The Schools Forum of Hammersmith and Fulham Council was scheduled to meet on Tuesday 3 March 2026 to discuss the monitoring of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the 2025-26 financial year. The meeting's agenda also included the review and agreement of the minutes from the previous meeting.

Dedicated Schools Grant Monitoring Quarter 2 2025-26

A key item on the agenda was an update on the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) for the 2025-26 financial year, specifically focusing on the Quarter 2 monitoring position. This report was to provide information on the current DSG budget, forecast variances across the different blocks of the grant, and projected closing balances as of 31 March 2026. The report also detailed a retrospective Early Years Dedicated Schools Grant Funding adjustment for the 2024-25 period.

Within the DSG monitoring, the report highlighted a projected in-year deficit of £4.9 million for the High Needs Block in 2025-26, which would lead to a retained DSG deficit of £7.6 million by the end of March 2026. The report noted that this deficit was influenced by factors such as sustained Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) demand and increasing placement costs due to the complexity of needs. The Schools Block and Central Services Schools Block were forecast to remain within budget, with no variances expected. The Early Years Block also anticipated no significant pressures, although a retrospective adjustment for 2024-25 was expected to be covered by the 2025-26 contingency budget.

The report also addressed the Schools Block and Maintained De-delegation for 2025-26. It indicated that de-delegated budgets included £96,900 for contingency for maintained primary schools facing financial difficulties. Three schools had requested a total of £212,020 for redundancy costs as part of their stabilisation and deficit recovery plans, with a proposed support of £96,900 to fund approximately 45.7% of the requested amount for each school. Maintained Primary representatives on the Schools Forum were asked to agree to these contingency payments.

Minutes of the Last Meeting

The forum was also scheduled to review and agree the minutes from its previous meeting, which took place on 20 January 2026. The minutes from that meeting covered discussions on the Schools Block and Mainstream Budgets for 2026/27, and the Early Years Budget for 2026/27.

During the discussion of the Schools Block and Mainstream Budgets 2026/27 in the previous meeting, concerns were raised by Alex Parker, representing Lady Margaret School, regarding Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility and Trade Union Facilities. He questioned the recoupment of these costs and sought clarity on what schools were being asked to pay for, particularly if academies conducted their own FSM eligibility checks. Peter Haylock, Director of Education and SEND, explained the benefits of the auto-enrolment process for FSM and Pupil Premium funding, and the role of Trade Unions Facilities time. Kathleen Williams of Holy Cross Primary School also raised questions about the impact of auto-enrolment on primary schools and the statutory requirement for trade union facilities. The previous meeting's minutes indicated that the plans for the upcoming year were to be put in place due to time constraints, with an expectation of more detail in a future report.

The Early Years Budget 2026/27 discussion in the previous meeting focused on the initial allocation of funding, including extended entitlements for working parents. Jane Gleasure of Little People, Early Years PVI, highlighted budgetary issues in the summer term due to funding being stretched over the entire year, contrasting it with the PVI sector's continuous intake of children. Tony Burton, Head of Finance - People, confirmed that the budget used Department for Education (DfE) data and that a termly census model would be used for 2026-27. Officers were to work with early years providers to understand the implications of the proposed change to termly funding.

The previous meeting's minutes also included several resolutions, such as the submission of the January 2026 APT for the 2026 to 2027 schools budget share to the DfE, and the agreement to transfer 1% of the Schools Block to the High Needs Block in 2026/27. Recommendations were also made for maintained school representatives to agree to the proposed 2026-27 de-delegation budget and the 2026/27 Education Functions budget. Furthermore, Schools Forum agreed to the approach for ensuring statutory trade union facilities and free school meals eligibility costs were sustainable with contributions from school budgets, following further information and engagement from officers.

The meeting scheduled for 3 March 2026 was to be held remotely, with arrangements for observation communicated via email to Amrita.White@lbhf.gov.uk.