations, due to close on 22^nd March 2017.

 

The government has advised that a soft national funding formula will apply for 2018/19.  The DfE will calculate the Schools Block and pass funding to the LA. The LA will have some discretion regarding movement between blocks to cover some parts of the formula, particularly growth.

 

In 2019/20, the hard formula will be introduced and used to calculate individual school’s funding. Most London authorities will lose funding, but outer London authorities lose less than inner London. 

 

Individual schools could lose up to 1.5% of their funding when the NFF is introduced.

 

Barnet is anticipating a gain of up to 2.4% on the central services block.

The MFG will continue at -1.5% in 2018/19 and 2019/20 and schools gaining under the national funding formula will be allowed a maximum gain of 3% in 2018/19 and 2.5% in 2019/20.

 

The government will be putting an emphasis on prior attainment, a funding factor Barnet has not used previously as it didn’t feel the data collected was reliable.

 

Lump sums per school will be set at £110k. The lump sum currently paid to schools is £122k but the difference will be protected by the MFG.

 

Overall, if the NFF had been implemented in 2016/17, Barnet would have lost 0.8% in funding.  If transitional protection had been applied, then the actual reduction would have been 0.3%.

 

The impact of the proposals hasn’t been possible to model due to the complexity of the formula factors.

 

In conclusion, the main change for Barnet will be implementing prior attainment funding.

 

SH commented that the figures are not as high as those shown in the press and on committee websites.CG said because of flexibility between blocks, the effects of the NFF could be dampened.

 

JD said the COLLECT website shows what individual funding would be on the NFF, but CG warned that these figures are based on 2016/17 baseline data and are what schools would have received if the NFF had been implemented in 2016/17.