Children’s Services, Education
and Skills Scrutiny Board
25 May 2016
National Funding Reforms
• Schools National Funding Formula
• High Needs Funding Formula
Based on 7 Principles
• A funding system that supports opportunity
• A funding system that is fair
• A funding system that is efficient
• A funding system that gets funding straight to
schools
• A funding system that is transparent
• A funding system that is simple
• A funding system that is predictable
Headlines on NFF• By the end of 2020, every school in England will be an
academy or free school – or be in the process of
becoming one by 2022. This is likely to be done
through Multi Academy Trusts
• National Funding Formula (NFF) from April 2017 - with
two years of transition
• It will be based on the following factors:
�Per-pupil element
�Additional Needs
�School costs elements
�Geographic costs
Headlines on NFF cont""
• It will be a ‘hard’ formula - the Government will fund every school
directly and LAs will have no role in this
• The Government propose 4 Dedicated Schools Grant funding
Blocks:
� Schools – funding for schools calculated by the National Funding
Formula
� High Needs – SEND, Alternative Provision and Pupil Support
Services
� Early Years Block
� Central Services Block – DSG central functions and statutory
duties formerly funded by Education Services Grant (ESG)
Headlines on NFF cont""
• We will continue to undertake a range of service and
statutory functions, e.g. Admissions, asset management,
SEND, etc
• No role for LA’s in respect of school improvement - from
September 2017 the government will remove all of this
funding from LA’s (which comes via ESG)
• LA will not be able to charge any non-statutory functions
or services to the Dedicated Schools Grant, nor will we
be able to top-slice school budgets
Headlines on NFF cont"""
• Solihull will lose £1.8m of ESG from September
2017. This funds both children’s and corporate
services
• Also at risk - up to £2.25m of centrally funded
items from the DSG from April 2017, depending
on what exceptions the DFE formally approve
• DFE data capturing exercise to ascertain levels
and types of spend on central services
High Level Concerns • DfE have provided no evidence that a NFF
based on 14 factors can adequately recognise
the context of schools in particular areas
• Proposals are being introduced in a very tight
timeframe. Until stage 2 consultation is received,
it is not possible to judge whether the proposals
reflect the stated principles
• The inability to move funds between the high
needs block and schools block may impede
inclusive practice
The White Paper – Achieving
Excellence for All
Key Messages
• Launched in March 2016
• Sets out plans for the next five years
• Is based on five guiding principles:
�Children and young people first
�High expectations for every child
�Outcomes not methods
�Supported autonomy
�Responsive to need and performance
Every school to become an academy• Every school to become an academy by 2022
• Schools expected to form or join MATs and a MAT
Support Fund will be established to enable groups of
schools to join together
• New powers to direct schools to become academies in
LA areas which are underperforming or have not started
the process of conversion
• Land held by the authority in respect of community
schools will transfer to Secretary of State who will then
grant a lease to Academy Trusts
But"..The government has u- turned on the compulsory
academisation of all schools, but the DFE
• will continue to require underperforming schools to
convert to academy status,
• will support schools rated as ‘good’ by Ofsted to
convert
• trigger conversion of all schools in areas where a
“critical mass” have already become academies
• force conversion where councils “consistently fail to
meet a minimum performance threshold across its
schools”
Free Schools and UTCs
• 500 Free Schools and UTCs will be
opened by 2020
• New measures that will enable Secretary
of State to require the use of local
authority land for new Free Schools
Parents and Pupils
• Government plans to launch new portal for parents in
2017 to help them navigate school system
• New performance tables website launched in March
2016
• Government will make it simpler for parents to escalate
complaints to the DfE
• Parents may be able to petition RSC for their child’s
school to move to a different MAT where there is
underperformance
Local Authorities
In the short term LAs will have responsibility
for:
� Employment of staff in community schools
� Ownership and asset management of school
buildings
� Responsibilities relating to Governance
� School organisation
� Curriculum of maintained schools
Local Authorities cont""
In future, LA education duties will focus on:
�Ensuring every child has a school place
�Ensuring the needs of vulnerable pupils are met
�Acting as champions for all parents and families
N.B. Review of local authorities’ functions and
responsibilities including the roles of Director of
Children’s Services and Lead Member for Children
Ensuring the needs of vulnerable learners
are met
• Identifying, assessing and making provision for
children with SEND or with Looked After status
• Promoting school attendance
• Tackling persistent absences
• Lead on safeguarding responsibilities for all
children excluded or otherwise unable to attend
mainstream schools eg educated at home
Pupil Premium
• Pupil Premium will continue to be paid alongside the
national funding formula for schools and on top of the
funding for disadvantaged children and disadvantaged
areas
