Appendix A CHILDREN’S SERVICES DRAFT BUDGET … A...The impact of the intention to decentralise...

Appendix A

CHILDREN’S SERVICES DRAFT

BUDGET PROPOSALS SUMMARY AND

COMMENTARY

Children’s Services Draft Budget Proposals Summary and Commentary Appendix A

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INDEX

1. Context ............................................................................................................................................................................................................ 3

1.1 Priority and performance ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3

1.2 Current budget pressures ........................................................................................................................................................................... 3

1.3 Overall Revenue Funding .......................................................................................................................................................................... 3

2. Key issues arising from the Local Government Provisional Finance Settlement for 2011/12 ............................................................................ 4

3. Central Government Policy Changes Impacting on the Development of Budget Proposals.............................................................................. 8

4. Overall approach to achieving budget reductions............................................................................................................................................. 9

5. Budget Proposals by Divisions ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9

5.1 Social Care and Safeguarding .............................................................................................................................................................. 10

5.2 Transforming the Learning Environment .............................................................................................................................................. 15

5.3 Learning Services ................................................................................................................................................................................ 18

5.5 Access, Inclusion and Participation ....................................................................................................................................................... 23

5.6 Planning and Commissioning .............................................................................................................................................................. 33

6. Schools ......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 37


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INVESTING IN OUR CHILDREN – BUDGET PROPOSALS 2011/12

1. Context

1.1 Priority and performance

A key priority of the Council, set out within the corporate plan, is to “Invest in our children”. Performance across children’s services as a whole

is improving and the improvement notice was removed in March 2010. Educational attainment outcomes are gradually improving although

Leicester needs to continue to close significant gaps in the attainment outcomes of boys and vulnerable groups. The number of schools in

categories has reduced further. Children’s social care services perform well although there has been a significant increase in demand. No

urgent actions arose from the recent Ofsted inspection of contact, referral and assessment services, our children’s homes are judged to be

good or outstanding, and the fostering services are judged to be outstanding. The annual Ofsted rating of Leicester’s Children’s Services

judged them to be adequate – our performance being limited by educational attainment performance.

1.2 Current budget pressures

In year (2010/2011) budget pressures are evident in three of the five divisions. Social care and safeguarding services are expected to

overspend this year due to a significant increase in overall demand and an associated increase in the numbers of children subject to child

protection plans and children in care. Additional pressures sit within TLE arising from the costs of repairs and maintenance on empty

properties. Pressures also currently exist in Planning and Commissioning with an overspend in home to school transport (SEN) and shortfalls in

the income received from in services traded with schools compared to the budget.

1.3 Overall Revenue Funding

Currently in 2010/11, the total revenue funding for Children’s Services and schools is in the order of £340m. The predominant funding streams

are the Council’s General Fund budget, Dedicated Schools Grant, Standards Funds, SureStart grant, the Area Based Grant, the Young

Peoples Learning Agency (YPLA) for 16+ education and other ad-hoc grants.


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2. Key issues arising from the Local Government Provisional Finance Settlement for 2011/12

The Local Government Provisional Finance Settlement for 2011/12 was announced on 13th December. The announcement was late, presents a

very complex picture of significant reductions in grant funding and details have continued to emerge since.

In 2011/12, the funding will be much simplified, with in essence just four funding streams of significance. These will be the General Fund

Budget, Early Intervention Grant, Dedicated Schools Grant (plus the Pupil Premium) and the YPLA for 16+.

The overall grant reduction faced by Children’s Services is £9.6 million. This is in addition to the 8.8% reduction in the Formula Grant or

General Fund, which equates to a pro-rata reduction of £3.5 million. The total reduction in funding for children’s services in 2011/12 is £13.1

million. It should also be noted that there has been a national cash transfer from the General Fund for Academies and Free Schools. The

reduction for Leicester is £0.9 million. The total cash funding reduction for Children’s Services and schools is therefore in the order of £14m,

plus there is no allowance for inflationary costs and cost pressures such as the full year effect of the September 2010 teachers’ pay award,

increased employers’ pension contributions and the Carbon Reduction Commitment cost for schools.

The implications of this are still being worked on and whilst officers are working to close the overall funding gaps it is clear that Children’s

Services will require additional support in 2011/12.

2.1 Reduction in the General Fund

The General Fund has reduced by 8.8%; the Children’s Services pro-rata reduction would be £3.5 million. In addition the General

Fund has been reduced by a further £0.9 million as a result of a cash transfer (or top slice) from the General Fund for Academies

and Free Schools. (Note – this reduction will be managed corporately).


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2.2 Reduction in grants

There are four different elements to the grant position:

Amount of funding reduction

1. A number of grants formerly in the Area Based Grant that have been reduced and mainstreamed £0.2 million

2. The establishment of a new Early Intervention Grant and a reduction in funding levels £5.3 million

3. A number of Standards Funds that have come to an end £0.6 million

4. A number of Area Based Grants that have come to an end. £3.5 million

Total Reduction £9.6 million

In total there has been a £9.6 million reduction in grants for children’s services

2.2.1 Reduction in mainstreamed grants previously in the Area Based Grant

A series of grant reductions have been imposed in the 2011/12 budget totalling a revenue reduction of 9.6 million. A number of

grants previously in the Area Based Grant (note the Area Based Grant has ceased) have been reduced as they have been

mainstreamed. The reductions total 225k:

2010/2011 in ABG 2011/12 transfer to FG Reduction

Child Death Review Process 64k 50k 14k

Care Matters 458k 348k 110k

LSC staff transfer (Learning and Skills Council) 312k 238k 74k

CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services)

860k 840k 20k

Carers 338k 329k 7k

Total 2.03m 1.08m 225k

2.2.2 Reduction in funding transferred into the Early Intervention Grant


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The Government has established an Early Intervention Grant (EIG) to support early intervention and supporting frontline services.

The EIG is intended to cover a range of services including Sure Start Children Centres; positive activities for young people;

Connexions; Teenage Pregnancy; Children’s Fund Services; Social Care Workforce Development and Substance Misuse. The

government has however specified that the grant must cover two key areas of intervention (free early education for disadvantaged

two year olds and short breaks for disabled children). This funding has reduced by £5.3 million or 22% compared to the sum

of the separate grant allocations in 2010/11.

This is a complete list of grants replaced by the EIG:

Sure Start Children’s Centres Early Years Sustainability Early Years Workforce Two Year Offer (Child

Care)

Disabled Children Short Breaks Connexions Think Family Youth Opportunity Fund

Youth Crime Action Plan Challenge and Support Children’s Fund Positive Activities

for Young People

Youth Taskforce Young People’s Substance Misuse Teenage Pregnancy Key Stage 4 Foundation

Learning

Targeted Mental Health in Schools Grant Contact Point Children’s Social Care

Workforce

Intensive Intervention Grant January Guarantee Child Trust Fund

Although the Government has advised that the EIG is to be used flexibly, at local discretion, it is expected to support early intervention at the

front line. The Government has also announced indicative allocations for disabled children’s services within the EIG – for Leicester this

amounts to between £1 million and £1.5 million.


