PROVISIONAL SCHOOL BUDGETS NOTES OF GUIDANCE The provisional budgets

PROVISIONAL SCHOOL BUDGETS 2007/08 NOTES OF GUIDANCE The provisional budgets for 2007/08 have been placed on the Derby City Council website and can be found in: www.derby.gov.uk/Education and Learning/Finance/School Budgets 2007-08 In order to access the school budgets please follow the instructions below: Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools – click on the excel file called Nursery Primary Secondary provisional budget 200708. When you open the file you will need to click on the ‘Disable Macros’ box if it appears (this will appear depending on which version of software you have) and it will then open the spreadsheet. When the spreadsheet opens you then need to click on the small grey arrow at the right hand side of the bright yellow box. This will bring up a list of school names. Nursery schools appear first then further down the list are the primary schools and then the secondary schools. If you click on the name of your school it will automatically appear in the yellow box and your school budget details will be filled in. All you need to do now is print a copy off. Special schools - click on the excel file called Special school provisional budget 200708. When you open the file you will need to click on the ‘Disable Macros’ box if it appears (this will appear depending on which version of software you have) and it will then open the spreadsheet. When the spreadsheet opens you then need to click on the small grey arrow at the right hand side of the bright yellow box. This will bring up a list of school names. If you click on the name of your school it will automatically appear in the yellow box and your school budget details will be filled in. All you need to do now is print a copy off. Notes on Budgets 1 As part of the multi-year funding arrangements for schools, there are no changes to the formula for 2007/08. We are unable, however, to issue indicative budgets for 2008/09 or beyond, because the government’s Comprehensive Spending Review, covering 2008-11, is not taking place until later in the year. There is no information, therefore, on how much funding schools nationally will receive at this stage. The 2007/08 budget will contain growth in school budgets above inflation. An individual school’s share of that growth depends largely on decisions on targeting between Key Stages and factors specific to the school, particularly pupil number changes. 2 3 The government has again set a minimum funding guarantee to support stability in school budgets. For 2007/08, this has been set at 3.7% per pupil for all schools. The guarantee does not, however, protect schools from the effect of pupil number reductions, and affected schools will still need to adjust their spending accordingly. Inflation The amounts built in for inflation include provision within school budgets for: • • • • • • The teachers’ pay award of 2.5% in September 2007 A non-teaching pay award of 2.5% The increase in employers’ contribution to teachers’ pensions from 13.5% to 14.1% from January 2007 7.7% increase on metered water and 6.3% on unmetered water 2.5% increase for other services 4% increase for catering 4 No inflation has been built in on resources and ICT budgets. 5 Latest information on utilities contracts There has been a one year extension to the current gas contract and inflation for 2007/08 is 16%. A two year contract for electricity commenced in September 06 with a 25% increase for 2007/08, increases from October 08 are uncertain at this point in time but the current trends are presenting a possible reduction. The overall effect is that all formula factors, with the exception of catering, are increasing by 3.05%. The Council is in the middle of a job evaluation programme. Following the ending of the separate grading structure for manual staff, all authorities have been moving forwards at different speeds to implement Single Status. In Derby, there has been a job evaluation process assessing all jobs within the Council. This will result in new pay grades based on a scoring of all jobs according to their responsibilities and skills. Staff employed by the Council centrally, including those in the school meals service, are being evaluated before those employed directly by governors. Experience from other authorities is that there is a significant cost pressure, particularly relating to lower paid staff such as cleaners and catering staff. As it is unclear if the results will be implemented during the 2007/08 financial year, we have included 5% within general growth to allow for the part year costs of job evaluation within the catering service (assuming at this stage the evaluation takes effect from Oct 2007). Schools buying back the catering service will need to make provision within their 2007/08 budgets for additional 6 7 8 costs to pay the Catering Service to cover job evaluation at an average amount of; Nursery Schools £400 Primary Schools £1,400 Secondary Schools £4,000 Special Schools £800 9 Non-teaching posts in schools have not yet been assessed. This is to start shortly and there will be separate correspondence to consult with and update you on this process. The Council, like many others around the country, has been facing equal pay claims from groups of the workforce who feel that they have been paid less than other occupations for work of equal value. These are predominantly female jobs such as catering staff who can compare their pay to those of predominantly male jobs such as refuse collectors. The Council has negotiated with the Unions a compensation payment package for pay arrears and has offered all eligible Council employees a one –off payment before 31 March 2007. This applies to staff employed by the Council in community schools. In recognition of the level and nature of these additional one-off costs, the Council has funded this corporately, including employees based in community schools. 