Schools Finance Group: Notes of meeting on 5 June 2024

Item 2 – High Needs Update

• First Safety Valve monitoring report submitted to DfE end May. 
• Continued pressure around Alternative Provision spend, and volume of use of unregistered AP provision. 
• Potential unintended consequences of national extended early years entitlement; consider capacity in EY settings to meet SEN in very young children.
• Following successful entry into the DfE Safety Valve Intervention Programme, SFG proposes that DEF stand down the High Needs Funding subgroup, with High Needs funding becoming a standing agenda item at SFG meetings.

Item 4 – Carry Forwards from 2023/24

• SFG recommends DEF endorsement of the carry forward of £73k Early Years Pupil Premium grant for the summer term.

Attendance

DCC

Adrian Fox – Head Accountant (Education & Learning), Ceri Morgan (part) – Deputy Director, Education, Kellie Knott (part) – Interim SEND Improvement Director, Heidi Watson-Jones – Safety Valve Project Officer

Devon Schools Leadership Services

Primary

Jamie Stone – Denbury Primary, Penny Hammett – FORT Federation, Paul Walker – First Federation Trust

Secondary

Alan Blackburn – Uffculme School, Rob Gammon – The King’s School, Fay Bowler – Braunton Academy

Special Schools

Keith Bennett – Marland School,

Alternative Provision

Rob Gasson – Wave Multi Academy Trust

Early Years Providers

Gemma Rolstone – Puffins Childcare

DAG

Alex Walmsley – Secondary Governors,

Other DCC Officers

Karlien Bond – Senior Accountant (Schools), Katrina Harverson – Principal Accountant (Education and Learning), Lise Bird (part) – Head of Early Help and Partnerships, Dominic Measures – Devon Audit Partnership, Claire Moore (part) – Devon Audit Partnership

Apologies

DCC

Matthew Thorpe – Deputy Director of Finance and Public Value

Devon Schools Leadership Services

Sammy Crook – Tiverton Federation

Devon Special School Heads

Sarah Pickering, Mill Water School

DAG

Faith Butler– Special School Governors, Adrian Hines – Primary Governors

1. Minutes of previous meeting – 6 March 2024

• AF to discuss Resource base outreach funding SLA with Sammy Crook.
• KK to present further data around EHC assessment requests. (Post Meeting note: SEND performance data circulated to group)
• KK and R Gasson to discuss issues around successful use of commissioned Alternative Provision.
• All other actions completed.  Minutes agreed as an accurate record.