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2.2.3 Standards Fund Grants coming to an end

A series of standards fund grants end, totalling a £0.6 million reduction. These are:

• Music grant 322k (although an allocation is expected following the Henley Review)

• Assessment for learning 106k

• Playing for success 162k

• Common Application process 11k

2.2.4 Area Based Grants coming to an end are:

Similarly a series of Area Based Grants end totalling a £3.5 million reduction. These are:

• School Travel Advisers 34k

• School Improvement Partners 119k

• Secondary Nat Strategies - Behaviour 68k

• Primary Nat Strategies 607k – central co-ordination

• Secondary Nat Strategies 563k – central co-ordination

• Extended School Start Up 464k

• Flexible 14-19 Partnership Funding 86k

• School Intervention 76k

• Sustainable school travel 22k

• Extended rights for free travel 54k

• Designated teacher funding 16k

• Education Health Partnerships 88k


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• School Development Grant 1.3million

2.3 Total Effective Reduction in Government Funding

Excluding the £0.9 million reduction in the General Fund for Academies and Free Schools (a reduction that will be managed corporately), the

total reduction in Government Funding for Children’s Services is £13.1 million. The late release of budget settlement by Government has

created a major problem and work on the budget is on-going. Whilst the service is looking to complete the service efficiency reviews earlier

and to implement service changes to reduce spend, such savings will not be realised before July 2011.

3. Central Government Policy Changes Impacting on the Development of Budget Proposals

The coalition government is seeking to reduce public spending and decentralise power, devolving it as far as possible. The impact of the policy

intention to reduce public spending is set out above. Alongside the budget reduction is both a relaxing of controls and in a limited number of

cases a statement of indicative funding levels – for example in the EIG the Government announcement suggests there is an allocation for

Leicester of between £1m and £1.5 million for short breaks for disabled children.

The impact of the intention to decentralise power can be seen in the White Paper – The Importance of Teaching. This proposes the autonomy

of schools from the local authority through the establishment of Academies and Free Schools. The Local Authority has no role in agreeing a

schools proposal to become an academy. This policy is accompanied by the reduction in funds coming to the local authority to support school

improvement and the Council now need to develop a commissioning approach. It is no longer funded to directly provide services.

Responsibility for funding school improvement will transfer to schools (although schools budgets will not increase – the government state they

are protected from budget reductions – they will at best be flat cash). The Council is working to maintain positive relationships with schools and

move to a position of effectively trading services.


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4. Overall approach to achieving budget reductions

The work to develop proposals to achieve budget reductions has been done in the knowledge that the Council must as far as possible, maintain

services to protect the most vulnerable and continue to drive forward improvements in education attainment outcomes.

Specifically the service has approached the need to release significant reductions by:

• Reconfigure early intervention services to neighbourhood basis via the service efficiency reviews that are currently underway and involve wider Children’s Trust Partners - this approach will release management efficiencies.

• Reconfigure Learning Services to accommodate the loss of standards fund and other grants

• Protect essential Social Care and Safeguarding services whilst looking to drive out efficiencies in management costs

• Maximise the use of the Dedicated Schools Grant

• Commission services on the basis of needs assessment and what works – best practice.

As noted previously, the proposals in this document do not address the full funding reduction and therefore support from the Council will be

required in 2011/12. Work will continue to identify potential options to achieve a sustainable budget in the longer term.

5. Budget Proposals by Divisions

The Council’s Children’s Services are delivered through five divisions:

• Social Care and Safeguarding

• Transforming the Learning Environment

• Learning Services

• Access Inclusion and Participation

• Planning and Commissioning


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5.1 Social Care and Safeguarding

This Division comprises the following operational sections:

• Children’s Fieldwork

• Children’s Resources

• Children & Young People’s Safeguarding Unit

The Division is responsible for providing the City Council’s statutory response to children in need, safeguarding and children ‘looked after’ by

the local authority as defined by the 1989 and 2004 Children Acts, and the 2008 Children and Young Persons Act.

Children’s Fieldwork covers the full spectrum of children’s social work. This includes the Duty and Assessment Service, which provides initial

assessments of need and immediate responses to situations of risk. A specialist childcare social work service split into three areas, covering

Looked After Children, Child Protection and Proceedings and Family Change, together with a citywide Disabled Children’s Team. In addition,

the Emergency Duty Team covering Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland provides an emergency out of hours response.

Children’s Resources is where all services to looked after children are located including the fostering and adoption service, the five children’s

homes run by the authority, the commissioning function for more specialist external placements, the Children and Families Support Team

providing therapeutic input to children and young people, and specialist family support services. The specialist family support service has three

key functions: 1) Prevention of children entering public care & work to facilitate early exit/return home after children have entered the care

system (largely the IST role & specialist childminding - i.e. overnight childminding as direct alternative to care); 2) Targeted work with children

subject to child protection plans - e.g. parenting assessments, behaviour management programmes, contributing to core groups and social

work assessments (Family Aide role); 3) Independent chairing function of Family Support Meetings.

Children and Young People’s Safeguarding Unit provides advice, guidance and policy development on safeguarding across the council,

which includes the management of allegations against those working with children. Within the division the unit provides support for and quality

assurance of care planning decisions for the most vulnerable children through its independent reviewing service, child protection conference

service and the Children Rights and Participation Service. The business support function of the Leicester Safeguarding Children Board is also

located in the unit.

Social Care and Safeguarding approach taken to budget proposals:


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In the 2010/11 budget settlement the Council agreed to invest an additional £940K. This was to reflect the pattern of spend in the division

which had significantly increased as a result of the rise in the number of referrals to Social Care and Safeguarding, resulting in a significant

increase is workload for social workers, particularly in children subject to Child Protection Plans and those subject to care proceedings. The

unannounced inspection of Duty and Assessment carried out in November 2010 confirmed previous management audits undertaken that the

thresholds for cases being passed to children’s social care are at the right level, and further work carried out by senior management with the

courts and the CAFCASS service indicated that the right children are coming into care. It is unsurprising then that, despite this growth,

throughout 2010/11 the division has continued to overspend due primarily to the costs of increasing numbers of children in care, with a sharp

rise in the number of care proceedings since April 2010.

It is recognised that it would not be possible to run safe and robust services if the funding available to the Division were to reduce significantly.

As a result the division was asked to layer potential savings, with level 1 being the most achievable with minimal impact on the council’s ability

to keep children safe. The level 1 proposals are around management and transport efficiencies and are the basis of the savings proposed here.

