Agenda and minutes

To receive any declarations of interest from Members of Schools’ Forum

There were no declarations of interest from Members of Forum.

To consider the minutes of the meeting of Schools’ Forum held on 19 January 2022

Consideration was given to the minutes of the meeting of the School’s Forum, held on 19 January 2022.

It was noted that the costing of school improvement de-delegation had not yet been confirmed and that potential buy-in from academies may have an impact on final costings.  Therefore, Members were advised that work was currently being undertaken in relation to this and that the final cost of this offer in terms of a per-pupil rate would be provided in due course.

RESOLVED

That the minutes of the meeting of Schools’ Forum, held on 19 January 2022, be approved as a correct record.

To consider the attached report of the Director, Education (Tameside and Stockport) and the Assistant Director, Finance

Consideration was given to a report from the Assistant Director of Finance and Director of Education (Tameside and Stockport), which outlined the arrangements concerning the Dedicated Schools Grant Early Years Funding for 2022-23.

Members were provided with details of the current funding settlement for Early Years 2021-22 and 2022-23.  It was noted that the 2021-22 settlement was currently based on published allocations from DfE, using census data collated in Summer 2021, Autumn 2021 and Spring 2021.  The 2022-23 settlement was based on the Schools, Early Years and Alternative provision census data from January 2021.

Members were advised that a consultation had been undertaken throughout February 2022, in order to gather opinion based on a range of proposals for 2022-23.

It was explained that the hourly rate of funding for 3 and 4 year olds received by the Local Authority had increased from £4.65 in 2021-22 to £4.82 in 2022-23 for both universal and extended entitlement. 

Members were informed that the local funding scheme must include a base rate, which applies to all children in all settings.  Members were informed that there was a mandatory requirement to have a supplementary rate in relation to deprivation.  It was explained that supplementary rates relating to rurality/sparsity, flexibility, quality and English as an additional language were also possible.  However, it was noted that the total value of supplements could not exceed 10% of the overall funding within this block.

It was noted that the funding scheme for 2021-22 contained one supplementary element, which was in relation to deprivation.  Members were advised that this would continue to be the only supplement in 2022-23.  With this in mind, Members were made aware that consultation had been undertaken regarding the method of allocation of deprivation funding.

It was acknowledged that it was essential to aim to ensure, as much as is possible, that funding effectively reaches the children living in families on very low incomes and that this funding should  be used to provide additional support for the needs of eligible children, particularly as low-income households had been impacted most by the pandemic.

Members were made aware that the current method of allocation for deprivation was based on 3 bandings and a deprivation supplement was paid to all children.  However, consideration had been given to a move towards a single rate of deprivation, which would potentially allow more targeted allocation of this funding.  It was acknowledged that this would be important in ensuring that those children, who were the most relatively deprived were receiving the support they needed in order to develop.  It was also noted that the Early Years Working Group were in support of this model.

The range of options for deprivation funding models were outlined for Members.  These included:

Option 1 – Continue with the existing model

The allocation of deprivation could continue through the existing model where deprivation is allocated based on three bands and allocated for all children. 

Option 2 – Model 1:  Single rate of deprivation targeted to 30%  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.

To note that the next meeting of Schools’ Forum will be held on Tuesday 21 June 2022 at 10am

RESOLVED

That the next meeting of The Schools Forum be held on Tuesday 21 June 2022 at 10am.

CHAIR