Nicola Webb presented an overview of the key points in respect
of the Draft Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Budget
2019/20.
Key
Points raised:
-
Funding was estimated; this has always been the case
at this point, but more so than usual due to the formation of
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP).
-
There is uncertainty over the Growth Fund; figures
had not been released by the Government. Expectation was that BCP would be in the protected
range.
-
No confirmation from the Government in respect of
mainstream funding formula rates for primary and secondary across
BCP had been received. The exact
figures for funding will also depend on the October 2018 school
census.
-
The Central Services Block figures were considered
to be an accurate representation but will change slightly also from
the census.
-
High Needs figures were estimated at this
stage. Adjustments will be made
following the December settlement announcements and January 2019
census.
-
Early Years funding rates are the same across the 3
Local Authority areas and will be the same for BCP. Adjustments to funding levels will be made
following the census in January 2019 and January 2020.
-
Despite the level of uncertainly, the budget needs
to be progressed for completion in December 2018; there may be
residual issues that need to be looked at after the December
settlement as on occasions DfE have
made late changes to the national arrangements.
-
The Early Years paper had not been presented for
this meeting but a lot of work had been completed at this stage and
it will come to the meeting on 13 November 2018.
-
The High Needs Block was confirmed to be a major
issue; there is a £5.7 million shortfall in the annual budget
as currently presented.
-
There has been no guidance yet from Government
regarding how the Local Authorities should deal with deficits
(£4.5 million estimated for Bournemouth and Christchurch
coming into BCP from 1 April). The DSG
shortfall for 2019/20 needs to be addressed prior to the deficit
being considered. The timescale for
Government guidance was queried and it was confirmed that this was
to be expected within 2 weeks.
Questions were invited from those present and responses were
provided as follows:
·
A transfer of 1% has been proposed from the Early
Years block; it considered this was disproportionally high. The
Early Years Sub-Group has requested that this transfer was reduced
to 0.5% due to the lack of deficit in Poole. It was confirmed that the transfer was required to
support 2019/20 in-year needs, not the deficit.
·
Local Authorities can retain up to 5%. Even with a 1% transfer, the BCP planned
overall retention is lower than this.
·
The final decision is for the Shadow
Council.
·
It was confirmed that Christchurch Early Years
providers had been included in the discussions.
·
High needs pressures in 2018-19 were listed as
£1.7 – 2 million, with little of it included within the
estimated £4.5 million deficit by the end of the
year. It was confirmed that the
forecast deficit figure took into account potential savings from
other budgets and the use of DSG reserves still available in
Poole.
The
Chair thanked all for their input.
RESOLVED that the report be noted.