Children, Young People, Education and Skills: Allocation of Reserve Funding for Schools Hardship Funds in 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19

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A decision made on 3 June 2020

Decision reference: MD-TR-2020-0065
Decision Summary Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to CYPES for Schools Hardship Funds in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19		Date of Decision Summary:	1st June 2020
Decision Summary Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	N/A
Written Report Title:	Allocation of Reserve Funding to CYPES for Schools Hardship Funds in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19		Date of Written Report:	1st June 2020
Written Report Author:	Specialist – Business Cases		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	Public
Subject: The allocation of up to £870,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to CYPES (Children, Young People, Education and Skills) for the Schools Hardship Funds in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.
Decision(s): The Minister approved the allocation of up to £870,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to CYPES (Children, Young People, Education and Skills) for the Schools Hardship Funds in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19.
Reason(s) for Decision: Article 15(3) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the approval by the States of a government plan authorises the Minister to direct how an approved appropriation for a reserve head of expenditure in the plan may be spent (including on another head of expenditure) in the first financial year covered by the plan. The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.23/2020) sets the requirement for all allocations from contingency to be considered by the Investment Appraisal Board, Principal Accountable Officer and States Treasurer prior to submission to the Minister for approval, however it also states that ‘Where a request is made for £100,000 or less, or where the Minister is satisfied that there is an urgent need to provide funding in the public interest, an allocation may be made by the Minister on the recommendation of the Treasurer.’ A draft business case has been received and reviewed by the Investment Appraisal Team. Further to this review, the Treasurer recommends this allocation to the Minister for approval on the basis of: - Evidence of support from the Director General, CYPES and Minister for Education; and Evaluation of the Business Case. Drawdown of funds should be subject to the following conditions: Finalisation of Scheme Guidance including auditing requirements in line with the best practice from the Payroll Scheme; Finalisation of SLA/contracts for non-Government of Jersey fee paying schools; Confirmation of a communications plan to support the launch of this Scheme; and Agreement of KPIs in relation to the scheme – Treasury to review performance against these.
Resource Implications: The General Reserve head of expenditure to decrease by up to £870,000 and the CYPES head of expenditure to increase by the identical amount in 2020.
Action required: The Head of Financial Governance to advise the Specialist – Business Cases and the Head of Finance Business Partnering of CYPES that this decision is approved. Director General of CYPES to ensure that the conditions detailed above are satisfied before funding is drawn down.
Signature:		Position: Deputy S J Pinel Minister for Treasury and Resources
Date Signed:		Date of Decision:

Children, Young People, Education and Skills: Allocation of Reserve Funding for Schools Hardship Funds in 2020 due to the impact of Covid-19

Treasury and Exchequer

Ministerial Decision Report

Allocation of Reserve Funding to cypes for the schools hardship funds in 2020 due to the impact of COVID-19

Purpose of Report

To enable the Minister to approve the allocation of up to £870,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to Children, Young People, Education and Skills (CYPES) for the Schools Hardship funds as a result of the impact of COVID-19.

Background

Funding provisions were made in the Government Plan 2020-2023 in the General Reserve for funding needs that cannot be met from existing heads of expenditure in 2020. The Minister has increased the amount available in the General Reserve by transferring £65.3 million for the Treasury and Exchequer head of expenditure (MD-TR-2020-0035); approving an additional £99.99 million of expenditure (MD-TR-2020-0047) and approving the transfer of £28 million from the Stabilisation Fund, with associated authority to spend from the General Reserve (MD-TR-2020-0055).

Jersey has a range of fee-paying schools including:

Government-provided fee-paying schools (JCG and VCJ secondary and primary);
Government grant supported private fee-paying schools (Beaulieu and De la Salle secondary and primary and FCJ primary); and
Private Schools (Helvetia, St. Christopher’s, St. George’s, St. Michael’s).

These schools have already established “Hardship Funds” which provide financial assistance to parents and/or carers that cannot afford to pay school fees. This decision seeks to secure funding to provide schools with top-up funding for their existing Hardship Funds for the Summer Term of the Academic Year 2019/20.

The increased Hardship Funds can only be used to provide financial assistance to parents/carers that have experienced a reduction in their level of household income as a direct result of COVID9. Strict eligibility criteria will apply as set out in the Scheme Guidance and a Fund audit will take place to verify compliance with the Scheme rules (similar to those produced for the Co-Funded Payroll Scheme).

It should be noted that schools are not eligible for payment of salary costs under the Government Payroll Scheme. If schools were eligible, it is estimated that they would receive payments of approximately £1.6m for 3 months (source: Government Payroll Team).

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the allocation of up to £870,000 in 2020 from the General Reserve to CYPES to top-up the Schools Hardship Funds for the Summer Term of the Academic year 2019/2020.

Reasons for Decision

Article 15(3) of the Public Finances (Jersey) Law 2019 states that the approval by the States of a government plan authorises the Minister to direct how an approved appropriation for a reserve head of expenditure in the plan may be spent (including on another head of expenditure) in the first financial year covered by the plan.

The current Contingency Allocation Policy (published as R.23/2020) sets the requirement for all allocations from contingency to be considered by the Investment Appraisal Board, Principal Accountable Officer and States Treasurer prior to submission to the Minister for approval, however it also states that ‘Where a request is made for £100,000 or less, or where the Minister is satisfied that there is an urgent need to provide funding in the public interest, an allocation may be made by the Minister on the recommendation of the Treasurer.’ A draft business case has been received and reviewed by the Investment Appraisal Team.

Further to this review, the Treasurer recommends this allocation to the Minister for approval on the basis of: -

Evidence of support from DG and Minister; and
Evaluation of the Business Case.

Drawdown of funds should be subject to:

Finalisation of Scheme Guidance including auditing requirements in line with the best practice from the Payroll Scheme;
Finalisation of SLA/contracts for non-Government of Jersey fee paying schools;
Confirmation of a communications plan to support the launch of this Scheme; and
Agreement of KPIs in relation to the scheme – Treasury to review performance against these.

5. Resource Implications

The General Reserve head of expenditure to decrease by £870,000 and the CYPES head of expenditure to increase by an identical amount in 2020.

Report author: Specialist – Business Cases	Document date : 1st June 2020
Quality Assurance / Review: Group Director, Strategic Finance	File name and path: L:\Treasury\Sections\Corporate Finance\Ministerial Decisions\DS, WR and SD\2020-0065-Reserve Funding for Schools Hardship Funds
MD sponsor: Treasurer of the States