2. High Needs Update

• Safety Valve Update
• DfE agreement in March of £95m over a nine year period towards the overall deficit.  First gateway instalment payment to be issued end June following first monitoring report submission to DfE end May.  Project progress broadly on track.
• Several risks were highlighted: commissioning capacity to help improve placement value and driving down unit cost (additional resource has now been approved corporately).  Preparation for Adulthood risks have been identified particularly around need to strengthen transition processes including reviews.  Special School builds are out of control of local authority and there is risk around timely delivery.  Post 16 capacity; capital bid with DfE to create additional specialist provision within mainstream at Exeter College and Petroc.
• Noted continued pressure around AP spend, and volume of use of unregistered AP provision.  Will be seeking to work collaboratively with schools to develop strategy and protocols around reintegration of permanently excluded learners.
• SFG mindful of ongoing concerns around historical under-estimation of escalating budget position.  KK outlined recent change to corporate SLT monitoring and scrutiny processes, with SEND being a key priority area.  These new structures and reporting processes should enable the LA to be more responsive to emerging concerns.  DfE intervention processes are in place in the event of DCC highlighting significant slippage in Safety Valve projections.
• Confirmed that early years provision is not planned in the two new SEMH special school developments.
• Queried whether there is mitigation in place to improve the current condition of existing special school buildings.  It was noted this sits under SOCA with capital maintenance work prioritised on relevant need across the wider maintained school estate.
• SFG enquired about the LA contribution towards the Safety Valve: £5m to be identified annually across the LA, and additional £20m being identified from reserves in 24/25 and £12.9m flexible use of capital receipts.  It is intended that funding is invested, with interest generation.  It was also noted that the Safety Valve plan includes an assumption of a 0.5% funding transfer each year.
• SFG requested that future High Needs budget reports mirror the six reporting conditions to the DfE to enable ease of comparison; mindful there will overlap across the areas.
• Noted need for continued collaborative involvement to ensure success across the wider SEND Transformation programme. Action: KK/CM to consider how to improve schools involvement in strategy development.
• SFG considered how needs of CYP with SEND can be better met earlier and more locally, and how this sits alongside wider system improvement and improved provision in schools.  Mindful that this system change is taking time.
• SFG were urged to consider unintended consequences of national extended early years entitlement, and how any lack of capacity in EY settings might result in an increased gap of unmet SEN need in very young children without a robust strategy to address this.
• Block Transfer (Early Help in Schools / EBSA)
• Lise Bird outlined the use of the investment of funding transfer to strengthen Early Help support by building capacity across the service.
• There is a particular focus on the adolescent offer, and involvement in SEND support consultations which schools have fed back is valuable.
• Parenting training offer in place for schools, family support for Year 7 transition and workshops to improve Early Help and Inclusion collaboration.
• Noted that school engagement has already shown an increase since December.
• SFG considered key impact measures that will indicate success and valuable investment of the transferred funding.  These include reduced exclusion and continued attendance, alongside improvement in the number of appropriate Front Door referrals enabling targeted support at a higher level where needed.  Escalation to social care is also being monitored.
• In addition to these ‘soft measures’ SFG remain committed to tracking the effective use of the transferred funding through identified metrics, and showcasing specific examples of positive impact of the changed practice.
• Heads felt that Early Help engagement in wider school leadership communications and events would be valuable to further promote and improve understanding of the offer available, particularly with the autumn funding consultation approaching which will include consideration of further funding transfer requests.
• Recognised the value of promoting school engagement in locality based Early Intervention forums, particularly when trying to improve re-integration of children back into mainstream school provision.
• SFG considered issues around effectiveness of LA support for reintegration, and the remit, role and vision of the Inclusion service, particularly around convening school behaviour leads to consider development of inclusive practice strategy.  ACTION: CM/KK to consider a discussion around this at a future meeting.
• It was noted that the transferred funding was also invested in the design of a strengthened offer for children with Emotional Based School Avoidance.  The group reiterated that evidenced value of the impact of investment will inform school decisions at the autumn funding consultation around further transfers.
• High Needs Funding Sub Group
• Noted that the HN sub group was convened to ensure appropriate scrutiny of the high needs budget position to ensure successful entry to the Safety Valve Programme.
• Similar discussions have been repeated at the High Needs Funding Subgroup, SFG and DEF, and now that the LA has successfully entered the Safety Valve programme it was proposed that the High Needs Funding subgroup is now stood down and that High Needs is a standing item at SFG meetings.

Action

• AF/KH to consider how future High Needs budget reports mirror the six reporting conditions to the DfE to enable ease of comparison.
• KK/CM to consider how to improve schools involvement in strategy development.
• CM/KK to consider a discussion around effectiveness of LA support for reintegration, and the remit, role and future vision of the Inclusion service,  at a future meeting.

