Guidance

Schools operational guide: 2024 to 2025

Updated 1 August 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This guide helps local authorities and their schools forums plan their implementation of the local funding system for the 2024 to 2025 financial year.

Following the 2022 consultation on implementing the direct national funding formula (NFF), the department has confirmed that it will continue to move forward with its plans to implement a direct NFF, whereby funding will be allocated directly to schools based on a single, national formula. As set out in the consultation response, we are taking a gradual approach to transition. In 2024 to 2025, each local authority will continue to set a local schools funding formula, in consultation with local schools. To ensure a smooth transition towards the direct NFF, local authorities will continue to be required to bring their own formulae closer to the schools NFF.

More information on transition is detailed in the consultation response to the consultation on implementing the direct NFF.

The School and Early Years Finance Regulations 2024 are now published. We have abbreviated reference to these throughout this guide as the ‘school finance regulations’.

In addition to the funding and guidance set out in this guide, the government announced additional funding for teachers’ pay in July 2023. This has been allocated to mainstream schools through the teachers’ pay additional grant (TPAG). Information and funding related to TPAG is not included throughout the remainder of this document, as TPAG will be allocated outside of the NFF in 2024 to 2025. Details on the 2024 to 2025 TPAG can be found at teachers’ pay additional grant: 2024 to 2025.

2. Expiry or review date

This guidance is for the 2024 to 2025 funding year.

The schools NFF for 2024 to 2025 was updated in October 2023, which means that the NFF factor values are now different from those previously published in July 2023. For further information on that update, please see the 2024 to 2025 national funding formula policy document. This document reflects the updated schools NFF.

3. Who is this publication for?

The guidance is for:

• local authorities

• schools forums

4. Changes in 2024 to 2025

The department has published the NFF for 2024 to 2025. A summary of the formula is set out in the NFF policy document, with more detailed information available in the NFF technical notes. NFF changes which affect local formulae arrangements are also covered in this guidance.

Key changes to the schools NFF in 2024 to 2025 are:

• introducing a new formulaic approach to allocating split sites funding in the NFF in 2024 to 2025, replacing the previous locally determined split sites factor

• rolling the 2023 to 2024 mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) into the NFF by:

  • adding an amount representing what schools receive through the grant into their baselines

  • adding the value of the lump sum, basic per pupil rates and free school meals Ever 6 (FSM6) parts of the grant onto the respective factors in the NFF

  • uplifting the minimum per pupil values by the MSAG’s basic per-pupil values and an additional amount which represents the average amount of funding schools receive from the FSM6 and lump sum parts of the grant

• increasing NFF factor values (on top of the amounts we have added for the MSAG) by:

  • 1.4% to the following factors: basic entitlement, low prior attainment (LPA), FSM6, income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI), English as an additional language (EAL), mobility, sparsity and the lump sum

  • 1.4% to the minimum per pupil levels (MPPL)

  • 0.5% to the funding floor

  • 1.6% to the free school meals (FSM) factor value

  • 0% on the premises factors, except for: (i) Private Finance Initiative (PFI) which has increased by Retail Prices Index excluding mortgage interest payments (RPIX) which is 10.4% for the year to April 2023 and (ii) split sites funding which has been formularised

• introducing, for the first time, a methodology for calculating and allocating funding for falling rolls

The department has confirmed the following aspects of the high needs NFF for 2024 to 2025:

• the funding floor is set at 3% so each local authority will see an increase of at least 3% per head of their 2 to 18 population (as estimated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS))

• the gains limit is set at 5%, allowing local authorities to see gains up to this percentage increase under the formula, again calculated on a per head basis of their 2 to 18 population

There will be a separate pay grant for teachers’ pay in 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. The methodology for the 2024 to 2025 TPAG, in respect of the increase in teachers’ pay from September 2023 has now been published and can be found at teachers’ pay additional grant: 2024 to 2025. Details on the 2023 to 2024 TPAG can be found at teachers’ pay additional grant: 2023 to 2024.

