Schools Finance Group: Notes of meeting on 11 November 2024

DCC

• Matthew Thorpe – Deputy Director of Finance and Public Value
• Adrian Fox – Head Accountant (Education & Learning)
• Jack Newton – Deputy Director, Education
• Kellie Knott – SEND Improvement Director
• Heidi Watson-Jones – Safety Valve Project Officer

Devon Schools Leadership Services

Primary

• Jamie Stone – Denbury Primary, Penny Hammett – FORT Federation, Christopher Tribble – Honiton Primary

Secondary

Graham Hill – Pilton Community College

Special Schools

Sarah Pickering – Mill Water School, Hannah Smart – ACE Tiverton

DAG

Adrian Hines – Primary Governors, Alex Walmsley – Secondary Governors, Faith Butler – Special Governors

Other DCC Officers

• Karlien Bond – Senior Accountant (Schools)
• Katrina Harverson – Senior Accountant (Education)
• John Rowe (part) – Business Change Manager
• Michael Heard (part) – ICT Business Partner

Apologies

Paul Walker – First Federation, Sammy Crook – Tiverton High School, Tristan Muller-Forster – Tavistock College, Rob Gasson – Wave

1. Minutes of previous meeting – 9 September 2024

• JN to circulate the number of maintained schools currently sitting within the School Effectiveness Priority support levels.
• KB provided outlined that the per-pupil equivalent amount of the Centrally Retained Services (Phase Associations, School Admissions, AnyComms + and Emotional, Psychological & Social Wellbeing Services) equates to £10.33.
• All other actions completed or in hand. 
• Minutes were agreed as an accurate record.
• Action – JN to circulate the number of maintained schools currently sitting within the Priority support levels.
  

2. DSG Monitoring – Month 6

• SFG noted in-year increase in overall accumulated DSG deficit of £45.8m, £14.6m increase within the financial year.
• Corporate resource is being provided to SEND programme teams to support transformation and improvement work.
• Noted data around the increase in number of EHCPs issued; following additional DfE pressure to address timeliness of issuing.
• Maintained & Academy special schools are projected to overspend by £3.9m. 
• £5m in-year pressure relating to other special school fees (independent).
• Noted forecast overspend on SEND in FE, which represents an increase in learners successfully accessing mainstream post 16 provision. 
• Additional 70 SEND places are being created in FE from September 2024.
• 100% increase in issue of EHCPs compared to 4 months ago – which will have an unintended financial impact on Safety Valve targets for the current financial year.  The backlog is now expected to be cleared faster than the 3-year timeframe which rapidly increases costs.
• The group considered the financial position in the light of the Safety Valve programme projections and noted the DfE has been advised of the situation.  DfE have acknowledged that other Safety Valve authorities are experiencing similar challenging circumstances.
• Considered the potential impact to the local authority’s financial position should the statutory override for DSG Deficits cease and the management of the DSG deficit as a negative reserve no longer be an option.
• The next monitoring Safety Valve submission is due to the DfE on 27 November.
• Reviews are ongoing for the approval of spend on plus packages, AP and independent placement decisions.
• SFG discussed concerns around inclusive capacity of schools to meet SEN needs prior to requesting EHC needs assessments.
• Conversations continue with health around appropriate joint funding of SEND provision.
• 7-10% budgetary increase has been indicated to local authorities, a significant proportion of which will be attributed to pay awards and other national initiatives to be confirmed.  Further guidance from DfE is expected to provide clarity.
• AW further requested that the Deputy Director, Education & Learning look into processes to enable the local authority to access automatic payment of pupil premium.

3. Access Pension Fund

• KB outlined the issue, highlighted at the end of the summer term, resulting in 33 schools or federation budgets being affected by a systems issue which did not correctly update teachers’ pension employer contribution rates in some instances.
• Schools affected were notified early in the autumn term.
• Devon County Council finance colleagues and SFG representatives to meet with Access to consider the implications.
• It was recognised that the communication to schools could have been handled better, and that the issue caused distress and put significant pressure on school leaders affected.  The group agreed that should a similar issue arise in future a wider communication will be issued to all schools while further investigations take place.
• KB to check the contractual arrangements between individual schools (or the Local Authority) and Access. 
• Affected schools’ finance consultants have been in touch to offer support; SFG requested that these schools continue to be fully supported to be given time to approach ongoing budget management challenges as a result of the Access issue.
• Schools will be advised to manage the Access deficit situation separately to other budget pressures if necessary.  Finance colleagues to outline how such positions can be managed.
• Noted that all schools received the correct school budget share amount, however as a result of the software issue, schools had allocated spend differently than they otherwise would have.
• Mindful of priority to ensure that any further changes in pensions rates are transferred correctly into school budgets going forwards.
• Actions:
• KB to check the contractual arrangements between individual schools and Access
• Finance colleagues to outline how budget deficit positions significantly affected by the Access issue can be managed going forwards.

4. Unit 4 Systems Update

• SFG received a presentation outlining the progress of the Unit 4 finance system implementation programme.
• Information will be shared with schools shortly and again in the new year to explain how processes within the new system interface hub will operate, including new coding structures.
• Noted that SIMS hosting and support from ScoMIS will cease from 31 March 2025.  Support will be provided for schools to ensure a smooth transition to a new MIS and finance system. 
• Schools will receive a statement outlining the current licensing arrangements.
• SFG shared that communications with maintained schools around the system change have been very helpful.

5. Any Other Business

• None

Future meeting dates

• Friday 10 January 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)
• Wednesday 5 March 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)
• Wednesday 4 June 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 (Teams)
• Wednesday 9 July 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 (Teams)
• Wednesday 10 September 2025 (all day – face to face at County Hall)
• Wednesday 5 November 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 – face to face at County Hall)
• Friday 9 January 2026 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)
• Wednesday 4 March 2026 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)