Report - London Borough of Hillingdon

Thursday 12 th February 2004. Schools Forum has already made it clear what
its views are on the level of school budgets, but Forum may wish to comment
further. The Cabinet will meet again on Thursday 26 th February 2004 to
recommend a budget to the full Council, which will meet later that evening to
make final decisions.
4.3 Budgets for schools overall will be considered at Cabinet on 4 th March
2004, where the final arrangements for Fair Funding for 2004/05 and the
allocation of the available funding for distribution will be agreed.
4.4 The latest calculation of the amount to be passported for 2004/05 is set
out in Table 1.
Table 1: Calculation of passporting total 2004/05
Schools Budget 2003/04, as per Section 52
Statement Table 1 line 1.7
£136.079m
The increase in the FSS for schools
+£8.431m
The increase in the Excellence in Cities grant
+£0.059m
The increase in LSC grant for Post 16
+£1.230m
Target total to meet passporting requirement
2004/05 £145.799m
4.5 The detailed review of commitments and the preparation of detailed draft
budgets has identified some changes to the overall financial position. To
provide a passported budget, the Schools Budget is currently estimated to
have £2.896m uncommitted (as set out in Table 2). This figure will fluctuate if
the data changes within the draft schools budgets (eg any changes in pupil
numbers will directly impact on the Minimum Funding Guarantee)
Table 2: Consideration of commitments for 2004/05
Devolved Retained Total
2003/04 Section 52 125,454,541 10,624,459 136,079,000
Minimum 4% budget increases and natural
inflation on retained budgets 5,210,309 273,513 5,483,822
Increases in LSC funding 1,139,649 90,205 1,229,854
Changes to SEN (estimated) 0 (35,217) (35,217)
Changes to Standards Funds (145,859) 0 (145,859)
Final tranche of funding for 3 Year Olds 70,000 70,000
EiC increase 59,000 0 59,000
Budget pressure in Early Years Centres 173,000 173,000
Windfall arising from Evelyns City Academy 500,000 500,000
Remainder to schools 2,386,253 2,386,253
Total 2004/05 (current DfES control total) 134,603,894 11,195,960 145,799,854
4.6 The first consultation paper asked whether it was appropriate for the LEA
to increase the retained element of the Schools Budget by more than the
devolved element of the Schools Budget. The clear answer from schools was
no. Some of the figures have changed, in particular the detailed estimates for
SEN and for Early Years. The calculation in Table 3 identifies that the
increase in retained budgets would be less than that for devolved budgets.
PART I – MEMBERS & PUBLIC (INCLUDING THE PRESS)
Cabinet Reports - 4 th March 2003 Page 27