Whilst the Council has protected front line services provided by Social Care and Safeguarding, the division is still required to make a contribution to the council efficiency savings. The priority was to protect front line staff across the division and front line manager’s particularly in fieldwork and within all the regulated (looked after children) services. In recognising the acute pressures the division is under the draft budget proposes £750k growth. £500K is to recognise the level of overspend the division is dealing with and £250K because of the safeguarding pressures the division is experiencing – a 40% rise in the referral rate and the subsequent increase in work outlined above. Assuming the budget is agreed by the council in February 2011 the additional money for safeguarding pressures will be deployed in those areas where there is particular pressure and capacity difficulties. This will include increasing Team Manager capacity in the Child Protection and Proceedings Service by at least two Team Managers (since currently Team Managers manage up to 11 social workers and are expected to oversee up to 165 child protection cases at any one time) which is an untenable position. Given the significant increase in workload being experienced by the Duty and Assessment Service it will also be necessary to increase front line capacity across this service. At the same time the division is looking to release efficiencies in management costs and adopt a more efficient approach to transporting

children in care to contact.

Grant Transfers from the former Area Based Grant

Four grants currently received as part of the ABG will transfer into the Council’s formula grant and thus become part of the base budget. These

are the grants for Children in Care (Care Matters), Child Death Review Processes, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and

the Carers Grant.


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This is not new money and the Chief Finance Officer has estimated that there will be a total reduction of £150k and plans are already in place

to ensure that children’s services absorbs these cuts and delivers the services within existing resources. All of the grants ensure that the

council meets its statutory obligations in relation to some of our most vulnerable children.

Funding identified for Children in Care ensures that the council meets is statutory obligations in relation to the Children and Young Persons Act

2008 (Care Matters) and is all about improving outcomes for our looked after children. Child Death Review processes are a direct requirement

of the Laming review following the death of Victoria Climbie and are enshrined in the Children Act 2004. Funding for CAMHS ensures that a

range of specialist and targeted services are provided for vulnerable children and young people across the city, and the Carers Grant is

designed to increase the diversity and flexibility of breaks for carers and services for carers to support their role in caring for disabled children

and young people.

The spending currently being incurred will need to be reviewed and prioritised against other calls on the General Fund budget and indeed the

Early Intervention Grant.

Social Care and Safeguarding proposed savings 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Review Arrangements for contact transport 104k 125k 125k

The City Council has a statutory responsibility to provide contact for children in care, which includes ensuring that children in foster care are

transported safely to the venue where contact takes place. Much of the contact the local authority provides to children in care is directed by the

court and therefore the local authority has to ensure this takes place. Children in care are usually transported to contact in taxis. The budget

reduction represents in year one just under 10% of the total transport budget. We have reviewed transport arrangements to ensure that we only

commission transport for children in care and not for children in other circumstances (for example where they are subject to a Child Protection

Plan), and that more regular, systematic review of transport takes place for each child. In addition, we will be increasing the remuneration to

foster carers for providing transport to and from contact, which we estimate would be significantly better value than commissioning a taxi and

ultimately better for the child.


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2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Delete Specialist Family Support Service Manager 55 55 55

In the 2010/11 budget this post was identified as a cut to the budget from 1 April 2011 as a likely outcome from the 0-19 strategic review of

family support services. Whilst this review will not be completed until July 2011, this post has been vacant since summer 2010 and will be cut

from the budget with effect from 1 April 2011. Until the outcome of the 0-19 strategic review in known the services previously managed by the

Specialist Family Support Service Manager will be covered on an interim basis by other Service Managers within Social Care and

Safeguarding.

Reduce Service Manager Capacity in Fieldwork - 37 55 55 Family Change Service by deleting one of two posts Deleting one of the two Service Manager Family Change posts will ensure there is sufficient senior management capacity within regulated (LAC) services, the Safeguarding Unit, LAC fieldwork and Child Protection and Proceedings service. The deletion of one Family Change Service Manager post reflects the redistribution of the Children and Maternity Hospital Social Work Team to Duty and Assessment and the increasing role DAS will continue to play in the development of integrated services; for example, in relation to the Common Assessment Framework and links with schools. One Family Change Service Manager remaining in fieldwork will be sufficient to pick up the portfolio and requirements of the role.

Deletion (Relocation) of Social Work team at LRI & transfer of staff to DAS 48 48 48

A review of Duty and Assessment and the Children’s Maternity and Hospital Social Work Team started in January 2010 and was completed in

December 2010. This was review was undertaken in response to some of the developmental areas identified by Ofsted during its

unannounced inspection of Duty and Assessment in August 2009 in relation to the transfer of work in the service, as well as an opportunity for

the division to review the hospital social work function for children. The outcome of this review is that from March 2011 the social work team

based at the LRI will be moved from it’s hospital base and be located in Duty and Assessment. There is no loss of social work staff from the

establishment. Although there will be the deletion of one Team Manager post this is currently vacant. There will still be strong links with the LRI


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and this move will not impact on the Council’s ability to keep children safe, and Social Care and Safeguarding managers and managers based

at the LRI remain committed to maintaining strong working relationships.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Delete half a Team Manager post in Specialist Support 16 24 24

This half time Child Minding Team Manager post in Specialist Family Support became vacant in 2010 and will be deleted from the

establishment. The portfolio will be absorbed by existing managers.

Delete one of two Team Managers in Children and Family Support Team 32 48 48

The Children and Family Support Team is a multi-disciplinary team providing therapeutic services to children in the care system, post adoption

support for children who have been adopted and for children who display sexually abusive behaviour to other children. The team has an

establishment of two Team Managers and it is proposed that one of the team manager posts is deleted. It is anticipated that this would not

lead to redundancy of one of the two team managers affected since there are team manager vacancies across the division the displaced

person could be slotted into.


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5.2 Transforming the Learning Environment

The TLE Division’s budget is largely constructed from one-off reserves, contributions from the Schools Budget and a small amount of General

Fund. The ‘client-side’ budget was mainly constructed to service the delivery of Building Schools for the Future (BSF) and has a limited life-

span of 4 years with an option to increase to 5. TLE is in the second year of this 4/5 year budget. The TLE Division has recently been merged

together with the Strategic Asset Management Division to form a new ‘Property’ Division. This is part of the ODI Transformation Programme.

The TLE Division is divided into 4 Service Areas with a small Administration Section.

The Service Areas are:

0-11 Programme (Funded from temporary Client-side budget)

This service manages the following functions:

a. Delivery of all Early Years and Primary Capital Projects

b. Updating of Primary elements of the 0-19 and Early Years Strategy for Change

c. Relationship management with schools and settings

d. Planning routine maintenance and renewal for schools and settings

e.