4.1 Requirements on local formulae

Local authorities were required to bring their own formulae closer to the schools NFF from 2023 to 2024. This transition will continue in 2024 to 2025. In particular:

• local authorities must move their local formula factor values at least a further 10% closer to the NFF (building on the movement towards the NFF made in 2023 to 2024), except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF. These criteria do not apply to rates, PFI or exceptional circumstances factors. Details of how we calculate the 10% move and how we define mirroring for the purpose of the tightening criteria are given below

• local authorities must use the new national formulaic approach to split sites

• local authorities must follow the new local formula requirements for growth funding, whereby additional classes (driven by basic need) must be funded by at least the minimum funding level set out in the funding calculation

• local authorities with a falling rolls fund must also follow the new requirements for falling rolls funding, whereby local authorities can only provide falling rolls funding to schools where school capacity survey (SCAP) 2022 data shows that school places will be required in the subsequent 3 to 5 years. The restriction, that schools were previously only eligible for falling rolls funding if they were judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted, is being removed from 2024 to 2025

4.2 Minimum funding guarantee (MFG)

Local authorities have the freedom to set the MFG in their local formulae between +0.0% and +0.5% per pupil.

4.3 Dedicated schools grant (DSG) transfers

Local authorities continue to be able to transfer up to 0.5% of their schools block to other blocks of the DSG, with schools forum approval.

A disapplication is required for any transfers above 0.5%, or any amount without schools forum approval; this applies to any transfers even if an amount was agreed in previous years. Local authorities with safety valve agreements will have this managed as part of safety valve monitoring.

4.4 Deficit management

The department is now running 3 programmes with the aim of helping local authorities to secure sustainable management of their high needs systems. There are now 34 local authorities with safety valve agreements and a further 55 local authorities have engaged with the department through the Delivering Better Value in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (DBV in SEND) programme. The continuing Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) support programme will offer support to local authorities which are not part of these programmes, tailored to their financial position. These programmes share an aim to support local authorities to manage their high needs funding sustainably and in the best interests of children and young people.

5. Notional SEN budgets

Local authorities are required to identify a notional budget for their mainstream schools which helps them comply with their duty to use their ‘best endeavours’ to meet the special educational needs (SEN) of their pupils. The notional SEN budget is not a separate budget but is identified within a maintained school’s delegated budget share, or an academy’s general annual grant and is calculated by local authorities using their local mainstream schools funding formula factors.

We have updated the guidance to help local authorities review their notional SEN budget calculations and to help schools understand the intended use of the notional SEN budget. All local authorities should review this calculation each year alongside their local formula to make sure that their schools notional SEN budget is a realistic amount for meeting the costs of additional SEN support up to £6,000 per pupil, noting that any shortfall in this notional budget for schools where a standardised calculation does not work can be met from additional high needs targeted funding. High needs top-up funding should be allocated in addition to the notional SEN budget for SEN support costs in excess of £6,000 per pupil.

Further guidance can be found in the notional SEN budget for mainstream schools: operational guide. Local authorities can also review other authorities’ current notional SEN budget calculations.

6. Reviewing and consulting on the pre-16 formula

Local authorities must engage in open and transparent consultation with all maintained schools and academies in their area, as well as with their schools forums, about any proposed changes to their local funding formulae, including the principles adopted and any movement of funds between blocks.

Any consultation should include a demonstration of the effect of modelling such changes on individual maintained schools and academies.

Local authorities also need to set out how their proposals meet the requirements to move the local formulae towards the NFF.

Local authorities should communicate proposed formula changes to all bodies affected by the changes.

The local authority is responsible for making the final decisions on their formula; each local authority’s process should ensure that there is sufficient time to gain political approval before the authority proforma tool (APT) deadline in January 2024.

Political approval means approval in line with the local authority’s local scheme of delegation, so this may be decisions made by the council cabinet, cabinet member or full council. The schools forum does not decide on the formula.

Local authorities should, as much as is possible, ensure that they allow sufficient time for wider consultation with schools, agreement by their schools forum, and political approval if they wish to transfer funding out of the schools block, or submit a disapplication request.

Further information is included in the movements between blocks section of this guidance.

Schools forums can meet remotely. This includes, but is not limited to, telephone conferencing, video conferencing, live webcast and live interactive streaming.