10 11 Overall growth in school budgets After taking into account all inflationary pressures, the effects of pupil numbers and other data within the formula, there is around £1.6m real terms growth available in 2007/08. After funding what is needed to deliver the minimum guarantee, this has been allocated across both age-weighted funding and additional educational needs (AEN) factors, to recognise the government’s wish to target funding for personalised learning at schools with high deprivation and/or low attainment. There is a weighting of 3:2 in favour of secondary schools as agreed this time last year. This recognises the additional pressures secondaries are facing in providing vocational education at Key Stage Four as well as personalised learning. Pupil number count The DfES requirement to base pupil funding on a single count in the January immediately preceding the financial year means that there will be no retrospective adjustments ("clawback") for the difference between estimated and actual numbers this year. Teachers pay grants These will continue to be funded the same way as last year based on the January payroll run. Schools are advised to check this data before final budgets are issued. 12 13 14 PFI schools Schools in the PFI scheme will continue to receive a “PFI factor” allocation in their budget. This reflects part of the Council’s contribution to the overall affordability of the project. The schools concerned will pay the allocation back to the Council, and must not allocate this for any other purpose. This payment is additional to that which the schools will make for premises management services. Age-weighted funding The combined effect of the formula changes on age-weighted funding is: 2006/07 2007/08 Change £ £ % Foundation Stage 2,270 2,358 3.9 Key Stage One 1,867 1,939 3.9 Key Stage Two 1,972 2,048. 3.9 Key Stage Three 2,492 2,599 4.3 Key Stage Four 2,899 3,023 4.3 15 16 Operation of the minimum funding guarantee (MFG) The minimum funding guarantee operates in 2007/08 to guarantee schools a 3.7% increase in funding, on a per pupil basis where pupil numbers remain the same. Funding for rates, infant class sizes, individual pupils with special needs (teaching assistant allocations), the PFI factor and all prior year adjustments, are exempt from the guarantee. Schools Forum has agreed that allocations for nurture groups and enhanced resource schools should also be exempt as these may change from year to year depending on discussions between the school and the authority. Each school has a guaranteed minimum level of funding based on its pupil numbers. After adding in funding for inflation, and other growth, any school below the guarantee is then brought up to the minimum level. Standards Funds Also attached with this mailing is a summary of provisional Standards Fund allocations. Of around £14.8m of devolved funding, around £12.8m is allocated in these provisional budgets. The main areas where allocations have not yet been determined are Music Services, grant 116b, to develop new opportunities for Key Stage 2, on which a proposal will be considered by Schools’ Forum in March, Primary and Secondary Strategy Targeted Grant and Broadband Connectivity. The School Development Grant is based on last year’s allocations, uplifted by 3.7% per pupil. 17 18 19 20 The Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant (EMAG) is now to be allocated by formula as agreed last year. The formula uses numbers of pupils with a free meal entitlement, and who either have English as an additional language or are from a nationally underachieving group. We have taken on board comments about the way in which nursery class pupils may be excluded because they do not stay for a meal, and have adjusted the raw data to take account of pupils in nursery classes. Some schools will be receiving an allocation for the first time this year. This is a ring-fenced grant and should any schools need any further information on the use of the grant then they should contact the Access Service. 21 The Council is not continuing its membership of the East Midlands Broadband Consortium from 1 April 2007. Work is well under way to ensure that all schools are connected under the new arrangements by that date. Where an authority is not part of a consortium, it is a DfES requirement that the Standards Fund grant should be fully devolved to schools. This means that schools will receive a new grant for Broadband, and can use this to fund the connectivity charges notified by the ICT team. Any queries on this should be directed to Peter Simpson, head of ICT, on 716927. Summary of Standards Funds allocations notification Standards Fund School Development Grant School Standards Grant Ethnic Minority Achievement Grant School Meals Extended schools Targeted Support – Primary Strategy Targeted Support – Secondary Strategy Music Services E-Learning Credits ICT Broadband When Issued provisional budgets provisional budgets provisional budgets provisional budgets Later in the year Final budgets or later in year Final budgets or later in year To be discussed at Schools’ Forum March 27th. provisional budgets 22 23 Capital funding Devolved formula allocations are shown within the notes of guidance on capital funding and are available on the website. Total funding To determine the total revenue budget funding available to the school, you should add together: • Delegated funding through the formula 24 • • 25 Standards Funds including School Standards Grant Estimated balances brought forward from 2006/07 Checking data Please would you check your pupil number and other data carefully and contact Jason Coupland on 718889 by Friday 16th March if you have any queries. Final budgets will be published on the website by Friday 30th March. Schools must send signed budget plans to Children and Young People’s Finance by 1 May, together with a copy of the governors’ minutes approving the budget. If you have any questions about the general principles applied, please contact Alison Parkin on 716863. Documents Provisional school budgets notes of guidance – included and are available on the website Formula budget details for your school – available on the website Analysis of pupil numbers for your school – available on the website Detailed Standards Fund allocation for your school - included Notes of guidance on capital funding, including devolved capital allocations – available on the website Teachers Pay Grant Details - included 26