Keith Howkins Gemma Donnelly 2018-19 operational issues Keith Howkins Gemma Donnelly

Today’s session We will be covering the main operational issues relating to the 2018-19 announcement, particularly those raised at regional finance officer meetings and in particular: Relationship of the local formula to the NFF Variable MFG Minimum per pupil funding levels Movements between blocks Approval of central expenditure Disapplications What the APT can do

NFF and local formulae Many LAs have told us they would like to replicate the NFF as closely as possible. As 2018-19 is a “soft” year this is still a local decision and so will be influenced by budgets for growth and high needs There are some differences between the NFF calculation and what is allowed in local formulae, and disapplications will be required in some circumstances to align these We are about to issue a blank APT to give more flexibility on modelling LAs will still only be expected to fund academy budgets based on the APT. DfE fund any difference where there are different baseline/MFG amounts

Variable MFG The range of allowable MFG is between -1.5% and 0% per pupil The maximum of the range is less than the funding floor of +0.5% to give authorities local flexibility on decision making and enable them to manage characteristics changes LAs wishing to set a positive MFG will need to request a disapplication The blank APT will enable an MFG of up to +0.5% to be entered for modelling

Minimum per pupil funding levels The minimum per pupil funding levels in the NFF exclude premises factors and mobility 2018-19 is a transitional year and these have been set at £4600 for secondaries and £3300 for primaries LAs will be able to set a minimum per pupil funding level in their local formulae in 2018-19 up to and including the final NFF levels of £4800 for primaries and £3500 for secondaries If LAs wish to exclude premises factors this will require a disapplication The blank APT will enable any of rates, PFI and split site factors to be excluded for modelling

Movement between blocks LAs can transfer up to 0.5% out of the schools block with schools forum approval; this will be expressed as passing through at least 99.5% of the schools block Disapplications are required if the LA wishes to transfer more or the forum has rejected the proposal; the operational guide sets out the information we want to see – this should already have been presented to forum Early years pass-through to providers will be 95% of the early years block in 18-19 There is flexibility on all other movements between blocks though schools forum approval is required for all central expenditure other than for high needs DSG reserves can be used on any block provided the pass-through requirements are met Deficits brought forward can be funded from the schools budget with forum approval but only to the extent that pass-through requirements are still met

Approval of central expenditure Schools forum approval continues to be required for all items of central expenditure other than high needs; this includes those in the Central School Services Block Forum approval continues to be required to approve funding of schools budget deficits carried forward and to fund overspends on de-delegated services from the following year’s schools budget When incurring central expenditure, LAs must treat different categories of schools equally Services previously funded by the general duties rate of the ESG and de-delegated services can continue to be funded from maintained school budgets. CSSB funding or DSG reserves cannot be used on these services except that underspends on de- delegated services can be carried forward

Disapplications 30 November remains the deadline for disapplications affecting the APT, including those for block movements. We expect LAs to be able to estimate their DSG reasonably accurately from the indicative block allocations already announced Disapplications no longer required to increase pupil numbers where there is a change to the admission limit or a local reorganisation Block movements – opportunity in exceptional circumstances to revise figures in January. If doing so LAs need to plan how they will meet the deadline for calculating school budgets. We suggest submitting APTs with and without the block movement

What the APT can do We are sending out a blank APT to enable LAs to model with greater flexibility the MFG and minimum per pupil levels of funding Disapplications will still be required for a positive MFG or to exclude premises factors from the minimum per pupil calculation The final APT will as usual be issued in December updated for October census information

More information Schools funding arrangements for 2018 to 2019: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pre-16-schools-funding-guidance-for- 2018-to-2019 High Needs funding arrangements: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/high-needs-funding- arrangements-2018-to-2019 Early years operational guide: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/early-years-national- funding-formula-allocations-and-guidance Schools forum good practice guide: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/schools-forums- operational-and-good-practice-guide-2015

More information Register for the weekly EFA e-bulletin: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/efa-e-bulletin General queries: EFA enquiries Contact form https://form.education... Get involved - join the virtual ESFA reference group Contact ruth.humphreys@education.gov.uk