11-19 Programme (Funded from temporary Client-side budget)


a. Delivery of BSF and co-location projects

b. Updating of Secondary elements of Strategy for Change

c. Relationship management with schools and settings

d. Contracting with LEP

Admissions, School Organisation and Assets (Funded from DSG and General Fund)


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a. Admissions Service (statutory)

b. Schools organisation (statutory)

c. School Assets Strategy, suitability and sufficiency, maintenance and repair including statutory access fund allocations.

d. Pupil place Planning

TLE Strategy (Funded from temporary Client-side budget)


a. Strategic programme management and ‘joining-up’

b. Updating of 0-19 Strategy for Change including alignment between phases

c. Benefits Realisation progress mapping

d. Strategic programme delivery for:-

i. Carbon reduction/sustainability

ii. SEN and Inclusion

iii. ICT

iv. 14-19 developments

v. Stakeholder mapping and relationship management

Administration (Funded from temporary client-side budget and DSG/General Fund)

This team manages the following functions:

a. All admin support to TLE

b. Office management

TLE proposed savings

As can be seen the overwhelming majority of TLE services are funded through client side budgets. The exception to this is the Admissions,

schools organisation and assets service funded through General Fund and DSG. The pressure on the admissions service has increased


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significantly over the last 18months. At this stage it is responding to the increase in demand for school places and is not in a position to release

efficiencies.

Vacant Premises

The budget is £45,600 and the forecast spend is at least £125,000 due the number of premises and sites held vacant pending sale or confirmation of future use. The Riverside school site will become vacant in the summer which will increase the pressure on the budget intended to fund repairs and maintenance of vacant properties. This has resulted in the identified budget pressure of £200k.


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5.3 Learning Services

The core function of Learning Services is to support Raising Achievement for children and young people 0-19 through our Raising Achievement

Strategy.

In recent years education standards in Leicester have improved significantly at all key stages. In February 2010 the Secretary of State for

Education lifted the Improvement Notice issued to the Council in Summer 2008, due to concerns about quality and standards in education. In

lifting the notice the Secretary of State acknowledged, not just the improvements in standards, but the much strengthened capacity of the local

authority to lead further improvement. In spite of the rapid improvements over recent years, attainment for children in the early years, primary

and secondary remains below national averages and, on some measures, in or near the bottom quartile. To sustain and build on the

improvement achieved through TLL and the Raising Achievement Plan we need to develop a longer term Raising Achievement Strategy, work

which is led by Learning Services. Our proposed Raising Achievement Strategy is set within the context of One Leicester, the Children and

Young People’s Plan and Strategy for Change. The aim of the strategy is to continue our recent improvements, and to reach, then exceed

national averages so that educational achievement in Leicester matches the best nationally.

In addition to reflecting our vision and ambition for children in Leicester, a key message within our strategy is that raising achievement is a

shared responsibility. Effective partnerships, integrated working, and engagement with local communities are fundamental to achieving

excellence in this area. It is anticipated that the role of the local authority in school improvement will change in the coming months, with the L.A

moving from being a direct provider of school improvement, to a commissioner of services and projects which support school improvement and

raising achievement. To sustain a strong LA role in raising achievement we will need to develop the capacity to apply a commissioning model

to school improvement and other raising achievement activities. This will help both schools and the local authority working in partnership to

deploy all resources effectively and improve value for money.

Our work to raise achievement will focus on key priorities we must address if Leicester is to continue to improve standards and raise

achievement. These priorities cover learning and achievement at all stages of children’s education and all groups of children. They include, for

example,

a. Improving achievement in the Early Years Foundation Stage so that more children are ready for school

b. Continuing to improve results at age 11 and 16


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c. Increasing the proportion of young people who achieve Level 2 and level 3 qualifications by age 19 so that they have the skills they need for work

d. Improving results for our more vulnerable children, such as those on free school meals; children with special needs and our looked after children. We also want to focus on those groups that are underachieving, for example boys and some ethnic groups (white boys, white other, black Caribbean, Roma).

e. Ensuring that none of our schools are below floor standards and increasing the number of good and outstanding schools across the city

Learning Services approach to budget management is focused on ensuring we maintain the pace of improvement and do not compromise on

standards.

We have already acted to reduce management costs by removing one layer of management in our structure. In line with the national direction

of travel we are moving towards a commissioning model and are increasingly using expertise and good practice in our schools to support

improvement in other schools, which is effective in terms of impact and is also cost efficient. We will also be providing an expanded traded

services offer from April 2011.

Learning Services Grant Transfers

The grant relating to the costs of the staff transferred from the Learning and Skills Council in April 2010 for the Council’s then additional

responsibilities for planning, commissioning and funding 16-18 education is currently paid through the ABG.

The grant will transfer into the Council’s formula grant and thus become part of the base budget. The Chief Finance Officer has estimated the

funding within the formula grant for 2011/12 based on the total grant transferred at national level. The current funding in the ABG is broadly

£300k; the addition to our budget is £238k, a reduction of some £70k.

However, the proposal to discontinue the Leicester and Leicestershire Learning Organisation (LLLO) is noted. The saving from terminating the

LLLO is more than the grant transfer as the grant was not sufficient to cover the costs of the transferred staff and their accommodation, IT

equipment, etc.


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Learning Services Proposed Savings

Reduce the teaching/curriculum advisory support team by 50%; target the reduced Raising Achievement Team to the main priorities

2011/12 921k 2012/13 1,005k 2013/14

1,005k

Currently Learning Services has a team of people who provide advice and support to schools on improving teaching and the progress of pupils.

The total team was just over 30 in the original service. The National Strategies funding in the Area Based Grant for a significant element of

this service is due to come to an end in March 2011. This has been known for over a year and, in line with other local authorities, Leicester

needs to reduce this service. A core team of 16 people will be retained to support us in continuing to raise achievement in the city, and steps

have already been taken to achieve this. They will focus on key areas such as achievement in the early years; improving standards in literacy

and maths, and closing the gap for those children currently falling behind.

The Schools White Paper, as with the policies of the former government, places an emphasis on developing school to school support. This is

essentially using the best practice – and staff – in schools to support improvement in other schools. There is already a lot of school to school

support happening in Leicester very successfully, and Learning Services is will be working with schools to grow and build on this, so schools

will continue to have access to high quality support.

Examples of School to School support include Rushey Mead and Fullhurst; Taylor Road and Slater; Sparkenhoe and Medway. We also use

school staff who are Leading Teachers, Advanced Skills Teachers, and heads who are Local Leaders of Education to support improvement in a

large number of schools. The schools providing the support are of the view that it brings great benefits to them in terms of staff development

and improvement, as well as to the schools they support.

Reduce allocation of School Improvement Partners to schools and reorganise service

2011/12 0k 2012/13 60k 2013/14

120k

Currently there is a statutory requirement to allocate a School Improvement Partner (SIP) to every school, with each school given 5 days a

year. The Schools White Paper proposes that this statutory requirement will end. At the same time local authority funding for School

Improvement Partners and other school improvement work will end in April, and local authority responsibilities for school improvement will also

change. To reflect this Learning Services will no longer allocate school improvement support to all schools. The school improvement service


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will be reorganised and refocused on the schools most in need i.e. those in Ofsted categories or with exam results below the floor standard.

This means that schools that are judged outstanding, good or satisfactory will not automatically be allocated a link school improvement officer,

though they will be able to purchase this service if they wish. The change will mean that approximately 40% of primary schools and 20% of

secondary and special schools will be allocated support, based on the current number of schools in Ofsted categories, below floor, in an Ofsted

category and those with borderline results or at risk of an Ofsted category.

