HEREFORDSHIRE schools are not expected to see much of an increase in government funding next year, according to council finance officers.

Malcolm Green, senior finance manager at Herefordshire Council, told the county’s schools forum on July 6 that the national funding formula for 2019/20 will be broadly the same as the current financial year.

“There’s very little change from the track we’ve been on.

“The key differences which have already been announced are that the funding for schools will increase 1%.

“So effectively schools will have a 0.5% increase for 2018/19 and another 0.5% in 2019/20. “The minimum per pupil funding levels will increase to £3,500 and £4,800 for primary and secondary.

“We actually implemented those early for 2018/19 so that will not make any difference for us.

“The most substantial change is the introduction of a formulaic approach to the growth factor.”

Mr Green also said that the f40 group, which represents the worst councils in terms of per pupil funding, met recently with education secretary Damian Hinds.

He said: “Leading members of F40 met with the secretary of state last week “We stressed the high needs was high on the agenda and made it clear to the minister that without additional funding the situation will become critical.

“Many local authorities nationwide are at a deficit on high needs, but Herefordshire is not in that position.

“The F40 stressed the importance of teacher recruitment and retention and asked for additional funding to cover pay awards so that hopefully the unfunded pay awards that schools have had to fund in recent years will be dealt with by the DFE.

“One of the things none of the DfE officials have talked about is the quantum funding for 19/20 i.e. how much funding is going to go into the formula.

“All the discussions have been about how the formula is resolved.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said they were investing an additional £1.3bn in schools across 2018-19 and 2019-20, over and above previous plans.

He said: “We are protecting funding in real terms, per pupil.

“In fact, analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies shows that real terms per pupil funding in 2020 will be more than 50% higher than it was in 2000.

“Herefordshire is gaining 1.4% per pupil in 2018-19 and will see further gains in future years. This is equivalent to £63 per pupil this year.

“And as part of our national funding formula, this year Herefordshire will receive £14.6 million in high needs funding, an increase of 2.8% on what they planned to spend in 2017-18.”