Agenda item

The Cabinet Member with responsibility for Education introduced the report. Although a national funding formula; ‘a hard formula’ for schools; was still awaited, Worcestershire had adopted a new local formula in 2018 which was closer to the parameters of a national formula than the previous local formula. For 2022-23 the local funding formula would be used.

The overall amount of funding for Worcestershire schools had increased but as part of the F40 funding group, the County was one of the worst funded Councils. Funding per primary pupil had been £3,300 per year in 2018-19 and would increase to £4,265 in 2022-23. Funding per secondary pupil was increasing from £4,600 to £5,525. However, although there was a minimum 2% increase in funds from last year, the exact figure would not be known for another couple of weeks.  It was pointed out that if a school saw a decrease in pupil numbers then they would receive less money overall as the funding was per pupil. It was noted that although funding was increasing Worcestershire needed a greater increase to reach parity with other similar authorities.

Following the introduction to the report additional comments were made:

·       There was a plea that small schools in the county were looked after when the lump sum was distributed so that the variances in funding received by small primary or first schools, compared to secondary schools, were smoothed out. The County Council confirmed that it wished to support small schools and the Council did have some discretion on how the lump sum was distributed but would have to wait and see what funding was available for distribution.

·       When asked if inflation and increased fuel prices were causing concern for schools, it was acknowledged that 35 maintained schools were operating in deficit and in some areas costs were increasing faster than funding which was why lobbying for fairer funding would continue. A Cabinet Member who sat on the West Mercia Energy Board explained that most schools were supplied by West Mercia Energy and although there would be an increase in fuel costs it would be a capped deal and there would hopefully not be any large increases before the market noramalised.

RESOLVED that Cabinet:

(a)  had regard to the information provided to schools on 29 September 2021;

(b)  noted the Department for Education policy for school and Local Authority funding for 2022-23 detailed in Appendix 1 of the report;

(c)  noted the involvement of the Worcestershire Schools Forum members and schools during the engagement process;

(d)  noted the views of the Worcestershire Schools Forum on the Local Schools Funding Formula issues for 2022-23 and other matters which are outlined in Appendix 2 of the report;

(e)  approved the Local Schools Funding Formula for Worcestershire mainstream schools from April 2022 to apply for 2022-23 and other matters as detailed in paragraphs 32 to 42 of the report, to include the DfE Minimum Funding Levels (MFL’s) for Primary £4,265; Key Stage 3 £5,321; Key Stage 4 £5,831; Secondary £5,525   having regard to feedback from schools and the views of the Worcestershire Schools Forum in Appendix 2, to be based as far as is practicable and affordable upon the Department for Education (DfE) National Funding Formula (NFF) parameters; and

(f)    authorised the Director of Children’s Services in consultation with the Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Education to make the required submission to the national executive body, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) by 21 January 2022 for the approved Local Schools Funding Formula for 2022-23 taking account of any impact and change on the approved units of resource, Minimum Funding Guarantee and capping arrangements in paragraph 33 as a consequence of the October 2021 census and other 2021 data changes and the final 2022-23 Dedicated School Grant (DSG).