agenda - cardiff.gov.uk...the information contained within this report that the msf’s unfunded...

This document is available in Welsh / Mae’r ddogfen hon ar gael yn Gymraeg

EDUCATION SERVICE:

MEETING OF CARDIFF SCHOOLS’ BUDGET FORUM

Time: 8.30am – 10.30am Date: 15th March, 2017 Location: Committee Room 3 AGENDA

1. Apologies 2. Minutes & matters arising from previous meeting of the 15th February, 2017 3. Energy Schemes – (Adam Benedict)

4. Schools Budget – Papers attached 5. Financial Position – Redundancy; MSF; CNE (Rob Green) – Papers attached

6. AOB

7. Building Issues – (Tara King/Neil Hardee)

Future Meeting Dates: 2017 17 May 2017 21 June 2017


Cardiff Schools Budget Forum Mutual Supply Fund

Date of meeting: 15th March 2017 Time of meeting: 8.30am Venue: CR3, County Hall

1. Purpose of report The purpose of this report is to establish current expenditure attributable to the Mutual Supply Fund (MSF) at Month 11 and to explain the assumptions that have been made to estimate the projected total spend at the end of the 16/17 financial year. 2. Recommendation To note the financial forecast for 2016/17. 3. Key Issues An overspend of £126,000 has been carried forward from 2015/16. An additional MSF claim for 2015/16 was processed after the closure of the accounts resulting in an additional £193,000 worth of costs for the mutual supply fund relating to 2015/16 but reimbursed in 2016/17. The Council ledger has been reviewed for the period 1 April 2016 to 28 February 2017. The amount of costs currently allocated against non cheque book schools and cheque book schools salaries is £2.21 million. A further £0.28 million has been projected to reflect the last month of the financial year. The reports submitted by schools during January 2017 indicated expenditure of £0.73 million on agency by cheque book schools, this is approximately 80% through the financial year. Therefore, a further £0.25 million has been projected. Amount Non Cheque book salary and agency costs plus cheque books salaries 01.04.16 – 28.02.17 £2.21 million

Non Cheque book salary and agency costs plus cheque books salaries 01.03.17 – 31.03.17 (projected) £0.28 million

Cheque book agency costs 01.04.16 – mid January £0.73 million Cheque book agency costs mid January – 31.03.17 (projected) £0.25 million Overspend from 15/16 (£126k) £0.13 million Residual costs from 15/16 (£193k) £0.19 million 16/17 costs carried forward to 17/18 (£0.05 million) Total Projection £3.74 million Budget £3.39 million

The residual costs brought forward from 2015/16 totalled £193,000 but the costs from 2016/17 are anticipated to be significantly less (£50,000) because the March submission date for 2015/16 was 11th March 2016 but the March submission date for 2016/17 is 31st March 2017.


4. Background and Context The financial costs and rationale are regularly monitored by the LFM team and this report is primarily based on their findings. Reports are submitted by schools on a quarterly basis but they are often incomplete with some returns not submitted. Some costs from a particular financial year will roll into the next financial year, which is due to:

• Incomplete and un-submitted reports at the end of the financial year. • The March submission does not allow schools to report on all of the costs for

the financial year. A submission date in April would be preferable, but this is not possible in most years because of the timing of the Easter holidays and the closure of accounts. Therefore, schools are offered a date in March to account for most of the costs and a date in May to account for the remainder.

A revised process has been proposed at recent School Budget Forum meetings and the intention is for this to be introduced from 1st April 2017. The new process would centre on LFM initiating the process with schools and the introduction of fixed daily rates, rather than reimbursement on the basis of actual costs. It is anticipated that this will have the effect of improving the administration of the fund and reducing the increasing liability associated with it. 5. Financial Implications The information contained within this report suggests that the MSF’s unfunded liability will increase from £126,000 to £350,000. This figure is £130,000 greater than in last month’s report largely due to higher than anticipated suspension costs at cheque book and non-chequebook schools. These costs can only be reviewed on a quarterly basis and the costs in the third quarter returns were significantly higher than in previous returns. From 2013/14 onwards any in-year overspend was intended to be covered by increases in the following year’s contributions rather than an in-year overspend charge.

