Issue - meetings

This paper responds to the agreed action in the quarter one budget monitoring report for 2024/25 for the Corporate Director for Children’s Services to bring forward to October Cabinet a detailed report on the High Needs Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) expenditure forecast and available mitigation measures. This report also to seek Council approval for any additional resources over the approved budget.

A refreshed forecast is for an overspend of £16.5m, which is £0.6m more than indicated in the quarter 1 budget monitoring report. This forecast also means the Council is predicting to spend £44.5m more in 2024/25 than the grant made available by the government. 

This new forecast includes the cost of all new plans agreed as at July 2024 with a revised profile of projected assessment volume based on the current rate which is driven by local education settings and parents and carers. 

The BCP Local Area SEND system has significantly changed for the better over the last academic year. This follows the creation of a new SEND Improvement Plan developed to meet the Local Authority’s DfE Statutory Direction Notice to Improve.  The improvement work which has taken place over the last 10 months has now addressed all historic backlogs and improved the servicing of new assessments and Education Care and Health Plans into the system.  This improvement work has adversely increased the overspend within the High Needs Block budget.

To note that the local authority proportion of children with EHCP is still below the national average and may therefore increase further impacting on the DSG overspend.

The Committee was advised that this was an information only item and that a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'E’ to these Minutes in the Minute Book.