Your views needed on schools funding consultation 2024-25

On Monday 11 September, we published a consultation document on school and high needs funding for 2024-25 (pdf)

The deadline for completion of responses on the School funding consultation 2024-25 survey is Friday 20 October.

Why we need to consult

The local authority are required to consult annually with all maintained schools and academies in their area about any proposed changes to the local schools funding formula including the method, principles and rules adopted. The consultation responses will inform schools forum and Local Authority decision making.

There will be a separate consultation on the early years funding formula and centrally retained funding later in the term.

The areas where we would welcome the views of schools on are:

• The value of the minimum funding guarantee (MFG) which can be set between 0 per cent and 0.5 per cent in 2024-25.
• Options for adjusting the growth fund for planned increases in pupil numbers, if necessary, should the government grant not cover the costs.
• Whether to introduce a falling roll fund.
• De-delegation of funding for a small range of services run by the LA for maintained schools.
• Funding for the LA’s key duties and historical commitments in relation to maintained schools and academies.
• Maintaining the existing 0.5% (~£1.5m) transfer from the schools block to the high needs block to support pressures due to the growth and increasing cost of provision for children with high needs.
• The balance control mechanism used by the authority to clawback excess surplus balances with the support of schools forum.

The document also summarises the main changes nationally that have been made including:

• Rolling the mainstream school additional grant into the national funding formula schools block funding for 2024-25;
• Increases in core formula factors of 2.4 per cent;

Consultation information meetings

We are holding consultation information meetings in person at the Ealing Education Centre (EEC) and via MS Teams. We will summarise the changes and provide an opportunity for governors and staff to seek clarification on the proposals in the document. To attend, book via Ealing CPD online on the links below:

• Wednesday 4 October 2023 11am -12pm – in person (EEC)
• Wednesday 4 October 2023 4pm-5pm – in person (EEC)
• Thursday 5 October 2023 11am -12pm - via MS Teams

Decision making timetable

As in previous years, all schools and academies are funded on the basis of the LAs formula.

We will report the results of the consultation to the schools forum at its meeting in November where the forum will make decisions affecting school funding for 2024-25.

DfE intends to publish final DSG allocations just before term ends in December and we intend to publish draft allocations in January and final ones before February half term after the DfE have carried out their checks.

We look forward to receiving your responses. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to email Kim Price (details below).