Issue - meetings

Background:

This report provided details of the 2022-23 funding arrangements for schools and academies and set out proposed changes to Medway’s mainstream schools and academies provisional funding formula, following consideration by the Schools Forum on 1 December 2021.

The report stated that the financial modelling had been built using the October 2020 census data but that the final budget allocations would be based on actual pupil numbers from the autumn census in October 2021. The data was due to be released by the Department for Education in Mid-December 2021.

The Schools Forum’s recommendations were detailed in paragraph 4.2 of the report. This included implementation of a Medway schools and academies local funding formula from April 2022 and a recommendation to offer a Minimum Funding Per Pupil Guarantee of £4,265 for a Primary school/academy, £5,535 per pupil for secondary schools and £4,800 for an all-through school in 2022/23.

In order to balance the funding formula allocation back to the actual funding received, the Schools Forum had recommended that the local authority should adjust the factors set out at paragraphs 3.5 and 3.6 of the report.

Reasons:

The local authority is required to implement the funding formula changes from 2022-23 in accordance with the regulations and to inform the Education Skills Funding Agency.