It also needs to be noted that one of the important tasks School Improvement Partners currently undertake in all schools is advising the

governing body on the performance management of headteachers, which is a legal and contractual responsibility of governing bodies. We

don’t yet know what the arrangements will be nationally for providing governors with this advice. It may return to the original system where

governors could select from a team of advisers, who were paid centrally by government. However we will need to wait for an announcement

from the DfE on arrangements – and funding – for headteacher performance management in schools who do not have School Improvement

Partners

As these changes will take some time to implement the savings are projected from 2012

Terminate the LLLO 2011/12 234k 2012/13 312k 2013/14

312k

The Leicester and Leicestershire Learning Organisation (LLLO) was set up when former Learning and Skills (LSC) staff transferred to the City

and County Councils in April 2010. In Leicester’s case this was 6 staff. The purpose of the LLLO was to support the two local authorities in

commissioning and managing the funding and contracts for post 16 education. Following the change of government the arrangements for

funding post 16 education have changed. In short, responsibility for funding post 16 learning has been transferred from the local authority to

the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA). The local authority continues to have a role in strategic decisions about post 16 learning.

As a result of this change the original remit and function of the LLLO team no longer exists. The new role for the Local Authority as a strategic

commissioner will be met through the 13-19 partnership and associated tasks will be absorbed within other posts in Learning Services.

ABG Adjustment

This is intended to reflect the fact that the savings from reducing the teaching / curriculum team etc and terminating the LLLO were expected to

a significant extent to offset the loss of ABG funding rather than benefit the General Fund.


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This remains true for the teaching / curriculum team (for which the National Strategies funding in the ABG is not being replaced), but is no

longer true for the LLLO as the funding is in fact being transferred to the Council’s General Fund as set out above (this was not expected, given

the intended retraction of much of the Council’s new responsibilities).


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5.5 Access, Inclusion and Participation

Access, inclusion and participation services

The AIP Division provides services for children and young people aged 0-19 in relation to early intervention and targeted work with children and

young people with additional needs. The Division also provides a strategic lead for the participation of children and young people and

parenting work. There are four service areas in AIP: Early Prevention; Behaviour and Attendance; Youth Support; and Change for Children.

The broad approach to savings

The total AIP savings proposed for 2011/12 are £2.952m and £4.273m on a full year ongoing basis. This will involve incrementally increasing

the level of service targeted at vulnerable children and young people and reducing infrastructure support. There will be less management and

back office functions and reduced support to private and voluntary sector providers (reflecting the reduction in national grants such as the early

intervention grant). The strategy will be supported through the implementation of an Integrated Youth Support Service for 13-19 services

including relevant Early Intervention Services from Youth Offending Service and Social Care and Safeguarding. The development of the

Integrated Youth Support strategy is an opportunity to review the way in which services for young people are delivered and managed at a

locality level. It will bring together specifically services such as the Youth support service, Youth Offending Service, Education Welfare Service,

Behaviour support and the Change for Children team. None of these proposals are specific to any individual ward, and they aim to enhance

co-ordination of services at locality level. There will be further opportunity for elected member involvement in shaping service delivery at a local

level through the Neighbourhood Advisory Boards.

The proposed approach to achieving these savings involves refocusing services on delivering a redefined core offer that distinguishes between

specific services for those in greatest need and a city wide service for all children and young people aged 0-19 years. The model has

integrated the management and support functions to deliver efficiency savings through infrastructure costs and reducing overall manager costs

across the Division. The strategy will support wider Council developments to promote locality based neighbourhood working to support future

commissioning at a local level. The reductions in grants from central government reflected in the early intervention grant disproportionately

impacts on the funding for the AIP division. A co-ordinated approach is therefore planned to minimise impact on front line services.


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Access, Inclusion and Participation proposed savings

Re-design the way we support private and voluntary sector childcare providers (given the national reduction in the early intervention

grant). We will delete 21 manager and officer posts and stop or reduce the provision of financial aid that supports the private and

voluntary sector childcare sector to continue to deliver and improve services. We will expect the Children Centres staff team to

provide support to providers (acknowledging that this is at a lower level). This includes the following:

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Delete all Child Minding Development Officers 53 80 80

We currently provide quality improvement support to childminders. We propose to delete 4 specialist posts and ask the children centre senior

childcare and early learning officers to be responsible for providing quality improvement support at a reduced level (1x term time briefing

sessions, encourage use of children centre services such as stay and play and staff development opportunities).

Cease providing sustainability and sufficiency support and revenue grants to the sector 150 150

150

We have a legal responsibility to support childcare providers by managing the childcare market (how we do this is not specified in law). We

currently give grants to the childcare providers to help them set up provision in areas where it is needed or to keep provision running where it is

at risk of closure. We would cease that activity and only provide advice and guidance on issues such as cash flow and marketing from

remaining staff.

Remodel quality improvement support to a neighbourhood model and reduced expenditure 583 1,000

1,000

We currently provide support to childcare providers so they can enhance the quality of their provision. We would change the way we provide

this support from a citywide to a neighbourhood model. We would ask existing children centre leaders to manage a small budget for quality

improvement and workforce development so they can procure additional support for inadequate and satisfactory rated settings only in

partnership with Learning Services. We would retain 1 full time equivalent quality improvement manager for 2 years to manage transition.

Reduce by 50% support to Extended Services / Schools Co-ordination 149 149

149


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We currently fund an extended services co-ordinator for each neighbourhood who is responsible for ensuring that play and holiday activity

providers work together with schools to ensure that children receive additional support for learning and social development outside of the

classroom and school day. This proposal would increase the neighbourhoods they cover to 2 and would therefore reduce the depth of their

work. It is also links in with the DfE decision to transfer the Extended Services Standards Fund grant into mainstream Dedicated Schools Grant

for inclusion in schools’ delegated budgets.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Reduce Childcare Sufficiency Officers (50%) and cease providing specialist business support 80 120

120

Reduce the number of childcare sufficiency officers by 50%. Ask the Corporate Strategy function to undertake the three yearly Childcare

Sufficiency assessment. Cease providing specialist business support to the childcare sector.

Change the way children centres provide services by focussing on the national offer of learning, health and family support. The

existing team will increase the support they provide to children in the greatest need .This will mean ceasing the additional contracts

for specialist support and train the children centre staff and volunteers to provide the support instead, this includes:

Cease additional library funding for Bookstart programme. 65 111

111

We propose to stop additional library funding for the Bookstart Programme and replace with a more targeted model that can be managed by

childcare and early learning staff supported by volunteers. Children and families will still be able to access library services through the children

centres.

Cease additional specialist home teaching support. 156 267

267

The Surestart grant funds additional teachers who provided home teaching support for children with additional needs. This responsibility will

move to the children centre teachers and childcare staff team.


