03. Budget calculation - Pre-school

Pre School Staffing

The majority of Pre School budgets are fully integrated within the DSM scheme. The exceptions being:-

• Nursery Co-ordinator Teacher (NCT) posts – included within Area non-devolved budgets.
• Support for Learning and Additional Support Auxiliaries (ASA) – included within Area Learning Support Team budgets.
• Partner Centres – included within Area non-devolved budgets.

At this time the majority of local authority and voluntary/private sector Pre School provision within Highland is organized within clusters under the management of a Teacher Co-ordinator.

Where a Pre School unit has a class or classes, staffing allocations will be based on the authorized number of sessions (a half day constitutes a single session).

The maximum number of children permitted in a single session is 24. Once the enrolment reaches a figure of 25, it is necessary to offer morning and afternoon sessions.

The staffing allocation is based on the national Care Commission ratio of 1:10. Pre School clusters will have a NCT assigned to them. The Pre School staffing budget entitlements are detailed within Annex 3A.

The staff quotas for Pre School units in excess of 48 children will be determined by adding together the relevant quotas. For example, a Pre School Unit with 81 children attending the staffing budget entitlement will be calculated thus:-

• Initial allocation based on the staffing entitlement pupil roll banding 41 to 48, plus
• Secondary allocation based on the staffing entitlement for the pupil roll banding 25 to 40 

The devolved staffing budgets will be calculated on the basis of the projected Pre School roll figures as at each January in-take. This is in recognition of the fact that the Pre School sector has 3 pupil in-takes each academic year – August, January and April. The use of the January intake to determine the budget ensures that an average roll figure is used.

The staffing budgets (including the budgets for Employers Contributions for National Insurance and Superannuation) are based on the staff in post at the time the budgets are being calculated. Vacant posts are funded at the lowest point on the Early Years Worker and Early Years Assistant grades.

Staffing budgets will be reviewed each January when the actual intake figures are known. If appropriate, staffing budgets will be revised to reflect any significant differences between the projected and actual January intake figures. For example, an alteration will be made to the staffing budget where the actual intake figure takes a Pre School Unit into a different budget entitlement category.

In a Gaelic medium Pre School Unit operating within a cluster where the Nursery Co-ordinator Teacher is not Gaelic speaking 0.1 FTE funding will be made available to that Unit to employ the services of a Gaelic speaking teacher. This funding will be allocated on request and will not form part of the formula DSM budget allocation.

Supply Cover Budgets

It is a statutory requirement that first day absence cover is provided within the Pre School sector. Supply cover relating to Pre School non-teaching staff will be funded on an actual expenditure basis at the end of the financial year. As a result there will be no allocation of supply cover budgets to Pre School Units.

It is essential that details of all non-teaching supply cover are recorded on the supply cover spreadsheet maintained by schools (Please refer to the separate section on Supply Cover Administration for guidance on the completion of this spreadsheet). The details recorded must include:

• Name of staff member for whom absence cover is being provided
• The reason for absence
• The name of the person providing the absence cover

All supply cover in relation to the training of non-teaching staff in the Pre School sector will be centrally funded. In the first instance the related supply cover costs will be charged to the Pre School Unit and thereafter will be transferred to a centrally held budget code.

It is essential that this training Cover is recorded as code 510 on the supply cover spreadsheet.

Pre School Non Staffing Budgets

With the exception of Capitation, the non staffing budgets are included within that devolved Primary School budget. The Capitation budget is included within the Pre School devolved budget.

The exception to this is where the Pre School Unit is housed in a separate building. Under these circumstances the appropriate devolved budgets will be provided.

Capitation

The Capitation budget allowance is a general budget covering the following specific budget headings:-

Description Expenditure Code:

Budgets will be initially allocated to the Text Books expenditure code (DD4001) and may thereafter be allocated to the appropriate budget heading. It is imperative that the actual expenditure is recoded against the appropriate expenditure code.

The budget allocation is based on an agreed amount for each Unit plus an allowance per pupil. In terms of capitation, each pupil is counted as 0.5FTE (Full time equivalent). The budget will be based on the projected Pre School roll figures as at January each year, that is the August roll figure plus the projected January in-take.

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