3. DSG Outturn Report 2023/24

• Noted outturn position for DSG after transfers to the DSG Adjustment Account.  Maintained school carry forward balances total £17.9m.
• High Needs Outturn showed in year overspend of £13.8m.
• SFG noted £12.9m management action was not achieved, and recognised funding gap between the allocation and budgeted position is ongoing.
• Noted the school balances amount, but aware that there are a large number of schools with in-year deficit budget positions and needing to make redundancies, however some schools do appear to be building significant ongoing surpluses.  This will be investigated by School Effectivenes[AF1] s during discussions with schools which appear to be holding significant balances.
• Concerns were raised around an apparent trend of significantly decreasing secondary school balances year on year.
• Considered special school funding which is placement-led and can fluctuate monthly leading special schools to plan prudently. Special schools also employ a greater proportion of non-teaching staff, with unfunded pay increases.
• Discussed the front-loading of commissioning resource and cultural investment in SEND practice to promote the practice changes required to achieve the projected improvement progress and associated savings within the Safety Valve.
• Report noted
• Growth Fund
• SFG noted the in-year movements and outturn position.  Surplus at Year end £463k.
• Report noted

4. Carry Forwards from 2023/24

• SFG noted the details within the report.
• SFG recommended DEF endorsement of carry forward of Early Years Pupil Premium ringfenced to summer term.

Action:

• DEF to note SFG recommendation that DEF endorse the carry forward of £73k Early Years Pupil Premium grant for the summer term.

5. FIPS Annual Report 2023/24

• SFG noted the report outlining maintained school requests for FIPS support during the year.
• £1.6m contingency balance to be carried forward to 2024/25, of which £176k is already committed.
• SFG queried how contingency payments to schools and licenced deficits are considered while encouraging robust school evaluation of practice and staffing structures and therefore prevention of repeated requests for support.
• Mindful that the transition to the Schools Support Panel will encourage schools to identify and address potential difficulties much earlier. 

6. Schools Support Panel (SSP – formerly FIPS)

• The new panel will consider support to schools in difficulty though a broader lens than simply financial issues, encompassing a wider view of school effectiveness. 
• SFG members welcomed the new remit and format of the SSP and agreed that earlier identification of schools entering difficulties will be positive.
• Mindful that DfE School Effectiveness Grant no longer provided to LAs SFG considered potential ongoing strategic options, in the context of the DEF decision following the 2023 autumn funding consultation to allocate contingency funding to continue to support the LA service during 2024/25.
• SFG considered how the SSP and LA more broadly could continue to support maintained schools with school effectiveness and robust leadership and governance.  It was felt that an ongoing offer needs to be identified and either brokered from elsewhere within the system, or developed alongside schools to ensure that it will meet schools’ needs at an appropriate and affordable level.
• Mindful of the reducing income pool from maintained schools as academisation continues.  Traded options and associated income streams into the LA were considered.

7. Any Other Business

• School Audit Process
• Noted that the maintained school audit process has changed since the pandemic.  The audit process is in place to assure standards of financial management and oversight of the governance process.
• Three discrete focus areas for school audits will be alternated annually, rather than the previous 3-yearly cycle of face to face visits.
• Remote audits have been promoted to maximise use of the team’s time in prioritising different audit aspects.  A range of feedback has been received about the process, and they are keen to review practice moving forward to build school relationships and to ensure the experience remains positive. 
• Maintained Heads fed back that the previous process had felt more thorough, face to face audit visits were valued and feel that the current process creates additional workload for school staff.
• Previously a more formal debrief and audit report had been time consuming.  Outstanding information from schools has led to delays in audit completion and team feedback.
• Agreed that a more formal audit team request for school feedback on the process might be helpful to continue to keep schools engaged in the audit process.
• SFG requested an annual agenda item to review of the maintained school audit process.
• November SFG meeting
• Proposed the November SFG meeting is rescheduled from Wed 6^th to Mon 11^th  Nov to ensure sufficient time to collate funding consultation responses.

8. Mutual Fund Board Update

Future meeting dates

• Monday 8 July 2024 (14.00 – 17.00 face to face – County Hall)
• Monday 9 September 2024 (all day – face to face – venue TBC)
• Wednesday 6 November 2024 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)
• Friday 10 January 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)
• Wednesday 5 March 2025 (09.15 – 12.30 – Teams)