Issue details

Proposed Decision:

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills:

• APPROVE the distribution the Teacher’s Pension Employer Contribution Grant in line with the terms and conditions of the grant

•  APPROVE the distribution the Core Schools Budget Grant in line with the terms and conditions of the grant.

• APPROVE the distribution of the Early Years Budget Grant to Early Years Providers in line with the terms and conditions of the grant.

• DELEGATE authority to the Director of Education and SEN, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills to take other necessary actions, including but not limited to making any further necessary changes to funding rates in light of any final affordability issues, and entering into contracts or other legal agreements, as required to implement the decision.

Reason for the decision:

• The Government has provided extra funding to schools and early years providers in response to increases in the Employers Contribution towards Teachers Pensions and Teachers Pay Awards (& other staff) during 2024-25. This decision will confirm how this additional funding will be distributed to schools and early years providers, where there is a local decision, in line with Government guidelines. 
• The approach to be taken will be confirmed at the point the decision is taken.

Background:

• The Department of Education (DfE) has confirmed the Council will receive three separate grants in 2024-25 (with final grant allocations confirmed in March 2025), to support the increase in costs in schools and early years providers resulting from:

1.    Estimated increase in Teachers Pension Employer Contribution (TPEC) by 5 percentage points, to 28.6% from 1^st April 2024 to ensure that the scheme continues to meet present and future obligations (estimated total £30.5m for schools in Kent of which £17.1m will be paid directly by DfE to academies)

2.    Estimated increases in schools resulting from the September 2024 teachers pay award announcements and support staff pay increases from 1^st April 2024 (the Core Schools Budget Grant is estimated total £31.2m for schools in Kent of which £17.5m will be paid directly by DfE to academies).

3.    Estimated increases for early years providers of the free entitlement offer in resulting from teachers’ pay award from September 2024 (the Early Years Budget Grant, estimated total £0.3m for early years providers in Kent)

·     The Local Authority is responsible for the passporting of these grants to individual maintained primary and secondary state-funded schools and this has been prescribed by the Department of Education as part of the terms and condition of the grant (and therefore is not part of this key decision). Mainstream Academies and Free Schools will receive their grant allocations directly from the DfE.

·     The Council must decide how the funding for Alternative Provision (AP) (including pupil referral units, AP academies & free schools, and hospital school), and state-funded special schools should be allocated (estimated total TPEC £4m & CSBG £4.2m). Interim payments have been made to schools, to support cash-flow, in lieu of this decision and final grant allocations being confirmed).

·     Additional funding received for independent schools and centrally employed teachers will be used to support 24-25 price uplift requests and pay increases (respectively) in accordance with the grant conditions.

·     The Council must decide how the funding for early year providers should be allocated (estimated total EYBG £0.3m).

Options (other options considered but discarded):

• The option to return this grant to the DfE was disregarded at an earlier stage. The grants have been allocated directly to the Local Authority by the DfE for distribution to schools to support unavoidable increases in spend relating to pay.

Framing Kent’s Future and Securing Kent’s Future:

·     The decision is linked to the key priority “Levelling up Kent” within the ‘Framing Kent’s Future (2022-26)’

·     Whilst the decision relates to the distribution of ring-fenced grant, this decision is linked to achieving the overall objectives of ‘Securing Kent’s Future – Budget Recovery Strategy’ whereby proposals are linked to ensuring financial sustainability of special schools and alternative provision (of which the majority are LA maintained schools, whereby KCC retains responsibility), and additional funding to support price uplift requests which will avoid further financial pressure on the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant and support the financial recovery.