Mr.Ben Posted June 18, 2010 Posted June 18, 2010 I've just read this on the BBC.... BBC News - Free schools could be set up in shops and houses - Gove Note this bit..... This - an initial tranche - was the re-allocation of funds for "harnessing technology". Has the grant gone then?
rayfleming Posted June 18, 2010 Posted June 18, 2010 The Harnessing Technology Grant isn't disappearing completely. What they've done is take £50M of the total £200M this year, and move that across. So it's only 25% that's gone, not all of it. Michael Gove outlines process for setting up Free Schools - Department for Education I guess we don't know which 25% yet - is it the 25% that local authorities are allowed to retain (for costs and broadband) or does it come out of the 75% that must be devolved to schools. The total Harnessing Techonology grant, for the full programme from 2008/9 to 2010/11 was £638M, of which £200M fell into this year. I guess the thing to really watch out for is what happens from April 2011, because there's no committed grant there yet (ie nothing to be cut!). Given that capital expenditure is forecast to be cut dramatically over the next few years, and Harnessing Technology Grant was 100% capital, then it's a likely target... 3
Sylv3r Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 As a school, I just do not understand how we are expected to operate the way we do currently. Removal of the Harnessing Technology grant means that broadband provision has to be taken from the Main School budget, what was once a safe place to be for employment, this is no longer the case for education. Budgets are becoming tighter and tighter all of them and voluntary / compulsory redundancies are likely in most schools - who goes first? Support staff or teaching staff?
localzuk Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 (edited) As a school, I just do not understand how we are expected to operate the way we do currently. Removal of the Harnessing Technology grant means that broadband provision has to be taken from the Main School budget, what was once a safe place to be for employment, this is no longer the case for education. Budgets are becoming tighter and tighter all of them and voluntary / compulsory redundancies are likely in most schools - who goes first? Support staff or teaching staff? We're having a round of redundancies at our school, all of them support staff. The various changes to public sector funding are going to have a massive effect on schools. Putting it simply, it will make working for the public sector completely unrewarding. The sector will see a mass exodus of the highly skilled staff and will suffer because of it. ICT in school will be one of the first affected also, as it is one of the most expensive areas within a school and one that, like in business, is difficult to show how positive its effects are to the school. Depending on what the govt does with this budget, affects my plans for the future. I work in education because the job is a safe job, and the pension is a good one, even though the pay sucks. If the benefits disappear, I may well do also. Edited June 19, 2010 by localzuk 2
torledo Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 We're having a round of redundancies at our school, all of them support staff. The various changes to public sector funding are going to have a massive effect on schools. Putting it simply, it will make working for the public sector completely unrewarding. The sector will see a mass exodus of the highly skilled staff and will suffer because of it. ICT in school will be one of the first affected also, as it is one of the most expensive areas within a school and one that, like in business, is difficult to show how positive its effects are to the school. Depending on what the govt does with this budget, depends on my plans for the future. I work in education because the job is a safe job, and the pension is a good one, even though the pay sucks. If the benefits disappear, I may well do also. i think it was policy exchange who claimed recently that the pay doesn't suck as much on avg. compared to the private sector, ....i do know what your saying though. there will be changes and a shakeup to the way some things have operated. and the perks of job security and pensions [and in some cases less in the way of working hours] may no longer be taken for granted. but the way this change will be done imo is through pay freezes, hiring freezes and eventually pension changes. But the bulk of the short-term cuts will over the next spending review could well be in capital spending, when it's salary costs for nhs, education etc. which is the big outlay. That's not to say cuts in capital spending couldn't or shouldn't be done, but that i'm not sure whether they appreciate the scale of the challenge with the spending on salaries and pensions. Especially as we know some groups of public sector employees salaries and contributions are going to be protected from cuts more than others. and when i say cuts a lot of it is to be a public to private sector transfer. the question is will that result in a culture change and in some instances can that not be a positive thing ?
PiqueABoo Posted June 19, 2010 Posted June 19, 2010 (edited) i think it was policy exchange who claimed recently that the pay doesn't suck as much on avg. compared to the private sector The Times today reported the same except it used "median salary". This is a shallow meme though and my worry is it will be used in a shallow way. What I want is more intelligent targeting and if they want to get the plebs a bit more on their side it would be a very good idea to start with the people in public sector being paid undeserved, unjustified amounts of silly money... for instance anything in Local Gov much over £100K (in whatever cunning non-obvious ways that is delivered), is definitely silly because these people are perfectly replaceable ... but sadly I'm expecting them to fall into your "some groups of public sector employees salaries and contributions are going to be protected" .. perhaps they'll even go up because even £200K just isn't sufficient recompense for the unique rocket science in involved in thinking of the idea, and the trauma of then asking in your very best BS jargon, all the underlings to cut their costs. Edited June 19, 2010 by PiqueABoo
jamesreedersmith Posted June 24, 2010 Posted June 24, 2010 Some lincolnshire schools have been told that they will be getting no funding this year as the government has cut the whole schebang and there is no money for this year but thats contrary to my understanding - i thought it was just cut by 25% and the only question was if that 25% had to be cut from the whole allocation or just from the 75% schools are supposed to get. Any body able to confirm or deny this rumour?
john Posted June 24, 2010 Posted June 24, 2010 Some lincolnshire schools have been told that they will be getting no funding this year as the government has cut the whole schebang and there is no money for this year but thats contrary to my understanding - i thought it was just cut by 25% and the only question was if that 25% had to be cut from the whole allocation or just from the 75% schools are supposed to get. Any body able to confirm or deny this rumour? I don't know that area for sure, but it could be feasable. Some LA's had discussions with schools over the grant and the LA keeping more than the 25% they were allowed to, this was to continue to pay for more central services in full such as VLEs, Internet, E-mail etc... So perhaps with the government cuts that has left the LA short of cash and facing saying to the schools either pay up £X for the VLE etc or we shall just keep the money and give you nothing but a "free" VLE etc.... They will have discussed this idea with some top level people though and heads should be aware of it in some way though if that is the case as it usually goes to a group of Heads / Leaders, Council gurus etc to discuss this.
