The Schools Forum is a statutory body and has two distinct roles:

Firstly it has a number of clearly defined statutory decision making powers. These include making changes to the schools funding formula, the balance of spend between delegated budgets and de-delegated / centrally retained expenditure and expenditure on a small number of defined categories, such as capital financing.

Secondly the Schools Forum acts as the principal focus for consultation with schools on matters affecting schools budgets, the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), and general financial issues affecting the local authority and children’s services.

Membership:

The Forum is made up of headteachers, governors, representatives of the diocesan authorities, two private and voluntary sector early years providers, academies, Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) and post 16 education providers. The headteacher and governor representatives are broadly proportionate to the number of pupils in each type of school and are made up of three primary representatives, two secondary representative, and one each from middle schools, special schools and PRUs.

The Forum elects a chair from amongst its membership each year. 2024 Schools Forum Membership