26

Cease safe and healthy homes schemes and replace with national funded scheme instead 91 91

91

The funding is now provided as part of a national programme so families will still receive support on home safety issues


27

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Cease additional support for Early Support Programme 67 80

80

Early support is a service co-ordination programme for disabled children. The existing children's centre staff already deliver the programme,

supported by an external provider who acts as a single point of referral and provides training and quality assurance. It is envisaged that the

external role will be managed in-house.

Cease provision of additional Nutritionist support for Cook and Eat programmes 98 117

117

The service provides expert support to our cooks and childcare staff who provide Cook and Eat programmes for parents. We will continue to

provide the programmes but without expert support.

Cease funding for additional Ante-natal support 50 50 50

The proposals are in line with an agreed funding reduction model that has been in place over the last three years. The midwifery service has

used the funding to support the relocation of community midwifery teams into the children centres. This has now been achieved.

Cease specialist CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) 40 40

40

We currently fund one specialist infant mental health worker who previously has provided support to parents at risk of poor attachment in one

area of the city. We have an agreed plan with the PCT that this year sees the worker train our existing family support staff to work in this way so

in future they will pick up positive attachment support to parents experiencing difficulties.

Cease additional speech and language support 58 100

100


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We currently fund 3 full time equivalent speech and language therapists to provide expert support to children with communication difficulties,

the core children centre staff will be trained to pick up this work.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Cease cooking meals for children in sessional day care 29 50

50

This would delete cooks posts and healthy snacks will be provided by care staff with a food hygiene qualification (This would not impact on our

full day nursery smart start).

Re-commission childcare, play and early learning provision. (0-12 review) 292 500

500

We currently fund a whole range of in-house and externally managed childcare, play and early learning provision that has been placed in scope

for the commissioning reviews approved by Cabinet. We would need to reduce the level or type of provision based on decisions contained in

the strategic reviews. This saving will require ceasing or reconfiguring the delivery model of front line provision currently provided by the

Council and voluntary sector. This is unlikely to be fully achievable in the first year, due to the timelines associated with the reviews and the

progression of the planned year 1 reductions

Redesign of Management Roles and Responsibilities

Delete Service Improvement Officer post 30 40 40

The Service Improvement officer post would be deleted and the annual statistical function of validating children's centre performance would

move to the Head of Service, supported by the Service Manager for service improvement.

Cease the Talk Matters Strategy and merge the function into the existing “closing the gap” programme 30 40 40


29

The Talk Matters strategy would cease as a stand alone strategy and the work would continue but would be managed by the officer currently

responsible for the “closing the gap" programme. The Information Officer post would be deleted and responsibility moved to the corporate

marketing function.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

SSG contribution to children’s services infrastructure costs 250 250

250

This will enable a reduction to the General Fund income budget for infrastructure charges to grant funded services, as the ringfenced Surestart

Grant moves into the non-ringfenced and substantially reduced EIG.

Change for Children 143 190 190

Cabinet established the Change for Children Team in 2009 to develop and deliver the roll out of Integrated Services. This brings together

council services for children and young people with partner services e.g. health visiting, police, midwifery, family support and youth work to

better deliver services for children and young people 0-19.

The Change for Children team consists of a small central development team and the eight 13-19 Integrated Services Managers and 8

Administrators across the City. The main role of these managers is to coordinate Common Assessment Framework (CAF) activity and support

the local Neighbourhood Advisory Boards.

The ‘13-19 Integrated Services Managers’ were established on an interim basis pending the outcome of the strategic commissioning review.

The saving proposed in 2011/12 is from the growth of £190k allocated from base budget. The remainder of funding for the Change for Children

Team and the 13-19 Integrated Services Managers is from Area Based Grant (ABG) which will cease to exist from April 2011. It is therefore

necessary to include this service in the Strategic Commissioning Review for 13-19 Services to secure future management and delivery

arrangements.


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Youth Service

The Youth Service savings propose the deletion of management posts including the Head of Youth Service, senior practitioner posts and

integrating the remaining management structure with other early intervention services for young people. This will provide a flatter management

structure and improved service delivery at a locality level, with clearer lines of accountability and increased involvement of vulnerable young

people in positive activities.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Removal of the Head of Youth Service post, full effect of closing the RAILS Unit and 193 193 193 changing the data support arrangement for Connexions

Reconfigure and deletion of posts within the Youth Service 247 494

494

The proposed savings for youth work posts are detailed below:

• Reduce the size of the Area Youth Management Team from 3 posts to 2 posts

• Remove advance practitioner post and reconfiguring responsibility for staff and young people’s training

• Delete senior practitioner tier of management (3 posts)

• Delete 4 main grade youth worker posts and re-profile their portfolios

The posts proposed for deletion are not ward specific, and there are no proposals to close any existing youth centres. Posts proposed for

deletion are either citywide or managerial posts with existing functions be redeployed across the service as part of the planned organisational

review. The proposed changes to the service are aimed improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the youth service whilst increasing the

number of vulnerable young people who are supported directly by the service.


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The Raising Achievement in Leicester Schools (RAILS) unit was de-commissioned as part of the 2010/11 budget reductions and services have

either been continued within the mainstream youth service or are delivered by schools.

Ceasing non-statutory functions and mainstreaming these into Education Welfare Officer role 40 60

60

The dedicated role of the Teenage Pregnancy Re-integration Officer [EWO] (1 full time equivalent), the Teenage Pregnancy Re-integration

support worker (0.5 full time equivalent) and the Young Carers support EWO (0.4 full time equivalent) will cease and in future this work will be

incorporated into the role of all mainstream EWOs, albeit at a slightly reduced level of intervention. All statutory attendance work relating to

these two groups of young people will remain fully covered. A 0.5 FTE post is vacant.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Delete Layer of Management at Head of Service and link to Integrated Youth Support Service management 38 75

75

As part of a wider reduction in management support, the post of Head of Service, Behaviour and Attendance will be deleted and the

management functions at this level will be addressed via the new Integrated Youth Support Strategy management arrangements.

Reduce Education Welfare Service administration costs 6 6

6

Reduction in EWO travel expenditure, which is linked to planned savings from locality based working.

Asst. Principal Education Welfare Officers’ working weeks - reduce to term time + 2 weeks (40 weeks p.a.) 15 20

20

As part of a wider reduction in management support, the 3 Assistant Principal EWOs (team leaders) would transfer to term-time only working;

one of these already works on this basis. This would ensure full management cover was always available to schools and EWOs during term-


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time and with the additional two weeks working during school closure periods, these officers (alongside the Principal EWO who works on a full-

year basis), will ensure that adequate management support is available throughout the whole year.


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5.6 Planning and Commissioning

Divisional summary: This Division currently provides a range of direct internal, client, schools and settings support services and undertakes

planning, policy, commissioning functions, strategic data, knowledge and information management services.

