Education Services Grant ‘threatens support'

At the start of February, the Department for Education totted up the academies open in England: 2,673. In 2010, there were just 202. This astronomic rise has understandably necessitated changes to funding for schools.

Controversy over government plans to redirect council funding for education support services to academies has been rumbling on for more than two years. In 2011, ministers decided to “top slice” the Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant to councils in a bid to solve the problem of “double funding” for schools that had converted to academy status.

The DfE has since been trying to work out an equitable way of distributing cash and has now settled on apportioning the money through a new Education Services Grant from April 2013.

Worth £1.04bn in its first year, local authorities and academies will receive £15 per pupil to spend on education services such as behaviour support, school improvement and financial management.

The DfE’s consultation on the funding proposals originally suggested that £1.22bn would be taken from local authority budgets to finance the grant. Following consultation, the final figure was revised down by £180m, in response to pleas from councils.

Support services under threat
However, local authorities are warning that the £15 per pupil allocation is too low and threatens support services for some of the most disadvantaged children.

Debbie Jones, president of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, is leading calls for the funding levels to be increased. “We like the fact that it has been transferred on a per-pupil basis, but £15 is basically not enough,” she says. “Local authorities retain a significant number of statutory duties in relation to services, particularly to vulnerable students regardless if they’re at an academy, state school or anywhere else.”

She insists that the cost savings that councils gain from not having to provide as many services to academies is negligible.

“We continue to make it clear to DfE that there is an inequity,” says Jones. “The problem is that our role in commissioning for vulnerable children does not change. However you rationalise it, the amount in the pot is less.”

Her concerns are echoed by David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board. He warns that the changes to funding will create a “mixed picture” of education support services for children around the country.

“Councils now have both a lot less flexibility and a lot less money at the centre to provide those services,” says Simmonds. “In some areas, such as Leeds and Birmingham, schools have entered into an agreement with the council to recommission services in a way that is pretty similar to what was there before. But in other parts of the country, schools are purchasing those services on the open market and using their independence to get a better deal. Some people will get a good deal out of those things, others won’t.”

Simmonds warns that the buck stops with councils in relation to securing education provision for all children and young people, regardless of how many local schools are academies.

“If a school has to close for some reason, such as problems with heating or asbestos, it is the local council that has to ensure those children get an education,” he says.

“The council’s responsibility is to all children. There isn’t an option to say, ‘an academy has made a mess of things’. The council still has to find somewhere for those children to go to school, but now they’re going to have less money to do that.”

Malcolm Trobe, deputy general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, says councils are right to be concerned. He warns that Ofsted’s plans to scrutinise school improvement services in areas with high numbers of underperforming schools will increase pressure on local authorities.

“Ofsted is holding councils to account for the quality of education, and yet they have no real authority over academies and are getting no significant funding in order to provide that service,” he says. “Councils are having to make very difficult decisions as to where they’re making cuts in their budgets. They are in a very difficult position at the moment.”

Struggle in London
John Bray, policy and finance manager at London Councils, says local authorities in the capital will struggle with the £15 per pupil allocation. In 2011, a group of 23 local authorities, including 10 from London, lodged a claim for a judicial review in the High Court over the issue of transferring funding from councils to academies. They warned that London schools would be among the worst hit by any loss of funding for central education services.

Bray is still concerned that councils will be unable to maintain support for local children and young people when the Education Services Grant takes effect. “There’s a risk that statutory responsibilities local authorities have for all pupils, irrespective of the number of academy schools they have in their area, will be underfunded,” he says. “That will then put pressure on other council finances.”

A DfE spokeswoman says: “The Education Services Grant is fairer and simpler and will help make sure all schools are funded on a transparent and comparable basis.”


In Numbers

£1.04bn
total Education Services Grant in 2013/14

£15
amount of funding per pupil

£180m
amount the DfE decided not to cut from local authority revenues to fund the grant

Source: Department for Education