Report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services attached

The Executive considered a report of the Strategic Director for Children’s and Education Services, which provided a summary of the confirmed Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocation from the 2023/24 settlement.

The DSG was a ring-fenced grant of which the majority was used to fund individual schools budgets in maintained schools and academies in the city, early years nursery entitlement and provision for pupils with high needs including those with Education Health & Care Plans (EHCPs) in special schools, special provision and mainstream schools in Manchester and out of city.

The Council receive and managed the DSG within four blocks: schools, central school services, high needs and early years.  A large proportion of it was paid directly to schools and other settings to provide the majority of education services. A proportion of the DSG was provided to the Council to deliver education services.

The 2023/24 DSG notification was received on 16 December 2022 and totalled  £671.364m with and e overall increase in DSG since last year of £37.930.

The Schools Block allocation of £503.271m had been calculated bottom up on the basis as if the national funding formula (NFF) was applied at school level.  On average the DfE has increased the formula determined by pupil level data by 3.5%.

The Central School Services Block (CSSB) allocation was £3.753m and supported the Council’s role in education.

The Higher Needs Block (HNB) allocation was £122.847m and provided increased funding for children and young people with special educational needs and disability from early years to age 25 years. The DfE had allocated an additional £0.97bn to the HNB nationally.  Manchester’s additional HNB grant was £8.306m, an increase of 7.25% compared to 2022/23, and was £1m higher than previously expected.

The Early Years funding was £41.494m and this was provisional figure which reflected the 2023/24 early years national funding formula (EYNFF) rates for all councils published in December 2022.  This funding would be finalised at a later date. 

In addition, Manchester had been allocated £22.250m from the Government’s £2bn additional schools funding, on-top of the 2023/24 DSG. This additional funding would provide support for schools (reception to year 11) for pay and inflation increases. The funding did not include any allocation for early years or post-16.  For 2023/24 this would be in the form of a separate grant, the DfE intended to incorporate this funding into core budget allocations for 2024/25, so for schools 5 to 16 years, this would mean the funding being rolled into the schools national funding formula (NFF) from 2024/25.

It was noted that the report had also been considered at a recent meeting of the Children and Young People’s Scrutiny Committee and the committee had endorsed the proposals in the report (Minute CYPSC/23/11).

Decision

The Executive approves the proposed Schools Budget including specifically the following:-

·                     All Manchester primary and secondary schools should receive a per pupil increase between 0.5% minimum and up to 3.2% on pupil-led funding.

·                     Manchester does not intend to propose a 0.5% transfer from the school block to high needs 2023/24.

·                     Early year rates two-year-old base rate increase by 6p. Three and four-year old 22p increase, to be passed onto providers by increase base rate by 5p per hour and adding a new quality supplement (17p per hour) to reflect the rolling in TPG and TPEGC funding into the funding formula.

·                     Central services school block (CSSB) funding has reduced on a per pupil basis by 2.5% despite there being additional burden due to the new admission code, with no reduction in other functions councils are required to provide.

·                     Additional Schools Funding 2023/24 will be allocated as a separate grant for mainstream schools. Special schools will receive a 3.4% funding increase on top of the average place and top-up rates, following DfE formula.