1. The Second Stage Consultation on Fair Funding for Schools
Margaret Judd
Sufficiency and Funding Manager
Dorset County Council

2. Background F40 has been campaigning for over 20 years.
The group currently has 41 local authority members.
Initial step - additional £390m in 2015/16. Now baselined.
Stage 1 consultation on principles – March 2016.
Anticipated implementation of revised formula delayed by London Mayoral election and EU Referendum.
New Secretary of State delays implementation to
Stage 2 consultation announced in December 2016.

3. Reminder of the Current Situation
Government distributes over £40 billion for education through Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).
DSG has 3 blocks: schools, early years, high needs.
Basis for the distribution is historic.
LA formulae vary widely.
10 best funded areas receive on average £6,029 per pupil compared with an average of £4,209 for the 10 worst funded areas in (or 43% more). (Source: DfE)
Yet maintained teachers pay is only a maximum of 25% more (Inner London to England) and resources/utilities can be purchased nationally for the same amount.

4. Government Proposals New national funding formula for 2018-19.
4 blocks – schools, high needs, early years and central school services.
Separate consultation on Early Years.
Hard formula for schools block from
Schools block - 13 factors with agreed relative weightings.
High needs block – 9 factors with weightings.

5. Transition (schools) Up to 3% per pupil increases in 2018-19 for
schools due to gain, and up to 2.5%
increases in
Limit overall reduction to any individual
school’s budget to 3% per pupil.
MFG for schools of minus 1.5% per pupil
year on year will continue.

6. Transition (High Needs)
3% increases in and respectively for local authorities due to gain under the formula.
No cash losses to local authorities as a result
of the high needs formula.

7. Transition (Central School Services)
Allow local authorities increases of up to 2.4% in
No local authority will lose more than 2.5% of
its per pupil funding in either or

8. Consultation Welcomed
f40 welcomes the stage 2 consultation.
We commend the commitment to introduce fairer funding for all children in English state funded schools.
Acknowledge that the proposed funding formula indicates a total gain of £183 million for f40 member authorities once the national formula is fully implemented from
BUT f40 did not anticipate and cannot accept that some poorly funded authorities will not gain and that many schools, both primary and secondary, within poorly funded authorities, will lose out.

9. Our Main Concerns
• The weakness of evidence used to support the proposals.
The proportion of weighting given to additional needs rather than basic entitlement.
• The 3% funding floor, which ‘locks in’ historical differences.
• The amount invested in education funding and the cost pressures facing all schools.

10. On average it’s a 33 year old woman; “buy them all lipstick”
Weakness of Evidence
Still a basic weakness in that there is no commitment to a definition of what the government is actually funding.
Continued use of averages, which reflect what local authorities can currently afford to do, rather than a activity-based model.
On average it’s a 33 year old woman; “buy them all lipstick”
Activity-led funding – as similar to that undertaken by f40 – should be factored into the funding formula rates prior to the implementation of the formula.

11. Balance of Funding
We question the extent of the transfer of funding into additional needs at a time when schools are struggling to meet their core responsibilities, as evidenced by the National Audit Office report (December 2016) which indicated cost increases of around 8%.
Initial reaction is that too much funding is directed towards deprivation and that when Pupil Premium is also taken in to account this could be considered as double funding.
Clarity is required between the differences as to what the deprivation funding in the main funding formula and pupil premium are supposed to support.

12. Amount of funding per pupil allocated to pupils with the following characteristics under the national formula and Pupil Premium

13. The 3% Floor
Key principle - that pupils of similar characteristics should attract similar levels of funding wherever they are in the country (allowing for the area cost adjustment).
A fair funding formula must be applied to all schools on a consistent basis. The proposed 3% funding floor “locks in” £400m of historical advantage for those schools which have been more generously funded for several decades.
The cost of this protection limits the redistributive impact and will result in the continuation of different funding levels for pupils across the country.
Stability for schools in funding is important, but not at the expense of never reaching a fair formula and outcome.

14. Funding Pressures
f40 understands that consultation is about finding a fair funding methodology and not about the quantum of funding available.
But, schools in lower funded areas have been making cuts for many years now and have reached the limit of where cuts can be made.
We recognise the work that the Department for Education has undertaken in supporting schools in making efficiencies, but we are struggling to understand where more cuts can be made in the lowest funded authorities.
On top of this, all schools are facing significant additional costs which the government does not intend to pay for.

15. Conclusions Proposals fall short of what was expected.
Will not deliver fairness.
In need of substantial revision.
F40 will be happy to continue working to improve the formula. However, we do not wish to see further delays in the implementation of a new formula.

16. Actions to be taken
f40 will submit its response to the consultation by 22 March 2017.
LAs to encourage responses from all schools, governors, School Forums, teachers, parents, etc.
MPs to work closely with their LAs to achieve responses and local publicity/media coverage.
MPs to work individually and together in Parliament to maintain pressure on the Secretary of State.
MPs to write to and seek meetings with SoS.

17. Thank you