This meeting of the Schools Forum was scheduled to include the consideration of responses to a consultation on the allocation of schools funding in Sandwell for the 2025/26 financial year. The forum was also scheduled to review the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the 2024/25 financial year.

Schools Funding Consultation 2025/26

The forum was scheduled to consider responses to a consultation on the draft Schools Funding Consultation Document for 2025/26. The consultation included questions on the following:

• Proposed de-delegated budgets for Health and Safety Licences and Subscriptions, EVOLVE (an online platform for school data management and analysis), Union Facilities Time, School Improvement Services and Schools in Financial Difficulty.
• The level of funding for the Education Benefits Team and Children’s Clothing Support Allowance.
• Whether to submit a Disapplication Request¹ to the DfE for the 2026/27 financial year.

The consultation was sent to all maintained schools in Sandwell and meetings to explain the proposals in the document were held with representatives from those schools.

The report pack for the meeting contains a summary of the responses received to each question, as well as a selection of comments that were submitted by schools during the consultation.

The report notes that

Local Authorities did not have an APT modelling tool in the summer of 2024 and the only information received at this point is to move a minimum 10% closer to the National Funding Formula. Modelling was not therefore carried out for the 2025/26 schools funding consultation.

Dedicated Schools Grant P6 Monitoring Report 2024/25

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is a ring-fenced grant that the government provides to local authorities to cover the costs of providing education to children and young people aged 0-19.

The report pack contains the DSG P6 Monitoring Report 2024/25. This report sets out the forecast income and expenditure for the DSG for the 2024/25 financial year, up to Period 6 (which ended on 30 November 2024). The report also includes a summary of the centrally held and de-delegated budgets within the maintained schools sector.

Overall, the report shows that the DSG is forecast to be overspent by £5.939m in 2024/25. The overspend is largely due to an increase in the number of children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). In particular, the report states that:

There were currently 240 pupils in independent schools compared to 200 in 2023/24.

The report also highlights a number of other issues that are putting pressure on the DSG, including:

• An increase in the number of children and young people requiring 1:1 support.
• An increase in the number of early years pupils being funded via private providers.
• A backlog in addressing the increase in the number of children who have, or who are in the process of obtaining, an EHCP.

The report concludes by outlining a number of actions that are being taken to address these challenges.