Decision details

46      SCHOOLS FUNDING FORMULA AND EARLY YEARS FUNDING FORMULA 2022-23 – The Directors: Children and Families, and Governance and Communities  submitted a report updating the Cabinet Member regarding the 2022-23 funding allocations for Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) and the amount available for Individual School Budgets (ISB) and Early Years Providers, seeking approval for the Schools Funding Formula for North Lincolnshire mainstream schools and Early Years Funding Formulas (EYFF) for early years providers.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) published operational guides annually to help local authorities and their Schools Forum plan the local implementation of school funding formulas and deliver early years entitlements for the forthcoming year.

On 16 December 2021 the ESFA published the 2022-23 Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) Allocations, based on October 2021 School Census data. The allocation for North Lincolnshire was £158.902m, an increase of £6.092m from last year. The DSG consisted of four funding blocks listed in the report at paragraph 2.2.

The schools block funded all mainstream schools and was ring fenced. The Operational guide set out how ISB shares could be calculated.

North Lincolnshire Councils local school funding formula mirrored the schools National Funding Formula (NFF).

Key changes to the schools NFF in 2022 to 2023 were detailed in the report at paragraph 2.5, and key features of the local authority formula arrangements in 2022 to 2023 were listed at paragraph 2.6 of the report.

The Early Years Block funded all providers of early education to two, three and four-year-olds.

It was a statutory duty of the LA to provide up to a maximum of 15 hours funded early education for 38 weeks of the year for all three and four-year olds in North Lincolnshire, and an additional extended 15 hours for children of working parents that met an eligibility criteria. More than 90% of three and four-year olds took their universal 15 hours entitlement to early education, of these approximately 44% took additional extended hours. 

Two-year olds could claim up to 15 funded hours of early education for 38 weeks of the year where their family circumstances made them eligible.  To meet the criteria families must have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) or be in receipt of Universal Credit/tax credits and had an annual income of under £16,190 before tax, or where a child was looked after by a Local Authority. Take-up of two-year olds was consistently higher than the national average.

Local authorities determined their own local formula that met the requirements of statutory guidance in consultation with Schools Forum.  Early years’ providers received funding based on participation of individual children each term.

This report set out the final proposals for the North Lincolnshire schools funding formula and the North Lincolnshire Early Years Formula for 2022-23.

Resolved – (a) That the factors detailed in appendix 1 to calculate the individual schools budget shares for mainstream schools within North Lincolnshire for 2022-23 be used, (b) that the schools block earmarked reserve to finance the shortfall between the schools block allocation, and the total cost of the school funding formula (£494k) be used, and (c) that the early years formula factors and values as presented in appendix 2 for the financial year 2022-23 be approved.

47      SCHOOL ADMISSION ARRANGMENTS FOR 2023/24 COMMUNITY AND VOLUNTARY CONTROLLED SCHOOLS – The Director: Children and Families submitted a report informing the Cabinet Member of the outcome of the consultation with schools in respect of admission arrangements for 2023/24, seeking approval to implement the proposed admission arrangements for the 2023/24 academic year.

The local authority was required to determine by 28 February 2022 its admission arrangements for the academic year 2023/24, including admission numbers, for each community and voluntary controlled school.

Admission arrangements were to describe how school places were allocated, especially with reference to the oversubscription criteria. This confirmed how applications were prioritised when the number of applications exceeded the number of places available.

The admission number referred to the number of school places that the admission authority must have offered in the relevant age group of the school.

The School Admissions Code 2021 required that the oversubscription criteria must be reasonable, clear, objective, procedurally fair, and complied with all relevant legislation, including equalities legislation.

Changes were made to the arrangements for 2019/20 after a full public consultation.

Having consulted publicly for the 2019/20 arrangements, the council was not required to consult again for seven years (ie until the 2026/27 arrangements) unless it made changes to its arrangements such as changing the oversubscription criteria or seeking to reduce a school’s admission number.

Mandatory changes to the 2021/22 and 2022/23 arrangements, regarding the treatment of Internationally Adopted Previously Looked After Children, were required as a result of the publication of the new School Admissions Code in June 2021. As these revisions were required for compliance with the new code no public consultation was necessary. The revisions had been carried forward into the 2023/24 arrangements.

One further change was suggested for 2023/24. The insertion of a paragraph confirming that the council would meet the requirements of the School Admissions Code 2021 in using an intended address or unit or quartering address when allocating places to the children of service personnel or crown servants returning from overseas. The council was already complying with the code in this respect however it was good practice to explicitly state that would be the case in the published arrangements. Again, no public consultation was required.

Without exception, governing boards supported both the admission arrangements and the proposed admission number for their school.

Resolved – That the proposed admission arrangements for the 2023/24 academic year contained in appendix 1 be approved.