Agenda Item:
HAMPSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
Report
Meeting / Schools Forum Item 4Date: / 16 May 2017
Title: / Independent Appeals Service Funding: Voluntary Aided, Foundation and Trust Schools
Report From: / Head of Legal and Governance and Monitoring Officer
Contact name: / Katie Benton, Group Manager
Tel: / 01962 847336 / Email: /
1 Summary
1.1 Some ‘own admission authority’ (aided, foundation, and trust) schools currently purchase the Independent Appeals Service (IAS) provided by Hampshire County Council through its Legal and Governance section. This service provides admission, challenging behaviour and exclusion appeal hearings, together with the required administration that precedes all hearings.
1.2 Following feedback from some ‘own admission authority’ schools, this paper sets out an alternative approach to funding school admission, challenging behaviour and exclusion appeals. Schools Forum is asked to agree the proposed funding changes set out in this report.
2 Background
2.1 Paragraph 1.14 of the School Admission Appeals Code (Feb 2012) states that “Local authorities must allocate reasonable funds to governing bodies of maintained schools which are the admission authorities to meet admission appeal costs”. This meant that, at this time, the local authority had a duty to support maintained schools (voluntary aided, foundation and trust schools) with appeal costs.
2.2 Historically, rather than providing funding direct to schools through their budget share, ‘own admission authority’ schools funding was retained centrally and voluntary aided schools claimed back a fixed cost per appeal. However, over time the cost of providing the service increased leading to a situation whereby the Diocese were subsidising the service. In order to address this situation, the local authority agreed to allow the use of the County Council’s IAS without charge should the Diocesan board not offer their own appeals service.
2.3 The 2013/14 funding reforms removed the ability of local authorities to specifically allocate funding for own admission authority schools, and restricted local authorities ability to increase the amount of centrally retained funding held for admissions, including appeals, to ensure that as much funding as possible was allocated directly to schools.
2.4 Although the Local Authority holds a small reserve of schools block funding for central admissions functions, as agreed by Schools Forum in January 2017, for funding services such as the co-ordination of the main admission rounds, and the administration of appeals for community and voluntary controlled schools, there is no additional funding available for ‘own admission authority’ school appeals. Therefore since 2014 funding has not been held centrally for voluntary aided, foundation or trust schools.
3 Independent Appeals Service
3.1 Appeal panels perform a judicial function and must therefore be transparent, accessible, independent and impartial, and operate in accordance with the principles of natural justice. The rules set out below must be followed when administering an appeals process for school admissions, challenging behaviour and exclusions:
· An independent clerk must be appointed.
· Three panel members must be appointed to hear any scheduled appeals and must be a mix of lay and non-lay persons.
· All individuals must have received appropriate training.
· All in-year school admission appeals must be heard within 30 school days of a valid appeal being made to the IAS, within 40 school days for main round appeals, and within 15 school days for challenging behaviour / exclusions). All appellants must receive written notification of the appeal no later than 10 school days before the appeal.
· An appeal hearing must be set up which is held in private, is accessible, and is in a venue that is appropriate and neutral for a school admission appeal.
· Evidence from both the admission authority and appellant must be collated by the IAS and sent to all parties involved in the appeal and the Appeal Panel members in reasonable time before the hearing.
3.2 The Independent Appeals Service is a comprehensive service available to all Hampshire schools, and is provided in accordance with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, School Admissions (Appeal Arrangements) (England) Regulations 2012 and School Admission Appeals Code 2012.
4 Current provision
4.1 Foundation and Trust schools have historically been included in sold service agreements, similar to that for Academies but operating through a Service Level Agreement (SLA), rather than a contract. Following a report to Schools Forum in October 2016, such agreements and charging structures have applied to voluntary aided schools since January 2017, with these schools paying direct to the IAS.
4.2 The Department for Education recently enabled budgets held centrally for admissions to rise to meet need through the amendment of the School Funding Formula.. A report in January 2017 to Schools Forum increased the amount held centrally to meet the escalating costs of the admissions service following population and subsequent primary phase growth. It did not however include further funds for appeals.
4.3 Following feedback from Headteachers, it has been agreed that a fairer approach to the funding of school appeals for voluntary aided, foundation and trust schools would be to increase the funding held centrally for admissions, specifically for the costs of administrating and hosting appeals for these schools.
4.4 Further, the IAS will be requesting an increase to the funding it receives from all schools (excluding academies who receive a sold service) in the forthcoming 2018/19 budget round, noting that it has not received additional funds to match significantly increased demand since the 2010/11 financial year.
5 Funding for 2017/18 onwards for Voluntary Aided, Foundation and Trust Schools
5.1 The cost of the service provided by the IAS for a single appellant ranges between £250 - £650, noting that costs are dependent on whether the appeal is infant class size, standard prejudice, or exclusion and challenging behaviour related. Multiple-child hearings also cost significantly more. The SLA (attached as an Appendix) provides the cost summary per appeal for 2017/18. All charging levels meet costs incurred.
5.2 To meet the on-going costs of arranging appeals and to provide consistency of provision for all ‘own admission authority’ schools, it is recommended that instead of reclaiming costs from these schools in line with the charging schedule of the SLA, alternative arrangements are made to increase the central budget held by the admissions service to support the cost of appeals relating to these schools.
