Camden's Schools Forum has endorsed the current school funding formula for the 2026/27 academic year, following a consultation with local schools. The decision, made at the Schools Forum meeting on Tuesday, 4 November 2025, supports maintaining the existing formula, subject to any statutory requirements from the Department for Education (DfE).
The endorsed formula includes passing on any national inflationary uplift to the Schools block to Camden schools and ensuring school budgets are funded entirely from the schools block Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocation. The forum also agreed to continue the historic treatment of rent for Holy Trinity and Our Lady Schools.
The consultation, which sought feedback on proposals for the local school funding formula, saw a 7% response rate from schools. According to the Responses to Consultation on School Funding Formula report, all responding schools either supported the proposal or had no further view on it. The report noted that the low response rate was not unusual considering the context of the low-impact nature of the proposals for no change and the continuation of a previously agreed approach by schools.
The overall response from respondent schools showed that 100% (7 schools) supported or had no further view on the proposal and 0% and (0 schools) disagreed,
the report stated, recommending approval of the current formula. One school requested stability in light of the confirmation of national policy and allocations later in the autumn term, maximised protection for mainstream schools, the most protective Minimum Funding Guarantee for 2026-27, and continuation of the falling rolls mechanism. The school requested that the Minimum Funding Guarantee be set at the most protective level permitted for 2026-27, given cost pressures and the reduced flexibility created by factor mirroring.
The endorsed school funding formula is subject to any statutory National Funding Formula (NFF) requirements or any new government policy revision to the NFF, as outlined in the Responses to Consultation on School Funding Formula.
The report also mentions that falling rolls mechanisms are put in place to protect schools from the impact of declining pupil numbers on their funding.
The Schools Forum also reviewed its Work Programme and Action Tracker, which outlines key reports and actions for the 2025/26 school year. The Work Programme includes consideration of responses regarding the local funding formula for schools for 2026/27, indication of the notional National Funding Formula (NFF) figures, initial forecasts of the High Needs DSG and Early Years DSG outturns, the Annual School Places Planning Paper, updates on the School Sufficiency Implementation Plan, the High Needs Block Subgroup and HNB Review, and School Food.
Future meeting dates were noted as 2 December 2025, 3 February 2026, and 2 June 2026.