This division comprises the following operational sections:

• Business Support & Improvement

• Knowledge Information Management & Customer Access

• Strategic Planning, Policy and Commissioning

• City Catering

Pressures upon the Division: In addition to the proposed budget savings, services within this Division are subject to three corporate ODI

reviews - i.e. administration and business support, communications and the strategic support services reviews. These reviews seek additional

significant savings. These Reviews will shortly (February/ March) result in additional significant reductions and job losses. For example, the

Administration and Business Support Review alone is seeking to effect Divisional savings of £102k % (20%). In addition the school meals

service provided by City Catering is currently the subject of Review by a Children and Young Peoples Services Scrutiny Task Group.

Current budget proposals will also result in a 25% reduction in Heads of Service within the Service – this will rise to 50% on completion of the

corporate ODI reviews referred to above.

The Business Support and Improvement Service undertakes:-

a. Statutory Free School Meals Assessment processes (14,000 applications per year) – this activity is central to promoting well being/

healthy life styles/ combating child poverty and securing pupil premium income for City schools (from 2011/12 - £430 per child

registered for Free School Meals).


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b. Management of the discretionary school crossing patrols service (risk assessment, recruitment, line management and training).

c. Commissioning of statutory and discretionary home to school transport arrangements for all eligible mainstream and special educational

needs pupils. Approximately 760 mainstream pupils receive assistance and 790 special education needs pupils aged 5 – 16 years

receive such assistance. Respective budgets in 2010/11 for these were £454,600 and £3,819,400 respectively. Approximately 1,700

post 16 years bus passes are also issued.

d. A range of Children’s Services statutory governance arrangements such as Schools Forum, Admissions Forum.

e. The servicing of all other Children’s Services consultation and negotiation machinery e.g. Teachers’ Negotiating Committee.

The Knowledge Information Management & Customer Access service undertake the development of data, information and knowledge

management strategies and systems to inform strategic, operational and tactical planning. e.g.

a. Maintenance and development of the ONE pupil data base (49,000 records) and 17 operational modules in support of statutory services

such as admissions, governor support etc.

b. The Data Net System provides enhanced pupil performance data capture, analysis and reporting via a web based system.

c. The completion and submission of a wide range of statutory service returns for Children’s Services divisions.

The Strategic Planning, Policy and Commissioning Service undertakes the review and development of key strategic, operational plans and

commissioning and performance management arrangements, e.g.

a. Statutory Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

b. Statutory Child Poverty Assessment (City Council statutory lead authority).

c. Children’s Plan.


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City Catering comprises 5 operational areas:-

a. School meals Service – delivers 2.6 million meals a year to required national nutrition standards. This service provides essential free

school meals to support improved nutrition/ well being and combat child poverty – a major issue in Leicester and a One Leicester

Priority. Free school meal take up currently calculated at 80.52% (primary sector) and 74.61% (secondary sector). The School Meal

Service will see a rise in its operational labour costs of £600k per annum as a result of single status implementation and the service is

currently the subject of Review by a Children and Young Peoples Services Scrutiny Task Group.

b. Welfare service (meals on wheels).

c. Hospitality Service (includes catering for Full Council etc)

d. Leicester Adult Education Centre Café (currently generates a small profit)

e. De Montfort Hall Bars (currently generates a small profit)

City Catering is a wholly traded service. The Service (whose largest element is the school meals service) currently breaks even across a £6m

trading budget.

In addition to the above, the Divisional Director has matrix management responsibilities in connection with Finance (Schools and Non

schools), HR, Workforce Development and Health and Safety Management across the Children’s Services portfolio.


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Planning and Commissioning Budget Pressures

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Home to School transport – current SEN overspend 600 600 600

The 2009/10 budget for SEN Transport was £3,869,400 and the outturn £4,474,500 - an overspend of £605,100 (15%).

The service is provided by Operational Transport, and consists of an in-house bus service and provision of taxis via contracts. Numbers of

pupils using the service have not varied significantly from 2008/09.

HR traded service – Deletion of Income Budget in Children’s Services 200 200

200

The Human Resources traded service for schools is no longer in the Division, although the budget for part of the income target remains in the

Division’s budget. This budget growth would remove the income budget. A proposal to increase charges to schools, to work towards covering

the full cost of the service, is included in the HR budget presented elsewhere in the Council’s budget proposals.

Shortfall in traded services income 160 160 160

Services to schools on a traded basis are provided by this and other Children’s Services Divisions. Schools buy back a range of services with differing take up levels – in addition not all charges reflect however the full cost of providing this service, e.g. special needs teaching service and aspects of Learning Services. The current shortfall of actual income compared to budgeted income arose due to certain assumptions made when the current system of funding the Council and schools was introduced in 2006/07, at which point the Council’s funding was reduced. For planning purposes it was assumed that substantial additional income could be raised by charging schools for services. This has been achieved to some extent, but not to the level of the original assumptions

A revised traded service offer is being prepared that will be based upon full cost recovery. In future services that fail to trade effectively will need to reduce costs (including staffing), or the scope of the service may be decreased, and may need to be terminated or transferred to another provider.


37


38

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Reduced contribution to infrastructure costs from Grants 250 250 250

A charge is currently made to grant funded services for support services / infrastructure costs, for example, HR and finance support and staff

accommodation. As grant funded services are largely disappearing and the new Early Intervention Grant is significantly reduced and non-

ringfenced, it is proposed to delete this expected income from the General Fund budget. A similar proposal is made in the AIP proposals in

respect of the current contribution from the Surestart grant.

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Staff accommodation savings not achievable 150 150 150

This sum represents the total savings target for ALL Children’s Services Divisions that have not as yet been realised. Further progress is

largely dependent upon the progression of the corporate accommodation review and neighbourhood working, to enable accommodation to be

released.

Planning and Commissioning Proposed Savings

Business Support and Improvement

Management efficiency supplies and services. 29 29 29

This is a pooled budget servicing many people. The sum shown represents a reduction of 15% on the current budget (£191,400). The reduced

number of employees should make it possible to reduce supplies and services accordingly.


39

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Management efficiencies deletion of HoS Business Support and Improvement post (vacant) 52 52 52

This post (Head of Business Support & Improvement) is currently vacant. Deletion will require some service redesign following completion of

related ODI and senior Management Reviews. There are currently 4 heads of service within the Division and this therefore represents a

reduction of 25% – this will rise to 50% on completion of the corporate ODI reviews referred to in the accompanying narrative..

Knowledge Information Management and Customer Access (KIMCA):

Increase trading charges to schools. 46 46 46

Move towards fuller cost recovery from schools, for the Management Information System support service charges for the DataNet system and

services to non-maintained schools.

For example, schools do not currently contribute to the development and management of DataNet, however they are the major beneficiaries. It

is proposed to charge each school £200 per annum yielding £22,000. A further example of this might be charging the annual

maintenance/licence costs associated with the ONE admissions module to the Dedicated Schools Grant which funds other admissions team

activities.

Redesign of the Family and Children’s Information Service (already agreed by Cabinet) 168 202

202

Cabinet have already taken a decision to implement this proposal on 13 December 2010.

