Agenda item

Consideration was given to a report of the Director of Finance which provided detail regarding the resources available for School Funding for 2022/23 and required the Cabinet to consider how the funding for Schools and Academies should be distributed in 2022/23.

This report provided detail of the level of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for 2022/23 together with its allocation across the three funding blocks for which information was currently available. The funding was based on October 2020 pupil numbers and would be subject to change once calculations have been updated to reflect October 2021 pupil numbers.

The report also provided information about the National Funding Formula (NFF) for Schools, the High Needs Blocks for Oldham and also presented a recommended approach for the distribution of the Schools Funding Block of the DSG to Schools and Academies for 2022/23.

In addition, the report presented the proposed option (Model 1 as detailed in Appendix 1) to move to the 2021/22 NFF cash values in full except for the Area Cost Adjustment (ACA) where it was proposed that the factor applied in Oldham was initially reduced from 1.00546 to 1.00000. However, Members were advised that if there are any resources available once funding allocations based on updated pupil numbers are received, then this additional funding will be allocated through an increase to the ACA.

The indicative Schools block allocations to Local Authorities were funded by multiplying a Primary Unit of Funding (PUF’s) and Secondary Units of Funding (SUF’s) cash value by each pupil. The PUF’s and SUF’s for 2022/23 have been calculated based on school and pupil characteristics data from the 2021/22 Authority Proforma Tool (APT) data which was based on October 2020 census information. They would not be updated for any characteristic changes to the October 2021 census until 2023/24. If there was a significant change in characteristics such as eligibility for free school meals, the factor values in the local formulae would be adjusted as necessary to meet any affordability pressures. Page 2 of 14 Schools Funding Formula 13th December 2021

It was also proposed that there was up to a 0.5% movement of funding from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block in order to manage the DSG (which was currently in a deficit position) so that the DSG was brought back into a balanced position by the end of 2023/24 as required by the Department for Education.

Following the Government’s Spending Review and the announcement that there would be £1.6bn in additional funding for 2022/23 budgets, on top of the year-on-year increase already confirmed, the proposed transfer would be reviewed to see if there was a requirement for a 0.5% transfer from the Schools Block once detailed funding was known.

Options/alternatives considered

There was a requirement for the 2022/23 funding formula to be agreed by the Schools Forum. The report set out the funding formula agreed unanimously by Schools Forum members at their meeting on 17^th November 2021. In view of the Schools Forum decision. Members are not therefore presented with an alternative approach.

RESOLVED – That:

1.    The model outlined in the report which was a move to the 2022/23 NFF cash values in full except for the Area Cost Adjustment factor, which was reduced to 1.00000 but with the opportunity to adjust the ACA if there were any resources available once actual 2022/23 funding allocations are received be approved.

2.    The adjustment of the model if there was a significant change in characteristics such as eligibility for free school meals to meet any affordability pressures be approved.

3.    Up to a 0.5% transfer of funding between the Schools and the High Needs Blocks subject to the receipt of detailed additional funding information (arising from the Spending Review announcement) which would determine if the transfer is still required once details of the additional funding for 2022/23 are available be approved.