Please find an update regarding the School Budget Share for 2025-26, recently published via the School Leadership Update:
Schools were consulted at the end of last year on the transfer of 0.5% between blocks for 2025-26. This approach will protect the commitment made to the Department for Education (DfE) as part of the safety valve agreement.
The proposal supported the vision and commitments articulated in the Local Area SEND Strategy so children and young people have the opportunity to thrive with access to the right support in the right place at the right time. Devon wishes to invest further in a support offer for schools that generates the equivalent system savings rather than applying the block transfer directly to the deficit.
The 0.5% block transfer will specifically be allocated to delivering the Local Area’s strategic commitment to ‘build inclusive communities’ and safety valve condition to ‘focus on improving early intervention through strengthened universal and targeted support’. This includes investment in a collection of functions to have the greatest impact, which includes:
- direct support teams for children and young people (such as Education Keyworkers, Specialist Support Assistants)
- early years transition support for children entering reception
- training and development to implement Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision (OAIP)
- test of change approach to area SEND provision (developing local provision with schools)
- continued training and support with emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA)
- capacity to support SEND Consultations
The proposal to transfer 0.5% takes into account the dependencies of the Devon safety valve agreement. Part of the on-going transformation and change programme necessitates fresh approaches to all elements of our financial management and control including those that impact schools. Our broader ambitions relating to Early Help, closer working and increased accountability of our partner agencies also extends to our education settings which means that we are resetting our relationships and our overall strategy.
How did schools respond?
164 schools (82%) disagreed with the transfer between blocks.
Number of Schools Impacted.
101 out of 351 schools will see no impact on their budgets of a 0.5% transfer between Schools Block and High Needs Block. This is based on provisional calculations completed on 13th January 2025.
Schools Finance Group and Schools Forum
Schools Finance Group (SFG) acknowledged the depth of feeling expressed during the consultation regarding the proposal to transfer 0.5% between blocks for 2025-26. While not endorsing the proposal, SFG recognises its role in securing the Safety Valve agreement and supporting efforts to manage high needs funding sustainably, ensuring the needs of children and young people are met earlier and in the right place.
The decision remain to reject a transfer the Council will pursue the request with the DfE via a disapplication to obtain a transfer up to 0.5%, based on safety valve intervention programme and our strategy to sustainably manage our high needs funding into the future. – Against.
The Schools Forum rejected the transfer as they wished to act as a body representative of schools and leadership and additionally, as identified by SFG, “school leaders had not felt that previous investment of the block transfer had impacted on their school directly.”
There was also concern raised that the proposals would mean that some schools were being punished for the actions of others, with 0.5% representing a significant degree of funding to be taken away from schools, many of which have good practices regarding inclusion and SEND. It was felt that taking away that funding would be to the detriment of schools’ abilities to make a difference on the ground.
Disapplication Request
As highlighted with Schools Forum should the 0.5% transfer be rejected the Authority would pursue a disapplication request to overturn the decision as the transfer was specified currently in Devon’s Safety Valve Agreement.
On the 22nd January the Authority submitted their disapplication to the Secretary of State and the DfE along with the information shared with Schools Forum and the outcomes of the discussions held.
On the 5th February the DfE made their decision. Thank you for your request to transfer 0.5% from your schools block to your high needs block in the financial year 2025-26. After careful consideration of your application and supporting evidence, and of representations received from other local interests the minister has approved this request for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
Next Steps
The Authority is now required to resubmit their Authority Proforma Tool (APT) to the DfE confirming the impact to schools funding with the 0.5% transfer.
Finance colleagues will send out an update to school’s finance staff via the Finance blog to advise on the change in funding linked to the 0.5% transfer along with ensuring the information is put on the website for school finance staff to understand the funding allocation within each school to enable them to set their 2025-26 budget.