Welcome to the second edition of the f40 Group’s e-newsletter

F40 represents those authorities that are the poorest funded - those at the bottom of the funding league table.

We are a group that campaigns for fairer funding of education. We are seeking fairer funding without detrimental impact on other authorities.

For nearly a decade this group, in one form or another, has been actively arguing for improvements to the existing funding formula and although at times it has felt as though we have been banging our collective heads against the wall, we currently believe we are well-positioned to influence real change

There have already been some successes. For example, we believe that we helped persuade the government to introduce greater transparency and simplicity to the system in 2004 and we also played a crucial part in the government’s decision to deal with pockets of deprivation, which resulted in significant new funding for many authorities.

We have been successful because we are widely drawn from across the country – shires, metropolitans and unitaries – and have adopted a professional approach, with dedicated individuals fighting for justice. And our future success also depends on working together and singing from the same hymn sheet and that is why more poorly funded local authorities are being encouraged to join this campaign group.

The ongoing DSG Funding Review is our best chance of achieving what we collectively want. The group is determined to gain funding equity and it is essential that we influence the review by providing indisputable evidence and strong, well-considered arguments to support our case.

This is a crucial time for f40 authorities and for those authorities that also suffer the injustice of unfair funding. Together I believe we can achieve real and significant change in this review which will ensure that the children in our schools get the levels of funding they deserve.

David Kidney, MP for Stafford and Chair of the f40 Group of Local Authorities

So far the DSG funding review group has met on five occasions and has covered a great deal of ground, looking at issues including:

• Timing of pupil count for DSG allocation
• Introducing incentives into school funding
• 14-19 funding formula
• Activity-led funding
• Pupil mobility
• Additional education needs
• High cost pupils – special education needs
• Area cost adjustment
• Sparsity and small schools
• The 21 st Century School (incorporating greater flexibility in the use of DSG to support ECM and review of boundaries - LA/school split
• Early years funding.

Full details about the work of the DSG funding review group can be accessed on the Teachernet website.

The f40 Group has submitted evidence papers in respect of Activity-led funding and Area Cost Adjustment, both of which can be viewed on our website – www.f40.org.uk

The Group is also planning to submit an evidenced-based response in respect of Special Educational Needs but will await the outcome of national research commissioned by the government.

The DSG funding review group has identified that a substantial amount of major research is required to determine real and accurate positions in respect of many elements of the funding review.

The government, through the DCSF has already commissioned much of this work from external consultants and some is well advanced. The key areas of research so far to support the review are, not surprisingly :

• Activity-led funding
• Additional educational needs
• High cost pupils and Special Educational Need
• Area cost adjustment – how to reflect different costs across the country of providing comparable services
• Sparsity and small schools (using PLASC data)
• 14 – 19 funding.

The DCSF has indicated that the results of all the research undertaken will be available on the DSF Review pages of the TeacherNet website.

Here's an outline of what the DSG formula review group will be examining at its future programmed meetings.

27 October 2008 – Academies funding

24 November 2008 – to be advised

26 January 2009 – Review of work on Activity-led funding

23 February 2009 – Streamlining of Grants and a review of work on Additional Educational Needs

23 March 2009 – Review of work on Area Cost Adjustment

Then, over the following six months, the Review Group will further develop the emerging proposals for a new formula and submit an initial report to Ministers.

Consultation proposals will be developed at the back end of 2009, leading to the launch of a comprehensive consultation programme from January to March 2010. During the period April to June the proposals will be further developed taking into account responses received.

Broad decisions on the new look DSG formula will be announced in July 2010 and applied to the scholl funding settlement for 2011-12.

At the last f40 Executive Committee meeting (13 September 2008) there was a comprehensive discussion about the work of the DSG funding review group’s work so far and what further actions f40 should be taking to ensure its voice is heard.

The minutes of the meeting, which are available on f40’s website, record the main points Executive Committee members considered.

David Kidney concluded the discussion by emphasising that by the end of 2008 it is critically important that f40 has a clear line on each key topic within the review. This will allow the Group to further influence the emerging outcomes before initial results are passed to Ministers.

It was agreed that f40 will concentrate its efforts on three priority areas:

• Sparsity,
• Special Education Needs – high cost cases
• Additional Educational Needs.

The committee agreed that this will provide necessary focus for f40 over the next few months. Further details of our approach and actions will be circulated in due course.

The next f40 Executive Committee meeting will be held at 11am on Saturday 29 November 2008 at Amerton Farm, Stowe by Chartley, near Stafford.

The Executive Committee is an open meeting that representatives of any f40 authority may attend. If you are interested in getting involved, please contact the Group’s secretary – see contact details at the end of this e-news.

F40’s annual conference in 2009 may well prove to be the most important event the group has ever organised, coming as it does, at a crucial time in the DSG review process.

So far we know that this important event will be held in Wakefield, and we thank Peter Glover, chair of Wakefield Schools Forum and Elaine McHale, Corporate Director for Family Services, for agreeing to be our hosts.

We’re looking at a date in March or April, which is when the DSG Review Group’s will be looking at key elements of the formula and weighing up the evidence presented by research consultants and other contributors, like f40. It’s also the time when initial proposals for change will be drafted in readiness for Ministerial consideration.

During this critically important period, when the whole DSG formula is under review, we have a rare opportunity to influence change that might benefit the poorest-funded authorities and create an education grant system that offers fair funding for all.

There’s strength in numbers and that’s why f40’s Executive Committee is inviting more authorities to join its campaign.

F40 chair, David Kidney MP said: I would like to encourage more authorities at the lower end of the funding league table to join f40.

“We have a record 27 authorities in membership of the f40 Group, but we would like to see more join our ranks.

“Since our last e-news in May, Devon County Council and North Lincolnshire Council have joined, though for budgetary reasons, North Somerset unfortunately has had to withdraw from membership.

“Our campaign for funding improvement would undoubtedly have greater strength and achieve success much more quickly if more authorities were to show their support. I invite them to get in touch to consider how together we can make thie most of this once in a generation opportunity to achieve change to the funding regime.”

The current members of f40 are:

• Bedfordshire CC
• Bury CC
• Cambridgeshire CC
• Cheshire CC
• Derbyshire CC
• Devon CC
• East Riding of Yorkshire
• Gloucestershire
• Herefordshire Council
• Kent CC
• Leicestershire CC
• North Lincolnshire Council
• North Tyneside MBC
  

• North Yorkshire CC
• Nottinghamshire CC
• Solihull MBC
• South Gloucestershire Council
• Staffordshire CC
• Stockport MBC
• Suffolk MBC
• Wakefield MBC
• Warrington Council
• Warwickshire CC
• Wigan MBC
• Worcestershire CC
• York (City of)

The following 13 authorities, by ranking, make up the "poorest forty" in the government's funding league table of 150 LEAs:

Wiltshire CC (146)
Northumberland CC (145)
Shropshire CC (142)
Poole Council (141)
North Somerset Council (138)
Cornwall CC (137)
Somerset CC (136)
Swindon Council (134)
Northamptonshire CC (133)
Wokingham Council (131)
Lincolnshire CC (126)
Norfolk CC (123)
Bournemouth Council (122)

But even those just outside the ‘worst forty’ rankings might wish to consider membership of f40. Being in the bottom third of the funding league means children and schools in these areas are getting a raw deal compared to other authorities higher up the table which get much healthier settlements. These include:

Hampshire CC (119)
Trafford MBC (118)
Barnsley MBC (117)
Cumbria CC (116)
Oxfordshire CC (111)
West Sussex CC (110)
Plymouth Council (109)
Bath & North East Somerset Council (107)