Forum to consider the report.

The Forum considered a written report regarding the budget outturn and school balances for 2021/22.

James Norris, Head of Finance for Achieving for Children, said that in the final quarter of the financial year 2021/22, there was a reduction in the overspend position. The final position was a net £257,000 overspend on the Designated Schools Grant (DSG). Within the school’s block there was an underspend of £537,000, which was reported throughout the entirety of the financial year. There was also an underspend of £328,000 relating to the central school’s services block. He said that this figure had changed within the final quarter due mainly to a one-off income received of £130,000, relating to the previous 4 financial years. There were also reduced overhead spends of around £80,000. The Early Needs block underspent by a net £426,000. £160,000 of this was identified within the final quarter of the financial year and was identified based on the Department for Education (DfE) census data that had been provided March 2022.

James Norris said that the area of most concern in terms of costs was the High Needs block with an overspend of £1.5 million. £1.7 million was the reported figure throughout the year, however in the final quarter this had decreased in the region of £200,000. Overall, for the DSG there was a net overspend of £257,000 as set out within table 2 of the report. When added to the balance that had been brought forward, this produced a net projected deficit as of 31 March 2022 of £2.048 million. This equated to 1.5% of the overall DSG budget.

James Norris then discussed the de-delegation balances. He said that £547,000 had been ring-fenced and held for the de-delegation activities. As agreed by the Schools Forum back in December 2021, £72,000 of the fund would be put towards the reduction in School Improvement & Brokering Grant funding that was being received in the financial year 2022/23. A contingency of 10% would also be held back for prudence. Resulting in £427,000 to be given back to maintained schools during Summer 2022. Larger primary schools for example would receive approximately £22,000 as a refund and the smaller ones would receive between £3,000 and £5,000. If a school had become an academy covert in the last 2 or 3 years, then they would receive a reimbursement on a pro-rata basis.

James Norris then discussed the maintained schools’ balances for 2021/22. He said that there was currently a net balance in excess of £3 million across all of the sectors. This was made up of around £4.5 million of school surpluses minus around £1.5 million of school deficits. The surplus had increased by £710,000 over the last financial year. Secondary schools were recommended to hold a balance up to 5% and other schools 8%. The average balance across schools within the borough was currently 7.5%.

Sarah Cottle asked for clarity with regards to the receipt of a one-off nursery rental income. James Norris said that this was related to a backdated payment related to the Oldfield School site.

Sarah Cottle noted that the early years block were seeing a constant underspend currently and noted also that every year, funds were not necessarily placed in the best places to have direct positive impacts on the young people. She asked for some clarity on how it could be ensured that young people benefited from this underspend in the early years block. James Norris noted this and would take this forward.

Joolz Scarlett asked if the DfE’s climate change and sustainability guidance had been included within the report and stated that schools would need to think about this new guidance. James Norris thanked Joolz Scarlett for alerting him and said that he would consider this.

Councillor Baldwin asked for clarity in paragraph 6.2 on the figure of £427,000. James Norris provided this clarity and stated that these figures were rounded. The final figure was somewhere between £427,000 and £428,000.

The Forum noted the report.