Year Underspend Total unfunded liability Comments

2013/14 £120,000 Underspend reimbursed to schools 2014/15 £96,000 Carried forward to 2015/16 2015/16 £126,000 Carried forward to 2016/17 2016/17 £350,000 Estimated

Contributions have increased every year since 2013/14 and contributions were also increased in April 2016 in an attempt to offset the unfunded liability of £126,000. However, there have been a significant number of suspensions and long term sicknesses of senior leadership teachers so far in 2016/17. Therefore it is the intention to charge the unfunded liability at the end of 2016/17 to schools in 2017/18, as well as the 2017/18 contribution.


Cardiff Schools Budget Forum

Redundancy Update

Date of meeting: 15th March 2017 Time of meeting: 8.30 am. Venue: CR3, County Hall

1. Purpose of report The purpose of this report is to provide an update on the current position against the pooled redundancy budget for 2016/17. 2. Background and Context For the 2016/17 financial year, an amount of £1 million has been carried forward as a pooled budget within schools budgets. This money is earmarked for any redundancies that occur between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017. A separate budget of £400,000 also exists within school budgets to pay off the unfunded redundancies that occurred in 2014/15. The 2014/15 balance outstanding at the end of 2015/16 was £794,317. This balance was lower than originally anticipated due to the opportunity arising to accelerate repayment of this balance during 2015/16. 3. Key Issues The spend to date in relation to redundancies is £468,777, compared to the budgeted £1 million. At this point of the year, an underspend against this budget is almost certain. However, there are still a number of potential redundancies before the end of the financial year and, therefore, the spend could still significantly increased beyond the current spend figure. It should be noted that, in the previous financial year, an opportunity arose to capitalise an element of redundancy costs. This had the effect of reducing the cost of redundancies by £353,056. However, for 2016/17, such an opportunity will not be available. Therefore, all redundancy costs incurred will be charged against the pooled budget. 4. Financial Implications The budget of £400,000 will be used to reduce the carried forward balance relating to unfunded redundancies from 2014/15, which totals £794,317. This will reduce the balance carried forward to under £400,000. As a result, it means that the outstanding balance will be fully repaid in 2017/18, which represents a two-


year reduction in the planned timescale for pay off. However, should an underspend arise in 2016/17, it may be possible to accelerate that pay off further. An in-year underspend of £400,000 or more could present the opportunity to fully repay the outstanding balance in 2016/17, which would represent an acceleration of three years. In respect of the lower redundancy costs experienced in both 2015/16 and 2016/17, the £1m pooled budget has been reduced to £600,000 for 2017/18. However, the £400,000 repayment budget has been retained for 2017/18. 5. Recommendation To note the current position on redundancies and the potential opportunity to accelerate the repayment of the unfunded redundancies from 2014/15.

School Budget Forum 15th February 2017

Education Directorate & Schools Budget

2017/18


2017/18 Budget – Timeline

• Council Budget Report in public domain 10th February • Scrutiny meetings taking place this week, including

Children & Young People’s Committee on Monday 13th • Cabinet budget meeting on Thursday 16th February • Council budget meeting on Thursday 23rd February • School budgets to be released in the first week of

March

2017/18 Budget – Impact on Schools and Education

• No schools protection requirement from WG, although £7.2m growth still being provided to schools

• £2.371m savings required from Education directorate • PDG increased by £6.4m across Wales • EIG reduced by £1m across Wales • Schools Challenge Cymru funding ending 31 March 17 • Minor grants transferred into Settlement • EWC Teachers’ Registration Fees transferred out but

Council honouring commitment

Schools

2017/18 Growth

Schools Growth 2017/18

• Demographics £2.668m • Inflationary (after 30% cap) £4.565m

–Increments £1.575m –Pay Award £1.323m –Pensions Related £0.164m –NDR (not subject to cap) £0.240m –Apprenticeship Levy £0.542m –Living Wage £0.085m –Associated Pupil Needs £0.636m

Total £7.233m

School Budget Makeup 2017/18

• 2016/17 Schools Budget £216.273m • Demographic Pressures £2.668m • Inflationary Pressures £4.565m • 2017/18 Schools Budget £223.506m

• School cash budgets proposed to increase by 3.3% • No protection requirement from WG

Formula 2017/18

• Formula being finalised over the next couple of weeks • Incorporates consultation changes and energy

increases • Increases to all AWPU and place category rates • Increase to amount allocated for CNE • Most schools set to receive increased allocations • Post-16 allocation received • Several pooled elements still to be finalised