7. Delegated funding

7.1 Local authority funding formula factors for 2024 to 2025

There are 15 allowable funding factors in 2024 to 2025; most are now compulsory for all local authorities:

Compulsory

• Basic entitlement

• FSM

• FSM6

• IDACI

• Minimum level of per-pupil funding for primary and secondary schools

• LPA

• EAL

• Pupil mobility

• Sparsity

• Lump sum

• London fringe – compulsory for the eligible authorities

• Split sites

Optional

• Rates

• PFI contracts

• Exceptional circumstances (with ESFA agreement)

7.2 Methodology underpinning the 10% tightening requirement

Local authorities are required to move their local formula factor values at least 10% closer to the NFF factor value, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF. This requirement does not apply to the optional, locally determined factors.

For the purpose of the tightening criteria, local factor values within 2.5% of the respective NFF values are deemed to be mirroring the NFF. This means that local authorities which had factor values within +/- 2.5% of the NFF values in 2023 to 2024 will be allowed to set their 2024 to 2025 factor values anywhere within +/- 2.5% of the 2024 to 2025 NFF values. Likewise, no local authority will be required to move their factor values closer than +/- 2.5% of the 2024 to 2025 NFF because of the 10% tightening requirement.

The 10% movement is calculated such that local authorities are required to bring their local formula factor values 10% closer to the NFF, compared to the difference between the local factor value and the NFF value in 2023 to 2024. Worked examples are given in table 1.

For local authorities where an area cost adjustment (ACA) is applied, the comparison is made between the local factor values and the NFF factor values with the ACA applied. As such, the required movement towards the NFF is a movement to the NFF value, as adjusted by the ACA.

As part of the tightening requirement, local authorities are not allowed to ‘overshoot’ the NFF value by more than the 2.5% mirroring threshold. As such, a local authority which had a local factor value below the NFF value in 2023 to 2024 should increase the local factor value in 2024 to 2025 to get closer to the NFF – but it cannot set the factor value more than 2.5% above the NFF value. Conversely, a local authority which had a local factor value above the NFF value in 2023 to 2024 cannot set that factor value more than 2.5% below the 2024 to 2025 NFF value.

Table 1 below shows 2 examples illustrating how the tightening criteria work in practice

Local factor value in 2023 to 2024	NFF factor value in 2023 to 2024 (including ACA)	NFF factor value in 2024 to 2025 (including ACA)	Minimum allowable local factor value in 2024 to 2025	Maximum allowable local factor value in 2024 to 2025
£500	£1,000	£1,050	£600 The minimum value is £450 less than the 2024 to 2025 NFF factor value. This is 10% less than the difference in 2023 to 2024	£1,076.25 The maximum value is 2.5% above the 2024 to 2025 NFF value
£1,300	£1,000	£1,050	£1,023.75 The minimum value is 2.5% less than the 2024 to 2025 NFF value	£1,320 The maximum value is £270 above the 2024 to 2025 NFF value. This is 10% less than the difference in 2023 to 2024

The allowable factor value ranges for each local authority have now been published.

Local authorities are not permitted to seek to disapply the tightening requirements. Instead, local authorities have a number of other options for managing any affordability constraints that occur as a result of these tightening requirements. All local authorities can make use of the 2.5% threshold for mirroring the NFF by setting their factor values 2.5% below the NFF values (including the ACA uplift). As outlined below, local authorities are also allowed to cap and scale back overall gains for individual schools to ensure affordability. If affordability constraints remain once these options have been exhausted, local authorities can also submit disapplications to the MPPL and the MFG, as set out below.

7.3 Basic entitlement

This compulsory factor assigns funding based on individual pupils in reception to year 11 who are aged 4 and above at the start of the academic year. The number of pupils for each maintained school or academy is based on the October 2023 pupil census.

Funding is allocated according to a basic per-pupil rate.

There is a single rate for primary age pupils.

For KS3 and KS4, rates should be different as they are for the schools NFF.

The rates for primary, KS3 and KS4 pupils must be at least 10% closer to NFF values than their respective baseline values, subject to the 2.5% threshold for mirroring the NFF described above.

Local authorities must add the rolled-in basic entitlement element of the MSAG to their basic per-pupil rates in 2024 to 2025, and the allowable values for each local authority are calculated on that basis.