• Looked after children / those who have been adopted
from care or left care under special guardianship, will
continue to receive pupil premium plus funding
• Funding to be managed by Virtual School Head
• Schools and VSH to adopt evidence based strategies
drawing on EEF
Ensuring every child has a school place
• Ensuring sufficient school, special school and AP places
to meet local demand
• Working with schools and parents in developing local
transport policies
• Local Authorities to co-ordinate in-year admissions and
the independent admission appeals function
• Taking the lead in crisis management and emergency
planning
Acting as champions for parents and
families
• Listening to and promoting the needs of parents, children
and the local community
• Supporting parents to navigate the admissions system,
SEND arrangements and engaging them in designing
SEND policies
• Championing high standards locally for all pupils
• Encouraging high performers to establish new school
places
• Calling for action from the RSC to tackle
underperformance
And"""
• Oversight of testing arrangements
• Tackling any safety, welfare or extremism
concerns
• Encouraging top performing MATs to set
up new schools
Governance
• Academy Trusts will no longer be required to reserve
places for elected parents on Governing Bodies
• Government will establish a database of everyone
involved in governance and “unsuitable individuals” will
be barred from being Governors
• A new competency framework defining core skills and
knowledge needed for governance will be developed
• Governing Bodies will be expected to fill skills gaps
through training and recruitment
A Self Improving System
• From September 2017, school improvement funding will
be routed through Teaching Schools (300 more) and
NLEs (another 800)
• Innovation fund for RSCs to commission support for
failing and coasting schools
• Engagement of MATs, sponsors, academies diocese
and wider schools sector to ensure legal framework for
academies is fit for purpose
• Secretary of State will be responsible for running an
academy if a Trust stops operating it at short notice
Alternative Provision
• Role of mainstream schools in supporting AP providers
to deliver a broad and balanced curriculum and high
quality teaching by sharing subject specialists and
facilities
• Schools responsible for budgets from which AP is
funded
• Schools responsible for commissioning high quality
provision and accountable for education outcomes of
excluded and other pupils on AP programmes
• LAs will ensure sufficiency of AP including new,
innovative provision through Free Schools
Teaching and Curriculum
• QTS to be replaced with stronger, more challenging
accreditation
• Reform of the National College for Teaching and
Leadership
• Establishment of College for Teaching run by teachers
• Knowledge-based curriculum. National Curriculum will
be a benchmark
• Development of Action Plan for improving PSHE
Inspection
• Government will work with Ofsted to ensure the
Inspection regime is fair, increasingly proportionate and
focused on underperformance
• Introduction of an “improvement period” of 30 months to
allow leaders to put in train sustainable improvement
Accountability
• New accountability measures for MATS with separate
performance tables
• Performance data at individual school level
• Publication of improved and accessible information to
inform school choice and help parents, governing boards
and other users of data to hold schools to account
• RSCs will commission support and intervention for
underperforming schools
• A clearer process for how the local community can raise
concerns and engage with RSCs
Strong Financial Health and Efficiency
Government will support schools by:
• Defining a series of financial health check offers for
schools and suppliers who can provide them
• Publishing a school procurement strategy
• Developing a package of support on workforce
efficiency, including training for governing boards and
training for school leaders on curriculum based financial
planning
Making best use of resources and the
school estate
• LAs will continue to manage capital allocations until
schools become academies
• Larger MATs will have autonomy over capital funding
• Smaller MATS will bid to the EFA for condition
improvement funding
• More special school places to match local need
• At least £200m to support expansion of provision,
develop new schools and create specialist provision
DfE Education Strategy Overview 2015-20
Reform 16-19 skills:
� With BIS, deliver 3m high quality apprenticeship starts
� Create high quality technical and professional routes to
employment which are accessible for all
� Reform the provider base to ensure every area is
effectively served by a resilient and responsive system of
schools, FE and Sixth Form Colleges
Develop Early Years Strategy
• Extend free childcare to 30 hours for working parents of
3 and 4 year olds
• Ensure the market provides sufficient places for all
parents to access the childcare offers to which they are
entitled
• Design reforms that increase the quality of early years
education and childcare, focusing on developing the
workforce
Managing the Outworkings of
this Policy
A Considered Organised
Approach
• Establishment of a Project Group
• Appointment of Programme Lead
• Project scope
• Project team
• Key milestones
• Individual workstreams
Further consultation
• Funding Reforms phase 2 and School
Forum response
• Policies emerging from White Paper
• Consultation on Academy conversions,
MATs, sponsors
• Traded services
Questions and Comments