Kensington and Chelsea's Schools' Forum has agreed to consult on three options for the 2027/28 school funding formula, aiming to move closer to the national funding formula (NFF).
The forum, which met on Monday, June 8, 2026, discussed proposals for the upcoming academic year. The proposed options for the 2027/28 school funding formula consultation involve moving a further 10%, 15%, or 20% towards the NFF factor values. The rationale behind these specific percentages is that the 10% option represents the minimum move required by the Department for Education (DfE), while the 15% and 20% options offer further alignment. The DfE is expected to finalize parameters for local funding formulae later in the summer, with a continued move towards the NFF. A key issue for the Schools' Forum will be whether to align with the DfE's gradual transition timetable or to move more quickly, acknowledging that a faster transition would create greater turbulence for school budgets during the interim years.
The Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG), which protects schools from significant year-on-year funding decreases, is expected to remain at a maximum of +0% per pupil. For 2026/27, the MFG was required to be between plus 0% and minus 0.5% per pupil compared to per pupil funding in 2025/26. The MFG limits the impact of funding changes in the modelled options, and while it has changed a few schools on it in the past, these were not significant amounts of money.
The consultation with primary and secondary headteacher groups on the 2027/28 school funding formula options is expected to take place in September/October 2026. The Schools' Forum will discuss the feedback from these groups and make a decision in November 2026. The final funding formula option selected at the November 2026 Schools Forum will be updated based on information provided by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) in December 2026, with schools being issued with final budgets in February 2027.
The NFF currently calculates the schools block of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), and local authorities determine individual school funding allocations through a local formula after consultation with the Schools' Forum. While the specific NFF factor values are not detailed, nor are the key differences between the current local formula and the NFF explicitly outlined beyond the general aim to align, it is noted that the NFF notional allocations from the DfE have different pupil numbers and total more than the available schools budget. Concerns were raised about whether a sudden shift to the NFF would create significant volatility, with assurances that this was not expected. There was also a query about whether the MFG would increase in Westminster when moving to the NFF, to which the answer was 'probably' but not a massive increase, and that the MFG stayed relatively stable.
Further details on the proposals can be found in the 2027-28 School Funding Formula Options For Consultation. The full agenda and reports for the meeting are available on the council's website here.