For 2024 to 2025, local authorities can still choose to increase the pupil number count for schools with higher reception pupil numbers in the January 2024 census. However, local authorities should bear in mind that this flexibility will be removed from 2025 to 2026.

7.4 Free school meals (FSM)

This is a compulsory factor.

For FSM, factor values must be at least 10% closer to NFF factor values than their baseline factor values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

The department measures eligibility for current FSM using the October census.

7.5 Free school meals ever6 (FSM6)

This is a compulsory factor.

FSM6 factor values must be at least 10% closer to NFF factor values than their baseline factor values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

Local authorities are expected to add the rolled-in FSM6 entitlement element of the MSAG to their FSM6 rates in 2024 to 2025 and the allowable values for each local authority are calculated on that basis.

The department measures eligibility for FSM6 using the October census.

7.6 Income deprivation affecting children index (IDACI)

This is a compulsory factor and all IDACI bands must be used.

The IDACI measure uses 6 bands. Different values can be attached to each band and different unit values can be used for primary and secondary within each band. The per pupil value for each band must be at least 10% closer to the NFF than the baseline values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

The 2024 to 2025 NFF, as in the previous year, uses IDACI 2019 ranks to group each lower super output area (LSOA), an area with typically about 1,500 residents) into one of 6 bands of decreasing deprivation.

Table 2 below shows the requirement and ranks for each IDACI band

IDACI data	Ranks	Band
Pupils in the most deprived 2.5% of lower super output areas	1 to 821	A
Pupils in the next 5% most deprived lower super output areas	822 to 2463	B
Pupils in the next 5% most deprived lower super output areas	2464 to 4105	C
Pupils in the next 5% most deprived lower super output areas	4106 to 5747	D
Pupils in the next 10% most deprived lower super output areas	5748 to 9032	E
Pupils in the next 10% most deprived lower super output areas	9033 to 12316	F

7.7 Minimum per pupil level (MPPL) for primary and secondary schools

This is a compulsory factor. It must be used in local funding formulae, at the NFF values (no ACA is applied to this variable).

The purpose of this factor is for local authorities to provide the NFF minimum per pupil levels (MPPLs) to every school. All local authorities must implement the MPPLs by following the same methodology used in the NFF, summarised below and detailed in the NFF technical note.

For all schools, the calculation for a school’s individual MPPL is:

(number of primary year groups × £4,610) + (number of KS3 year groups × £5,771) + (number of KS4 year groups × £6,331)

divided by

total number of year groups

This provides per-pupil funding of at least £4,610 for each primary school, and £5,995 for each secondary school with standard structures of 7 and 5 year groups respectively. For middle schools, all-through schools, and other schools with a non-standard year group structure, this will produce a specific minimum per-pupil value that relates to the number of year groups in each phase.

When calculating the MPPLs for individual schools, local authorities should take the number of year groups from the APT, which is the approach taken in the NFF. When completing the APT, local authorities should only list the number of year groups in each key stage which have pupils in them at present or will do so in the upcoming year. Where a school will have empty year groups in the upcoming year, for example a school which has recently opened, these should not be included in the APT.

The only factors not included in per-pupil funding for the purpose of the MPPL calculation are premises and growth funding. Any prior year adjustments local authorities have made should also be excluded from the calculation.

Any capping and scaling cannot take a school’s per-pupil funding, defined above, below the MPPLs. The only further calculation that local authorities can make once their formula has provided the minimum levels is, for maintained schools only, to deduct funding for de-delegated central services if the schools forum has agreed this can be taken from their budget shares in 2024 to 2025. It should be noted that the risk protection arrangement (RPA) is also exempt from the MPPLs.

Local authorities have the option, as with other aspects of the school funding regulations, to request to disapply the use of the full NFF MPPL values. Such requests should only be made on the grounds of affordability, including in relation to the circumstances set out in the final paragraph relating to the tightening of local formulae within methodology underpinning the 10% tightening requirement.

Disapplication requests may also be submitted to alter the NFF methodology, for specific schools only, where the local authority can show that the relevant MPPL value for that school is skewed significantly by unusual year group sizes. For example, a local authority may want to provide a higher MPPL for an all-through school with significantly larger secondary than primary year group sizes.

