ESFA Update local authorities: 26 February 2020
Published 26 February 2020
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2020
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1. Information: pupil premium conditions of grant for 2020 to 2021
Following January’s announcement of the pupil premium rates for 2020 to 2021 we have now published the pupil premium conditions of grant for the 2020 to 2021 financial year.
Local authorities should note that from 2020 to 2021 we are changing how we allocate and pay pupil premium for non-maintained special schools (NMSS).
We will no longer allocate pupil premium to local authorities for pupils attending NMSS for them to pass to the relevant schools. We will allocate and pay pupil premium direct to NMSS.
This brings the arrangements for pupil premium in line with our other specific grants, where we pay NMSS directly.
2. Information: year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium 2019 to 2020
We have published the year 7 literacy and numeracy catch-up premium allocations and conditions of grant for 2019 to 2020.
3. Information: free school meals supplementary grant 2019 to 2020
We have published the conditions of grant and allocations for the free school meals supplementary grant for 2019 to 2020.
4. Information: section 251 budget guidance for 2020 to 2021
We have published the section 251: budget guidance for 2020 to 2021.
Local authorities must submit their 2020 to 2021 budget statements by 30 April 2020 via the COLLECT portal. The portal is due to open early March.
5. Information: consultation on proposed changes to the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance
We have launched a consultation on proposed changes to the Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance and would encourage colleges, schools and staff, particularly designated safeguarding leads (DSLs) and senior leaders to respond. We are updating our guidance for DSLs to ensure that they have a greater focus on improving the academic achievement of children who have experienced adversity and trauma, as part of their existing safeguarding duties.
We want to hear your views on what additional resources, training or support would help DSLs to carry out their role successfully so that we can make sure the right support is in place when these changes are introduced.
We would be grateful if you could submit your response by 21 April 2020.
6. Information: benefit from the reduced cost of risk cover
From 1 April 2020 local authority maintained schools can join the risk protection arrangement (RPA).
Online registration will be available from mid-March through DfE sign-in, so if you do not have an account please register for one now.
The RPA is an alternative to commercial insurance and has been operational for academies since 2014. Extending this to maintained school means they will benefit from the reduced cost of risk cover and achieve similar financial savings as academies have through membership of the RPA.
For more information, please contact lams.rpa@education.gov.uk.
7. Your feedback: tell us about your challenges when buying everyday goods
The Department for Education (DfE) is conducting research to understand the needs and challenges when buying common goods such as stationery, office supplies, text books and sports equipment.
Your comments will help to inform the development of guidance and services to better support schools in this area. The survey will take around 10 minutes to complete and all responses will be anonymised after entry.
Please complete the schools buying survey by Friday 6 March 2020.
8. Your feedback: we would welcome your feedback on a new online form to report extremism concerns
As part of our work to help the education sector raise any matters or concerns that arise on extremism, we would like to speak to the sector to receive their feedback on a new online form.
DfE offer a service for anyone to report a concern relating to extremism within an educational environment using email or phone. We are currently working on an online form as an additional anonymous method to use the service. To ensure that the form is intuitive and easy to use, we’re looking for some volunteers to help us with our research. The research session will consist of you going through a test version of the form.
If you wish to take part in the research, where we will spend 30 to 45 minutes speaking to you on a 1 to 1 basis, either remotely using Skype or during a site visit, please email DataScience.USERRESEARCH@education.gov.uk by Friday 6 March 2020.
9. Your feedback: can you help us to understand whether/how a public financial health measure of schools and academies could be useful to you?
We are looking for volunteers to help inform our user research on the notion of a potential publicly available measure of schools’ financial health.
We are interested in:
- what do you think of the idea?
- might one be useful?
- could it be misused?
- how might one be shaped to the benefit of both institutions and the public?
We’re interested in understanding whether you think this could be a helpful tool to you and how you might use it.
We will be conducting face-to-face interviews between Wednesday 19 February to Monday 16 March 2020 and will travel to you.
If you are interested in taking part in any research interviews please contact our User Researcher.