Purpose

Proposed decision:
 
That
the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills:
 

(a) 
Approve the proposal to the School Funding Forum
that funding for the following services should be provided from the
schools’ budgets in line with the funding all schools receive
under the National Funding Formula, as is currently the case
for Academies, and that the Council no longer provides its own
additional funding for these purposes:

 
·        
School improvement and intervention support for
maintained schools and PRUs;
·        
Moderation of national curriculum key stage
assessments;
·        
Support to governing bodies when recruiting their
headteacher; and
·        
Redundancy and associated pension costs relating
to school staff.

(b) 
Delegate authority, subject to the agreement by
the School Funding Forum to the proposals and the final outcome
reflecting the Policy decision made above by the Cabinet Member, to
the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to
take relevant actions including but not limited to entering into
relevant contracts or other legal agreements as required, to
implement the required changes to give effect to the
decision
 
 
Reason for the decision
 
The
national funding arrangements for schools and local authorities has
been shifting over the years.  With the
introduction of the School Funding Reforms in 2013-14 Local
Authorities were directed to delegate a
number of former centrally retained Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG)
budgets to schools for the first time. At the time, a total of
£8.7m of DSG funding was delegated to schools from 1 April
2013 and at the same time, local Schools
Funding Forums were given the powers to de-delegate funding. This
is where some of this funding is returned to the LA for certain
categories of spend where better efficiency
could be achieved through central delivery by the LA.
 
The
Education Services Grant (ESG) allocated to local authorities by
the Government for the provision of statutory services in relation
to schools was withdrawn in 2016/17. The DfE introduced a provision
within the School Funding Regulations for local authorities to
agree a contribution from LA maintained schools budget shares
towards the cost of statutory services. This principle reflects the
charge that most Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) place on their schools
for central services.
 
Between
2017 and 2023 the Local Authority School Improvement Monitoring and
Brokering Grant was allocated to local authorities to support them
in fulfilling their statutory school improvement functions. When
this was withdrawn in 2022/23, local Schools Funding Forums were
given the powers to de-delegate and return some of this funding to
the LA. The DfE’s withdrawal of grant reflects the fact that
Academy Trusts are expected to fulfil the same functions for their
schools, and that the funding to do so comes from the budgets of
the schools in their trusts.
 
With
the introduction of the National Funding Formula and the withdrawal
of DfE funding to Local Authorities to support schools, we have
seen funding shifting from Local Authorities to schools to pay for
services.
 
The Council currently
funds a range of services which are provided to maintained
schools.  Following consultation with
maintained mainstream and special schools, and pupil referral units
(PRUs), a decision is needed as to whether the Council or
schools’ budgets will pay for certain services in
2025-26.
 
Background
 
The Council currently
funds:

·  
School improvement and intervention support for
maintained schools and PRUs;

·  
Moderation of national curriculum key stage
assessments;

·  
Support to governing bodies when recruiting their
headteacher; and

·  
Redundancy and associated pension costs relating to
school staff.
 
The grant funding the
Council previously received to provide these services has, to all
extents, ended, and the funding transferred to schools
budgets.  Schools and PRUs are being
consulted on whether the costs of providing these services should
in future be met via their budgets, either directly, or through
either de-delegation or top-slicing as allowed for by
Regulations.
 
Options (other options considered but not proposed)

 
A review of the
services provided to schools by the Council considered, for each
area of service delivery, whether the service should
“continue, stop, reduce or change”. . 
 
For
change in 2025-26, four areas of service delivery were identified,
and have been subject to consultation. 
In respect of school improvement and intervention support,
moderation of national curriculum key stage assessments, and
redundancy costs the Council has to discharge its statutory duties,
thus cannot stop providing the services, but finance regulations
provide for the costs of these to be funded through schools budgets
(i.e. change).  The option to reduce
support continues to exist, but was not the preferred
option.  Continuing without change was
not seen as a viable option, because funding has moved from the
Council to schools.  In respect of
headteacher recruitment support, the proposal is to cease providing
this support for free.  Schools are
responsible for recruiting staff. 
Options to de-delegate funds or simply buy support when required
were included in the consultation.
 
How the proposed decision supports the

Framing Kent's Future
- Our Council Strategy 2022-2026
 
Priority 1 of Framing
Kent’s Future sets out the Council’s commitment to
maintain KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools in Kent
to deliver accessible, high quality education provision for all
families.  It states the Council will
maintain improvement support services for all Kent schools,
including maintained schools and academies, to maintain
Kent’s high-quality education system.
The proposals seek to
secure the funding necessary to enable the Council to deliver this
commitment. 
 
How the
proposed decision supports Securing Kent’s Future 2022
-2026:
Securing Kents Future
- Budget Recovery Strategy.pdf
 
The Council has
continued to provide the above services, partly funded by
de-delegated funding from schools (£1.5m), but with a further
£1.5m from its own resources.  The
proposals would result in schools meeting the full
costs.
 
 

Decision

As Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, I
agree to:
 
(a)      Approve the proposal to
the School Funding Forum that funding for the following services
should be provided from the schools’ budgets in line with the
funding all schools receive under the National Funding Formula, as
is currently the case for Academies, and that the Council no longer
provides its own additional funding for these purposes:
•    
School improvement and intervention support for maintained schools
and PRUs;
•    
Moderation of national curriculum key stage assessments;
•    
Support to governing bodies when recruiting their headteacher;
and
•    
Redundancy and associated pension costs relating to school
staff.
 
(b)      Delegate authority,
subject to the agreement by the School Funding Forum to the
proposals and the final outcome
reflecting the Policy decision made above by the Cabinet Member, to
the Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education to
take relevant actions including but not limited to entering into
relevant contracts or other legal agreements as required, to
implement the required changes to give effect to the decision.