The East Sussex Schools Forum met to discuss high needs funding, de-delegated budgets for maintained schools, and the impact of the 2025/26 NJC pay award. The forum noted the pressures on the High Needs Block (HNB) budget and the risks to broader school budgets, and were asked to decide which services should be provided centrally by the authority for 2026/27. The forum also noted the upcoming changes to the single status pay scale resulting from the NJC pay award¹.

High Needs Block Funding Update

The Schools Forum reviewed the current financial position of the High Needs Block (HNB) and considered potential risks to school budgets. The HNB is facing significant pressures due to a higher proportion of children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)² being placed in special schools compared to the national average, rising costs in independent and non-maintained special (INMS) sector³, and a comparatively low allocation of HNB funding for the current year.

East Sussex had an in-year HNB overspend of £15.075m at the end of 2024/25, with a cumulative deficit of £2.917m. A forecast overspend of £20.424m is predicted for this year. According to the High Needs Funding Update, £25.887m of the £86.288m HNB spend in 2024/25 was on INMS placements, which equates to 30% of spending on 11.6% of placements.

The report noted:

INMS are, therefore, only picking up 'overflow' where local provision is full, or where mainstream schools are stating that they cannot meet needs. For this reason, we are paying a premium for educational provision for children who might otherwise be supported in their local special or mainstream schools and who are not achieving discernibly better outcomes in the INMS sector.

The forum was informed that the only way to avoid the projected overspends is to reduce the number of pupils placed in special schools, which would require a significant change in approach to meet the needs of more pupils in mainstream provision.

The Schools Forum was asked to note the pressures on the HNB budget and the risks associated with this for broader school budgets. A deficit management plan will be presented to the Schools Forum in November.

De-delegated Budgets for Maintained Schools

The Schools Forum discussed which services should be provided centrally by the authority for 2026/27 by de-delegating budgets from maintained schools. Since 2013/14, the Department for Education (DfE) has required Schools' Forums to agree to de-delegate budgets for certain services provided centrally by the local authority (LA). Academies automatically have this funding delegated to them, but they can choose to access some of the services from East Sussex Services to Schools or other providers.

The services considered for de-delegation in 2026/27 were:

• Contingency
• Behaviour Support Services
• Support for ethnic minority pupils
• Administration of free school meals
• Jury service and union business
• Headteacher Partnership

The De-delegation agenda item included appendices providing further information on each of these services.

For 2025/26, the following services were de-delegated:

The forum was asked to decide which services should be provided centrally by the authority for 2026/27.

Behaviour Support Services and English as an Additional Language (EAL)

The Schools Forum considered the rationale for continuing to de-delegate primary behaviour support services, and for restoring de-delegated budgets from secondary schools for those services. A report presented to the forum argued that high standards of behaviour and improved attendance are key to improving standards, and that East Sussex continues to under-perform compared to national averages in both attendance and exclusions. The report recommended that the Schools Forum:

• Continue de-delegated budgets for maintained primary Behaviour Support for 2025/26
• Consider restoring de-delegated budgets for maintained secondary Behaviour Support for 2025/2026

The Schools Forum was also asked to vote on the de-delegation of EAL funding from all maintained schools at 100% for 2026-28. The report noted that the EALS team provides targeted support through specialist teachers and Bilingual Support Officers (BSOs), and that the service had seen an increase in open cases, including a rise in Ukrainian pupils and a sudden increase in Malayalam-speaking pupils.

The report warned that if the total commitment of £462,208 per year for two years from 1 April 2026 is not met, the EALS service will need to consider cessation of this offer from 31 March 2026.

Headteacher Partnership Contribution

The Schools Forum was asked to agree to the same proposals as last financial year for the financial year 2025/26, where schools are asked to contribute to cover partnership costs through a 'headteacher partnership contribution' of a flat fee of £250 per primary, secondary and all-through school. Where schools don't purchase the partnership contribution there will be an attendance fee applied. Special schools were asked to contribute a flat fee of £150 per school.

NJC Pay Award 2025/26

The Schools Forum was informed of upcoming changes to the single status pay scale resulting from the NJC pay award¹. Ruth Wilson, HR Manager presented the report, which noted that the pay award agreement includes the deletion of pay point 2 from the NJC pay spine, which is equivalent to scale point 4 on the local East Sussex Single Status pay scales. Everyone paid on Single Status 2 will automatically move to Single Status 3 from 1 April 2026.

The report outlined the impact of the change on various roles, including assistant caretakers, cleaners, club and wrap-around care roles, exam invigilators, midday supervisory assistants, and nursery assistants (unqualified). It was noted that the increase in the grade for these roles will also create recruitment and retention issues for other roles, as teaching assistants are paid Single Status 3 or single status 4 and will be paid the same as the above roles from 1 April 2026.

HR are organising working groups to review the impact on nursery assistants and teaching assistants, and will recommend changes to job descriptions to support updates, which may include re-grading requests.

The Schools Forum was asked to note the impact of the deletion of single status 2 from 1 April 2026, and the proposed course of action being taken to review and address the impact on recruitment and retention.