The Lincolnshire Schools' Forum met to discuss and make decisions on school funding for the 2026/27 financial year. The forum agreed to continue including a primary school rent factor in its local formula, supported the council's approach to managing affordability and the minimum funding guarantee, and approved a 0.5% transfer of funding from the schools block to the high needs block. The forum also discussed the work programme for future meetings and agreed to move the date of the January meeting to allow for more accurate data to be presented.

High Needs Block Funding

The Schools' Forum approved the transfer of 0.5% of funding from the schools block to the high needs block for the 2026/27 financial year. This decision was made to support continued investment in high needs initiatives and to assist with the delivery of a more effective and financially sustainable system for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Mark Popplewell, Strategic Finance Lead - Children's Services, clarified that this decision was for 2026/27 only and would require annual approval from the Schools Forum.

The decision was not unanimous. Some members expressed concerns about the impact on secondary schools, with only 20% of secondary schools that responded to the consultation in support of the transfer. Martin McKeown, Head Teacher at Lincoln Christ's Hospital School, suggested ring-fencing part of the 0.5% transfer for secondary schools and publishing a phase-specific plan with key performance indicators (KPIs) on exclusions, reintegration, Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), and spending.

Martin Smith, Assistant Director for Children's Education, responded that it would be difficult to ring-fence the funding because the strategies are targeted at different audiences. He noted that the council has an inclusion strategy, Better Belonging, which will be published in the next few days and covers off a number of mitigations alongside sufficiency challenges. He also stated that the impact of the mitigations is being tracked, monitored, and reported to a governance structure outside of the schools forum.

Councillor Tony Stephens, Governor at The Holt Primary School, raised concerns about the level of governance and oversight of the work being done by Martin Smith and his team. He asked how the forum would measure the impact of the work and ensure that the same situation does not arise again in 12 months' time. Martin Smith proposed bringing a summary update to the Schools Forum every six months to provide more frequent updates on the mitigations, their impact, and costs.

There was also discussion about whether the 0.5% transfer would be sustainable in the following year. Mark Popplewell confirmed that the local authority could request a higher percentage amount than 0.5%, but that they were receptive to school challenges. He also noted that a recent report indicated that the current system is unsustainable and that they are waiting for the schools white paper¹ to set out how to overcome this challenge.

National Funding Formula Update

Elizabeth Bowes, Strategic Finance Manager, provided an update on the national funding formula (NFF) for schools for 2026/27. The update included a summary of updates from the Department for Education (DfE) and the outcomes of a recent consultation on mainstream schools funding for 2026/27.

Key points from the update included:

• The 2026/27 schools NFF will continue to use the same formula factors as the 2025/26 NFF.
• The schools budget support grant (SBSG) and National Insurance contributions (NICS) grant will be rolled into the NFF factors for 2026/27.
• Local authorities will continue to be responsible for deciding local funding formulae for mainstream schools.
• The council launched a consultation that set out the council's funding proposals for mainstream maintained schools and academies relating to 2026/27 on 23 October. The consultation closed on 14 November.

The consultation focused on four key areas:

1. Affordability: The council's policy decision remains to continue adopting the government's NFF in 2026/27, subject to affordability. Where affordability is an issue, the council proposed making a downward adjustment to the Key Stage Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) values across the sector. 71% of schools that responded supported this proposal.
2. Minimum Funding Guarantee: The council is required to set a Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) per pupil between +0.0% and -0.5% against the schools' existing per pupil baselines. The council proposed adopting the DfE maximum level of +0.0% MFG in 2026/27. 95% of schools that responded supported this proposal.
3. Primary Rents Factor: A number of Lincolnshire primary schools are financially disadvantaged compared to other similar schools due to paying rents for ground and school buildings on the schools' site and playing fields. The council proposed continuing to include a primary rents factor within its local formula for 2026/27. 86% of schools that responded supported this proposal. The Schools' Forum agreed to the disapplication request for the continuation of the primary schools rents factor.
4. Block Transfer: The council sought support from the schools sector for the 0.5% schools block transfer to the high needs block in 2026/27 to support the continued investment in high needs initiatives. 48% of schools that responded supported this proposal.

Date of January Meeting

The Schools Forum agreed to move the date of the January meeting to either the 19th or 20th of January. This was at the request of Mark Popplewell, who explained that the change would allow the council to provide the schools forum with a more certain position in terms of overall schools funding, affordability, and more granular detail. He explained that the department sends the school census information towards the end of December, and the original date did not allow enough time to process this information.