Slide 1 Children & Young People’s Services Education National Children’s Commissioning and Contracting Conference. Innovation through Austerity? Implementation of the new National Funding Formula. Lessons learnt. Annette Jones and Jackie Ong, SEN team Bristol City Council

Slide 2 Children & Young People’s Services Education Why a National funding formula? To move towards a fairer funding system by redistributing existing funding To allow parents to express a preference of school irrespective of funding costs, or designation To align the pre and post 16 systems in preparation for wider DfE changes under the Children and Families Bill. eg.EHCP’s,0-25 system, personalised budgets To improve outcomes for yp To show vfm on use of the “ public purse” This is the most highly audited budget of ALL councils spend

Slide 3 Children & Young People’s Services Education What is the National funding formula ? The DfE introduced a requirement for all LA’s to implement a New National funding formula (NFF) from April A pupil led funding system by changing the way ALL schools and Education providers are funded through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) via agreements with the Schools forum for the use of the High Needs Block. We move towards a National system by 2015.

Slide 4 Children & Young People’s Services Education Who does it apply to ? All state funded Mainstream schools, Academies and Free schools All maintained specialist provision including resource bases All alternative education providers and PRU’s All non maintained special schools (NMSS) All colleges of FE All specialist FE colleges (ISP’s) By 2015 all INM schools ALL JOINT/ POOLED BUDGET PLACEMENTS

Slide 5 Children & Young People’s Services Education So what …does this mean for commissioners ? A pupil led funding system that follows the young person All commissioning arrangements related contracts will change to become child centred Will align 0-25, with all transitions being pivotal Will be outcomes based Will generate new markets through strategetically commissioned services with CCG’s and others Will be flexible, responsive and Vfm

Slide 6 Children & Young People’s Services Education So what’s ….this have to do with placements? All LA’s are required to have a Schools Forum under the “Schools Finance and Early Years Regulations” The Schools Forum has representatives of each sector, and the LA must consult them. The schools forum have discretion over all systems and allocations for all placements- including joint funded or pooled arrangements.

Slide 7 Children & Young People’s Services Education Activity Do you know how the funding scheme works? How do you breakdown costs? How do you compare your first 10K to other providers? How are you going to comply with LA’s top up costs? How do you measure against outcomes currently Progress and outcomes ? How do you show measurable progress? Could it be better?

Slide 8 Children & Young People’s Services Education How does it work ? It’s a place Plus scheme. Each setting has a “place “ amount per pupil, either notional or set. Pupils needs then direct the additional funding Bristol introduced such a delegated scheme in 2009, and so have had 3 years of learning from this which we have brought to the new National scheme

Slide 9 Children & Young People’s Services Education Bristol City Council -Our Context Bristol is an urban LA in a predominantly rural region Nearly 2000 statements with additionally 1200 plus funded Annual pre NFF budget of £ 25 M Rapidly increasing population ICOCo suggests 7.8% to 2017 Academies, free schools, maintained mainstream and special, independents, UTC. Increasing demand for local specialist placements

Slide 10 Children & Young People’s Services Education Why delegate funding ? Principles Fast, responsive early intervention to meet individual needs More control and autonomy for Schools to support workforce development to meet their cohorts Reduction in bureaucracy for Schools and Parents Most needs could be met from within existing school funding

Slide 11 Children & Young People’s Services Education What did we learn from our delegated scheme- SAPE 63 % immediate reduction in requests for statutory assessments ( £5+k nearly £1M saved from DSG and central services ) Schools and parents sought clarity in what “ was ordinarily provided “ ( aka early “local offer”) Parental confidence was key to a quality assured system Schools,providers and parents confused the statutory legislation with funding, needs, objectives, provisions, outcomes Goods schools managed Top ups panels caused more workload for the LA and budget is “ volatile” It took 3 years to “learn”

Slide 12 Children & Young People’s Services Education Lessons learnt for NFF implementation. Top-ups via costed provision maps BUD’s ( Bristol Universal Descriptors) across all settings 0-25 by 2014 Integrated decision making with schools = transparent Specialist QA on school based interventions = high parental confidence Provided clarity on place element provision = early local offer Ongoing interim support from LA financial teams

Slide 13 Children & Young People’s Services Education Pre 16Post 16 MAINSTREAM SPECIALISTALL SETTINGS Element 1 + Element 2 Core funding AWPU + Notional SEN DfE - £10,000 p.a. Base Funding of £10,000 allocated on planned places for Special schools, NMSS, RB’s DfE =AEP, PRU, £ 8,000 Programme Costs + Notional SEN DfE= £10,000 p.a. Element 3: High Needs Block BANDs 1 – 6: £2,500 - £35,000 7: >50,000 In addition: School based supplements: allocated per pupil PFI; Hydropool; Residential; Hostel Split Site; Extended Day Universal Banding for High Needs

Slide 14 Children & Young People’s Services Education “Plus “ Where children have needs that require provision to be made above the place cost additional funds to support this are required, this is the “Plus“ Is called “Top Up” Is pupil led, and follows the child Is allocated on a daily basis Is banded into 7 universal bands,based on the Bristol Universal Descriptors (BuD’S) Can be applied for twice a year Can be allocated for up to 3 years

Slide 15 Children & Young People’s Services Education Bristol Universal Descriptors (BuD’s) Based on 7 universal banding levels, with a single cost per level across all settings…Universal. Describe the provision needed to meet pupils needs on a “ best fit” basis ….“ pupil typically has ….” Have been taken from old LMSS bandings, SAPE and Top Up descriptors, existing statements Are relevant for ARE A WORK IN PROGRESS WILL TAKE 5 YEARS TO EMBED ( 2018)

Slide 16 Children & Young People’s Services Education Children in Care All Children in Care are funded by their “home “ LA, and recoupment applies- the Belongings regulations continue to apply For 2013 a LAC factor was “ optional “ in the schools block element ( 1/2), in this will be mandatory CIC are eligible for pupil premium based on original home address under the “Ever 6”,and post 16 bursary fund to meet further educational needs AS WELL as access to all other School funding streams.

Slide 17 Children & Young People’s Services Education What about the future……all change … Legislation via the Children and Families Bill By September 2014 a New Code of Practice for SEND Optional personalised budgets Duty on Health and CCG’s Effective person centred flexible joint commissioning Increased parental and young person choice The Local Offer -increased integration of all systems, services and providers.