Dedicated School Grant
Case reference FOI2022/01769
Published 23 December 2022
Request
I am requesting the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:
1. Please provide the council's response to the DLUHC consultation/survey on the removal of the current statutory override on Dedicated School Grant deficits (i.e. removing the ringfence of DSG deficits that means they do not have to be funded from available reserves)
2. What is the current forecast in-year underspend/overspend outturn on the Dedicated Schools Grant for 2022/23 (i.e. the forecast outturn for the end of the financial year, applying only to 2022/23 budgets)?
3. What is the current forecast cumulative position on the Dedicated Schools Grant by the end of 2022/23 (i.e. the forecast cumulative surplus or deficit by the end of the financial year)?
4. What is the forecast level of reserves by the end of 2022/23 for those reserves that have the capacity to be used to cover any Dedicated Schools Grant deficit?
5. Please state if the council's Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision is covered by a safety valve agreement, a Delivering Best Value arrangement, or any other agreement with the national government
6. Please provide a list of the council's Key Performance Indicators (or similar targets) in 2022/23 concerning SEND, including the 2021/22 benchmark for those KPIs, any annual or quarterly targets/benchmarks in 2022/23 and the performance against those targets/benchmarks to date
7. Please list the staff roles within the council's SEND team (those staff employed by the council to manage and deliver SEND eligibility and provision)
8. Is performance against these KPIs (as referred to in question 6) considered in the pay, bonuses or performance management of any SEND staff/management? Please provide details.
Response
1. Please provide the council's response to the DLUHC consultation/survey on the removal of the current statutory override on Dedicated School Grant deficits (i.e. removing the ringfence of DSG deficits that means they do not have to be funded from available reserves)
The DfE have extended the override for a further 3 years.
2. What is the current forecast in-year underspend/overspend outturn on the Dedicated Schools Grant for 2022/23 (i.e. the forecast outturn for the end of the financial year, applying only to 2022/23 budgets)?
£0.27 million overspend.
3. What is the current forecast cumulative position on the Dedicated Schools Grant by the end of 2022/23 (i.e. the forecast cumulative surplus or deficit by the end of the financial year)?
£0.5 million cumulative overspend.
4. What is the forecast level of reserves by the end of 2022/23 for those reserves that have the capacity to be used to cover any Dedicated Schools Grant deficit?
General reserve balances are £9.4 million at end of 2021/22. This is more than sufficient to cover the forecast DSG deficit but it is unnecessary now as the DfE have extended the statutory override for a further 3 years.
5. Please state if the council's Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision is covered by a safety valve agreement, a Delivering Best Value arrangement, or any other agreement with the national government
It is covered by a voluntary deficit management plan.
6. Please provide a list of the council's Key Performance Indicators (or similar targets) in 2022/23 concerning SEND, including the 2021/22 benchmark for those KPIs, any annual or quarterly targets/benchmarks in 2022/23 and the performance against those targets/benchmarks to date
Please see attached spreadsheet.
7. Please list the staff roles within the council's SEND team (those staff employed by the council to manage and deliver SEND eligibility and provision)
Head of Service - Additional Needs
Principal Case Manager
SEN Team Manager
EHCP Officer (7.6FTE)
EHCP assistants (2.3 FTE)
Early Years SEND Manager
Post 16 Senior Adviser
8. Is performance against these KPIs (as referred to in question 6) considered in the pay, bonuses or performance management of any SEND staff/management? Please provide details.
No pay or bonus scheme is in place in relation to performance management against KPI's. In individual appraisals, performance against KPI's will be discussed.
Documents
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