Agenda item 4 - MTFS (Final) Cab 070213 , item 9. PDF 1 MB

School Funding
The new DfE dataset was released on 10th December 2012; this includes all the data that
has to now be used in the 22 nd January 2013 pro forma submission to the DfE and in the
final 2013/14 school budgets.
The key movement within the dataset is the change to the October 2012 census count.
There has been a net pupil increase of 310 from the previous October 2011 count which is
represented by a 1.75% increase in primary pupils and a 1.32% reduction in secondary
pupils.
These new pupil counts together with other unit count changes for deprivation, Special
Education Needs (SEN) and English as an Additional Language (EAL) have been applied
against the unit rates that were issued to schools in their draft budgets and despite there
being a net increase in pupil numbers, the result is a saving of £459,000.
The saving mainly results from the fact that the secondary factors are funded at much
higher values and therefore the saving from the reduction in secondary pupils is much
more than the additional cost associated with the increase in the lower value primary
factors (e.g. secondary draft KS4 Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU)is £4,497 but primary is
£2,876).
As a result of the 2013/14 DSG being split into three separate funding blocks the DfE no
longer use an overall Guaranteed Unit of Funding for the whole DSG, but instead have a
separate unit value for the schools block and for the early years block.
The new Schools Block Baseline per Pupil figure is £4,202.88 and the 2013/14 DSG
settlement includes an additional £1.3 million by applying this new unit figure to the 310 net
pupil increase.
The estimated additional schools block funding available for 2013/14 after taking these two
amounts into account is therefore £1.728 million.
There are however some additional costs that will need to be set against this for:
Estimated increase in rates costs for 2013/14 of £405,000.
A new DfE charge for nationally arranged copyright licensing costs £153,000.
The DfE have announced they will purchase a single national licence managed by them for
all state funded schools. This means LAs, schools and academies will no longer need to
negotiate individual licenses. LAs will be able to hold DSG funding centrally to cover the
charge from the DfE.
It is proposed that the balance of the 2013/14 schools block funding should then be used to
increase the basic AWPU factor rates in the primary and secondary sectors. This would be
done by allocating funds pro rata to the draft budget totals for each AWPU factor.
Increases to any other funding factor unit rates are not proposed on the basis that; pupil
premium is increasing and will fund deprivation increases; and Gloucestershire’s SEN unit
rate appears to be high in relation to other local authorities.
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