Agenda and minutes

Report by Carole Smith, Resources and Digital

This additional meeting was called to discuss Item 5 Mainstream Schools Funding 2025/26 from the meeting held 9.1.2025. The School’s Forum were sent an email with an updated appendices for their consideration.

The secondary leaders met on Tuesday 14^th January and wrote a joint statement that was read to the forum to express their concerns and their unanimous vote against the 0.5% top slice of at the secondary leaders meeting.

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Collective Statement from Gateshead Secondary School Leaders

Gateshead Secondary School Leaders are very concerned about the proposal to top-slice 0.5% from the Mainstream Schools Block funding for 2025-26.

The proposal states (item 5, pages 15-16) that “it is anticipated that this [additional funding, amounting to £774,250] will provide additional specialist SEND provision to support Gateshead children.”

Whilst we recognise the need to support and alleviate the pressures on SEND support within Gateshead, the impact of this proposal appears not to have been thought through sufficiently.

The proposal lacks any detail about the precise intended purpose of the additional funding. There is a lack of transparency about the costs of any intended solution. Nor does it indicate how any “additional specialist SEND provision” will be allocated or accountable to Gateshead school leaders. On this basis alone, it should be impossible for Schools Forum to approve this proposal.

At a time when all school budgets are already stretched and many schools will be forced to set deficit budgets in future years, any proposal to cut the Mainstream Schools Block funding will inevitably result in further cuts in schools.

By removing up to £40,000 from the budget of each school in Gateshead, every school will struggle to provide tailored SEND support for its own pupils. Inevitably in schools, a cut in funding means a reduction in jobs, some of which will be focused on providing support to children with SEND. This further disadvantages Gateshead children.

Gateshead Secondary School Leaders therefore collectively oppose the proposal to top-slice 0.5% from the Mainstream Schools Block funding for 2025-26.

In addition, Gateshead Secondary School Leaders formally request that any future proposals to reduce or repurpose mainstream school funding be communicated to all school leaders at least one week in advance of the date of the Schools Forum meeting, to allow time for consideration and consultation.

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During the discussion after the statement was presented there was a mix of views amongst the Forum.

The Local Authority acknowledged that there had been information shared at the previous meeting but was not detailed in the report as the information was not yet applicable for the public domain as the Council decision making processes had not yet been concluded.

A general concern raised was school budgets are already tight, and this is going to make budgets more difficult, and if a clearer picture of the High Needs Block budget had been communicated to all schools including the strategic plan and where the funds were being invested, then this may have  ...  view the full minutes text for item 32.