5.3 Considering the number of appeals that were heard over the 2015/16 and 2016/17 years, and those already scheduled for the Main Round of 2017 (and noting that activity for voluntary aided schools has increased with the cessation of Diocese-provided appeals services), it is projected that the total cost expected to be incurred for the 2017/18 year for ‘own admission authority; schools will be £10,500.
5.4 It is proposed that these changes, if agreed, would be effective from 1 June 2017, prior to the scheduled main round hearings. No further charges would be made to voluntary aided, foundation or trust schools after this time.
5.5 It is proposed that from 2018/19 onwards, an increased fixed sum will be sought from Schools Forum to meet the costs of providing an appeals service to all schools (excluding academies), and this will be reviewed annually to ensure funding remains in line with the cost of providing the IAS.
6 Recommendations
6.1 It is recommended that Schools Forum note the proposed change in approach to funding school appeals for voluntary aided, foundation and trust schools.
6.2 It is recommended that Schools Forum agree the proposed budget allocation for 2017/18 as outlined in paragraph 5.3.
Appendix
SLA AGREEMENT
FOR SERVICES RELATING TO
THE INDEPENDENT APPEALS SERVICE: ADMISSION APPEALS AND EXCLUSION REVIEW PANELS
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
SO23 8UJ
Tel: 0845 6035630
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Agenda Item: XX
The term of this agreement is from the 1st day of January 2017 to the end of the academic year on 31 August 2020.
What we expect from you:
Upon receipt of the request to appeal, appeal papers and guidance notes (as supplied) must be sent to parents in good time (by the school or service).
When returned, the papers must be date stamped, as the deadline to hear the appeal starts from this date.
As soon as the papers are received, these must be passed onto the Appeals Service immediately to ensure all the necessary deadlines are complied with.
A degree of flexibility is necessary with the suggested appeal date to ensure statutory deadlines can be met.
The Governing Body’s case for refusing admission must be with the Appeals Service 10 school days prior to the appeal. For Exclusion Review Panels, where the statutory timescales are shorter, the date for paperwork to be submitted will be agreed with the Appeals Manager once the date of the hearing has been set.
Failure to comply with any of the above actions may weaken your case. It may also lead to the Education Funding Agency/Local Government Ombudsman upholding a complaint of maladministration and a subsequent direction that a fresh hearing be offered to an unsuccessful appellant.
Under section 94(6) of the SSFA 1998, a panel’s decision that a child shall be admitted to a school is binding on:
(a) the local authority or the governing body by whom or on whose behalf the decision under appeal was made
(b) the governing body of a community or voluntary controlled school at which the panel determines that a place shall be offered to the child in question
The panel’s decision can be overturned only by the courts.
The Panel Members and Clerks must also be indemnified against all reasonable legal expenses.
What you can expect from The Independent Appeals Service for Hampshire Schools:
Comprehensive service in accordance with School Standards and Framework Act 1998, Education Regulations and School Admission Appeals Code 2012.
Supply of fully trained appeal panel and clerk.
Initial letter and final paperwork before appeal.
Complete service on day of appeal.
Decision letters and final paperwork produced by clerk.
Secure file storage of appeals paperwork.
Provision of specialist legal advice to the panel, charged at a pro-rata rate.
Booking of venue.
Liaison with school and appellant representatives.
Advice and guidance on appeals processes
The costs you are expected to meet:
Administrative costs of £130 for setting up the appeal, plus a flat rate charge for each
appellant based on the type of appeal (£40 per ‘infant class size’ appellant, £50 per
‘standard appeal’ appellant, and £60 per ‘exclusion/challenging behaviour’
appellant). This flat rate cost is inclusive of labour time and the use of resources,
stationery, postage, printing and IT equipment.
External clerks expenses at £22.23 per hour.
Cost of venue* (the Appeals Service is willing to allow the school to source a
venue for the appeal hearing, but this must be discussed with the Appeals
Manager and is subject to their approval).
Panel Member subsistence
Panel Member travelling expenses at 57.8p per mile **
Indemnification of the Panel and Clerk against all reasonable legal expenses.
Cost of any legal advice sought by the clerk for up to 30 minutes, subject to the
availability of a specialist legal adviser, charged pro rata at a rate of £85 per hour.
Cost of any interpretation and translation required by an appellant.
* All venue sourcing is undertaken by Hampshire County Council’s approved venue
finder, NYS. The cost of the venue cannot be confirmed until the time of booking, but
the Appeals Manager, in conjunction with Conference Care, seeks the best value
venue near to the school, most appropriate for the purpose of an appeal hearing.
** A number of Panel Members claim at 40p per mile for tax reasons.
The Charges detailed above shall be reviewed by the Council annually. The Council will notify the School in advance in writing of the amount of the increase (if any) to be applied to the Charges.
Payment
You will be invoiced after the event for the full cost of setting up the appeal hearing. We are unable to provide you with definite costs, as each appeal uses different resources, and so we can only provide unit costs ahead of the appeal. It is important to note your full legal position if you request the services of the Independent Appeals Service for Hampshire Schools.
The invoice will be sent to you as soon as possible after the appeal hearing. You will then be given 28 days by which to make the payment.
In the event of cancellation/withdrawal prior to the review hearing, charges will be made as follows:
Cancelled after arrangements are made and initial paperwork is sent to all parties - 40% of appeal costs.
Cancelled after arrangements are finalised and final paperwork is sent to all parties - 100% of appeal costs.
If a neutral venue has been booked to hear the appeal, you may also receive cancellation charges for the cost of the booking. You will not be liable for any of the other unit charges given above.
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