The Family Information Service is a legal requirement and provides information on childcare and support services for parents. This proposal

remodels the provision to provide face to face access at children centres and schools and closes the Bishop Street "shop”. Continued

brokerage will be provided for parents who find it extremely challenging to place their children in childcare. The remodelled service would retain

a centrally based team within KIMCA to ensure the currency of (and updates to) the website and other materials. A systems officer and a data


40

coordinator would manage data entry and assure quality and there would be a further two brokerage officers in localities to provide support to

vulnerable families. This would save half of the current combined budgets held by KIMCA and Early Prevention.

There is a net staffing reduction of 3 FTE posts a reduction of 37% on the current establishment (8 fte)

2011/12 2012/13 2013/14

Close EATZ (Catering facilities for staff in NWC A & B block) 0 0 0

The overall account for the A Block Carte, B Block EATZ and Hospitality was budgeted to make a loss of £9,600 during the course of 2010/11,

with losses being offset across the City Catering portfolio. It is now forecast to make a loss of £37,700 this financial year (mainly due to lower

“sales” arising from the new hospitality policy) and is incurring additional ongoing costs to meet environmental standards. It is proposed to close

the catering facilities in A & B Block to stem these losses on the trading account (hence why there is no direct saving to the General Fund

budget).

Delete ISSAM team manager post 28 37 37

The Improving Information Sharing and Management (ISSAM) Team Leader position was originally established as part of the development and

roll out of CAF. This post is not part of the substantive structure and has been covered on a temporary project basis via a secondment. This

secondment has now finished and current management is undertaken as a supernumerary task within the KIMCA service. This proposal

deletes the ISSAM Team Manager post and assumes direct management of this activity by the early prevention manager within the Social Care

and Safeguarding division.

Student Awards 100 140 150

Local Authorities in England will cease to operate the Student Awards service from April 2011. Some salary protection and redundancy costs

for the remaining Awards staff may be incurred in 2011/12 (or later), should staff secure temporary contracts such that they are not made

redundant in March 2011.


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6. Schools

Introduction

The Government has announced our Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding for 2011/12 only, although commitments have been made to

maintain per-pupil funding in cash terms at national level and to increase the new pupil premium year on year.

We will lose £0.6m of DSG as the dual funding of pupils registered to a Pupil Referral Unit and a school comes to an end, and we expect to

gain £1.1m due to the effect of updated population data on the funding for 3 year olds. However, the DSG funding for the additional 2.5 hours

free entitlement for early years is around £0.7m less in a full year than the funding received for the Autumn 2010 and Spring 2011 terms.

Therefore we expect the funding available for 3-16 education via DSG / the Schools Budget to be around £1.4m less than currently in cash

terms.

Our total DSG allocation is expected to be in the region of £240m. Together with funding from the YPLA for school sixth forms and 16-18 SEN,

this comprises the funding for the Schools Budget.

Pressures on the wider Schools Budget

A number of unfunded pressures have been identified on the wider Schools Budget (as opposed to individual schools) in the future. These

include:

a. City Learning Centres, for which the ABG funding of £480k will cease. These will need to be reviewed and could in due course become traded, be taken on by a school or group of schools;, or used for alternative purposes.

b. The introduction of the Carbon Reduction Commitment scheme, for which there will be a cost of perhaps some £400k to the Schools Block (if not individual schools, in the early years of its operation);

c. The costs of Single Status for City Catering, estimated at around £500k. These will need to be funded by DSG for Free School Meals, charges for paid meals (or DSG) and operating cost reductions;

d. Any proposals to allocate additional funding for Whatever it Takes and other collaborative initiatives; and

e. School Support and Intervention at individual schools..


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Individual Schools

The Minimum Funding Guarantee has been set at minus 1.5% for pupils aged 5-16. This means that 1.5% is the maximum reduction in funding

per pupil at individual school level. We intend to delegate more funds to schools as part of their budgets, rather than retaining particular funds

centrally and issuing them during the year. This will include funding currently retained for teachers whose pay goes into the upper pay scale (to

reflect performance, management responsibilities, etc) and more of the funding for pupils with special educational needs. However, as set out

below, schools will face a range of new cost pressures in 2011/12. The impact will be offset to varying degrees by the Pupil Premium at

individual schools

The Pupil Premium will generate some £5m across Leicester’s maintained schools, at a rate of £430 per pupil. The effect will vary across

schools, as the Premium is paid for pupils registered for Free School Meals.

A number of pressures on individual schools have been identified:

a. The full year effect of the September 2010 teachers’ pay award, which will add nearly 1% to the cost of paying teachers in 2011/12;

b. An expected increase of 2% in the employer’s pension contributions for non-teaching staff;

c. The introduction of the Single Status scheme, although schools should already be budgeting on an estimated basis for this;

d. Changes to some national grants, such as the School Sports Partnerships (significantly reduced), the ending of Playing for Success and school-specific funding such as National Challenge, and the uncertainty around Music funding. These total some £1.2m;

e. Additional services that the Council will need to trade with schools due to funding changes affecting the Council, and the need for all traded services to cover their full costs. A separate report has been prepared;

f. The potential for schools to assume greater responsibility for securing careers advice as the new national careers service starts to take effect from the Autumn;

g. The national requirement to introduce an Early Years Single Funding Formula, which will see schools funded for 3 year olds on the basis of the actual number of children attending, not the number of places available (this will mean more funding for some infant and primary schools and less for others);


43

h. Expected reductions to the funding for Sixth Form provision via the YPLA, in line with the national plan to harmonise funding for school sixth form with funding for Sixth Form and FE colleges;

i. The impact of an 80% reduction in Devolved Formula Capital to schools and the ending of the Harnessing Technology Grant, which will inevitably push costs onto schools’ revenue budgets (albeit perhaps not immediately at some schools); and

j. In addition, most Standards Funds are being added to DSG and will become part of schools’ delegated budgets. We expect to replicate the Standards Fund allocations to schools for 2011/12, to minimise funding changes at school level; however this is subject to affordability within the overall Schools Budget.

Local Changes to the Formula for Funding Schools

We are proposing changes to the local funding formula to increase the funds included in schools’ delegated budgets and to reduce the

administrative burden on schools and the Council. This will have differing impacts across schools, although transitional protection measures will

be in place. The changes will include the funding arrangements for Special Educational Needs (the Meeting Individual Needs Review), where

greater formula-based delegation of funds to schools is proposed; the funding for teachers’ threshold pay; funding for pupil mobility /

turbulence, which affects a limited number of schools; and the Early Years Single Funding Formula as noted above.

These have been the subject of consultation and discussion with schools and the Schools Forum and Cabinet approval will be sought.

Detail of the Schools Budget

The detail of the Schools Budget, funded by the ring-fenced Dedicated Schools Grant and 16+ funds from the Young People’s Learning Agency

(YPLA), is considered separately in detailed consultation with the Schools Forum.

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