36Degrees Posted June 24, 2010 Posted June 24, 2010 We're having a round of redundancies at our school, all of them support staff. We too are making redundancies but only amongst the teaching staff. However, some support staff have requested a reduction in working hours and these have all been agreed - I believe in the past it has been nigh on impossible to do this. I shall need to speak to my boss about this as he deals with the school's finances and it would be interesting to find out if Nottinghamshire has made any announcements on this.
rayfleming Posted June 24, 2010 Posted June 24, 2010 Some lincolnshire schools have been told that they will be getting no funding this year as the government has cut the whole schebang and there is no money for this year but thats contrary to my understanding - i thought it was just cut by 25% and the only question was if that 25% had to be cut from the whole allocation or just from the 75% schools are supposed to get. Any body able to confirm or deny this rumour? James - my understanding is that they've only cut 25% not the whole grant - I've tried to summarise the key references and sources into one simple blog post 1
GrumbleDook Posted June 24, 2010 Posted June 24, 2010 @rayfleming 25% of the grant was retained by LAs and then they could request of schools to retain more. Some LAs retain it all (eg Northants) but some retained about 75% to cover investment in infrastructure, VLEs, etc. These LAs are now looking at whether the 25% that was devolved to schools will now go out or whether the cut will be applied evenly ... the problem being that LAs may have legally binding contracts that they *have* to continue with ... The variety of approach from LAs means that most will differ slightly in how it affects schools. LAs will, no doubt, be talking with schools (once they understand the figures themselves ... which are not very clear yet from DforE) but my advice would be to check with your bursar / business manager / finance honcho to see if any monies have come in marked Harnessing Technologies Grant and stick it to one side for a month ... remember that if you have spent it and the LA wants to claw it back then they will not ask you for it, but probably just reduce a future payment of one of the other funding streams instead to match it. 1
rayfleming Posted July 8, 2010 Posted July 8, 2010 (edited) I know there are other threads too on this, but for completeness, useful to add here that the Grant has been cut for a second time (in total a £100M reduction), reducing it by 50% in total. This too, will roll down into schools Harnessing Technology Grant - cut again Edited July 8, 2010 by rayfleming corrected typo
somabc Posted July 8, 2010 Posted July 8, 2010 This spending review is going to lead to Death by a thousand cuts all over.
FragglePete Posted July 14, 2010 Posted July 14, 2010 Just heard they want to claw back another 25% of this grant. That's 50% we've got to give back. We could just swallow the 25% by some of the savings I've made getting cheaper prices of kit we've just brought, but to loose another £4k is going to hurt. Pete
Sylv3r Posted July 16, 2010 Posted July 16, 2010 50% of our HT money that we see is around £14k - it is unlikely to be clawed back this year but our budget will be short next year prior to receiving it from the LA. Remember your LA may topslice this before it gets to you so it may not be the full 50% you will lose.
Andie Posted July 16, 2010 Posted July 16, 2010 Are they also going to cut the targets? Learning Platforms, every child e-portfolio, parental engagement, pupil:computer ratio - you know, that sort of thing??
ChrisH Posted July 16, 2010 Posted July 16, 2010 How many pupils do you have to be getting these large sums of money? Our HT money is about 4-6k a year afaik for 750 pupils.
witch Posted July 16, 2010 Posted July 16, 2010 How many pupils do you have to be getting these large sums of money? Our HT money is about 4-6k a year afaik for 750 pupils. That's low - we get about 8k for the same number. Does your LA take a lot? Ours topslices for the broadband and also the VLE, Merlin, which is currently free to schools in Dorset
Sylv3r Posted July 17, 2010 Posted July 17, 2010 How many pupils do you have to be getting these large sums of money? Our HT money is about 4-6k a year afaik for 750 pupils. Secondary school with 1400 students including a sixth form. We get around £27k
Andie Posted September 14, 2010 Posted September 14, 2010 LAs will, no doubt, be talking with schools (once they understand the figures themselves ... which are not very clear yet from DforE) but my advice would be to check with your bursar / business manager / finance honcho to see if any monies have come in marked Harnessing Technologies Grant and stick it to one side for a month ... remember that if you have spent it and the LA wants to claw it back then they will not ask you for it, but probably just reduce a future payment of one of the other funding streams instead to match it. We've just had the letter from the LA about this, filtered through from the head, and they are taking back at least some of the money allocated to schools because the LA topslice has been allocated to committed contracts (Learning Platform, etc.). Thankfully, we followed your advice and kept the money which was given to us to one side!
budgester Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Went to a meeting at our LEA yesterday, they will no longer be subsidising our VLE and LGFL costs. Looks like the cost to us is going up from £3799 for both LGFL and Fronter to £16382 for LGFL and £6500 for fronter or inc vat £27458, the harnessing technology grant has gone which we got about £4K, so it looks like we are likely to be around £30K short in the coming financial year. Ouch.
localzuk Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Went to a meeting at our LEA yesterday, they will no longer be subsidising our VLE and LGFL costs. Looks like the cost to us is going up from £3799 for both LGFL and Fronter to £16382 for LGFL and £6500 for fronter or inc vat £27458, the harnessing technology grant has gone which we got about £4K, so it looks like we are likely to be around £30K short in the coming financial year. Ouch. Holy wow, that's a big jump! I'd be looking for other providers if I were you!
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