Grants 2017/18

• £100m WG commitment over 5 years • Detail still required but will be distributed by CSC • Will be spent on wellbeing, building the capacity in

education leadership, curriculum and assessment, pedagogy, self improving system and research and evaluation

• £36m announced for reducing infant class sizes - £20m capital and £16m revenue (over and above £100m)

• Small schools and rural grant - £2.5m • ALN transition funding - £20m (£10m from £100m)

Education Directorate

Budget Proposals 2017/18

Education – Savings Proposals 2017/18

Description £000

Income Generation / Commercialisation

EDU8 Increase in price of school meals 484

EDU10 Rationalisation of costing base for traded services

500


Description £000

Internally facing / C&P savings

EDU1 Rationalisation of staff and costs centrally retained to provide services of a specialised nature

140

EDU2 Rationalisation of costs of the Pupil Referral Unit

382

EDU4 Rationalisation of centrally held budgets for school related issues

260

EDU9 Reduction in central budget for Education Welfare Service

100

EDU13 Central staffing costs 175


Description £000

Review of Subsidies & Grants

EDU6 Reduction in contribution to Central South Consortium

80

Second/ Third year of proposal

EDU7 Youth Service Budget 250

Total 2,371 (15.5%)

Education – Financial Pressures 2017/18

Description £000

Financial Resilience Mechanism

Youth Services 100

Challenge Cymru Transition 200

Financial Pressures

Child Rights Partner Programme 80

Education – Capital Programme 2017/18

Description £000

Schools Property Asset Renewal 5,552

Schools Suitability & Sufficiency 1,040

Whitchurch High School DDA Works 1,000

21st Century Schools Band A 49,987

St Mellons CIW Primary School 250

Schools Safeguarding 100

Schools ICT Infrastructure 100

Schools Kitchen Upgrades 100

Schools Fire Precaution Works 250

Total 58,379

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Cardiff Schools Budget Forum Complex Needs Enhancement

Date of meeting: 15th March 2017 Time of meeting: 8.30 am Venue: CR3, County Hall

1. Purpose of report

The purpose of this report is to provide indications of the spend on Complex Needs Enhancements (CNE) and to provide a projected estimate for the year, having taken into account all information contained within the 2016/17 financial ledger.

2. Background and Context

In 2015/16, total CNE expenditure was £5.697 million. This comprised £4.216 million delegated to schools budgets at the beginning of the year, and £1.482 million of CNE funding allocated to schools during the financial year. A budget of £767,000 was set aside to meet the cost of CNE that would occur during 2015/16. There was an overspend of £715,000 against this budget for new placements of £767,000. The overspend was recovered from schools at the year end. The Enhanced Funding for each category has been increased by 3% in 2016/17 with full year amounts being: Nursery £5,849 Primary A £14,624 Primary B £8,775 Secondary A £14,624 Secondary B £11,699 In 2016/17 the total Complex Needs Enhancement delegated to school budgets was £5.689 million, an increase of £1.473 million on the previous year. In addition, the budget set aside for new instances of CNE that are expected to occur during 2016/17 is £667,000.

3. Key Issues

For the period April 2016 to February 2017, the amount paid to schools - to fund new CNE, age promotions (Primary to Secondary) and revisions to funding levels - was £1,605,000. As stated earlier in the report the amount of

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pooled budget set aside for 2016/17 is £667,000. The budget is therefore already overspent by £938,000 as at the end of February. Current projections would indicate that the total CNE payments during the year will be in the region of £1.617 million with a projected overspend likely to be around £950,000. This overspend would be recovered from schools on a claw back basis.

4. Financial Implications

The amount per month is not constant and is variable depending on term start dates as well as the timing of information and decisions being made by the relevant case advisory panel. This makes monitoring difficult and work has taken place to identify financial information earlier in the process. The apportionment basis of the claw back would be for each phase and using the SEN formula weighted pupil number for each school. Special Schools are not included in this claw back as they do not benefit from the pooled CNE budget. This pooled budget will continue to remain insufficient unless one of the following occurs

• Further financial resources are allocated into this pooled budget from the overall delegated school budget

• Number of pupils presented as Complex Needs reduces • The amount of funding for each Complex Needs Enhancement is

reviewed and reduced. In response to this, the pooled budget has been increased to £1.5 million for the 2017/18 financial year.

5. Recommendation

To note the 2016/17 projected outturn on Complex Needs Enhancement.

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