While the department will consider any individual request on its merits, it expects the commitment to MPPLs to be implemented in full, locally and both local authorities and schools should work on that basis. The department will scrutinise any disapplication requests in this context.

Local authorities that have discussed disapplications to MPPLs with the department in the context of safety valve agreements should make associated disapplication requests to the safety valve team at [email protected].

8. Low prior attainment (LPA)

This is a compulsory factor. Factor values must be at least 10% closer to the NFF values than their baseline values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

Local authorities must apply this factor for:

• primary pupils identified as not achieving a good level of development in the early years foundation stage profile (EYFSP)

• secondary pupils not reaching the expected standard in KS2 at reading, writing or maths

Since 2017 to 2018, the department has weighted the LPA factor for some secondary year groups so that year-on-year fluctuations in pass-rates, following the introduction of the more challenging KS2 tests in the 2015 to 2016 academic year, do not disproportionately affect the distribution of funding through the LPA factor in the mainstream formula.

In 2024 to 2025, the department has carried forward the weightings it used in 2023 to 2024 for the year 7 to year 10 cohorts, so they will apply to the year 8 to year 11 cohorts respectively.

For the financial year 2024 to 2025, the weightings are:

• pupils in year 7 in October 2023: 56%

• pupils in years 8 and 9 in October 2023: 54%

• pupils in years 10 and 11 in October 2023: 65%

The weightings will operate in the same way as in 2023 to 2024: the number of pupils identified as having LPA in the data will be multiplied by the relevant weighting to determine the number of pupils eligible for the factor for funding purposes.

Following the cancellation or incompleteness of both EYFSP and KS2 assessments in summer 2020 and summer 2021 due to coronavirus (COVID-19), local authorities will not be able to use assessment data from these years in the low prior attainment factor in their local funding formulae. Instead, local authorities will use 2019 attainment data as a proxy for the missing assessments in 2020 and 2022 attainment data as a proxy for the missing assessments in 2021. This is a change from 2023 to 2024 when 2019 attainment data was used as a proxy for the missing assessments in both 2020 and 2021.

This will be reflected in the APT for both primary and secondary, but it will not be reflected in the modelling version of the APT which still uses 2023 to 2024 schools block data). The national weighting of 54% for pupils in year 8 should, therefore, also be used for those who are year 9 in the academic year 2023 to 2024; and the weighting of 65% for those in year 11 should also be used for those who are in year 10 in the academic year 2023 to 2024.

For schools that do not have a cohort which sat the assessments in 2019, local authorities will use data for those schools from the final 2023 to 2024 APT as a proxy for the missing assessments in 2020. For secondary, where the APT separates the LPA proportions by year group, local authorities will take the LPA proportion from the cohort which would have sat assessments in 2020. For primary, where the APT does not separate LPA proportions by year group, local authorities will use the overall primary LPA proportion for the schools in question.

For schools that do not have a cohort which sat the assessments in 2022, local authorities will use the schools LPA proportions from the 2023 to 2024 APT as a proxy for the missing assessments in 2021. For secondary, this will be based on the cohort that would have sat the assessments in 2021. For primary, it will be based on the overall primary LPA proportion for the schools in question.

In the pre-populated APT, the department will use local authority average LPA ratios if the 2023 to 2024 APT data described in the paragraphs above is not available. Where the department has used local authority average LPA ratios as a proxy for the missing assessments in the APT, local authorities will be allowed to make amendments to this data where it is not deemed appropriate.

LPA funding is allocated to all pupils identified as not reaching the expected standard at the previous phase, regardless of their year group. It does not only apply to those pupils in their first year of schooling.

As with current funding arrangements, pupils who have not undertaken the assessment are given the overall average attainment score of their year group, so are taken into account when calculating a school’s LPA rate. For primary LPA the ratio of eligible pupils is calculated from pupils in years 1 to 6. This ratio is then applied to all pupils in years reception to year 6. This ensures that reception pupils also attract LPA funding.

9. English as an additional language (EAL)

This is a compulsory factor. The factor values must be at least 10% closer to NFF values than their baseline values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values. There can be separate unit values for primary and secondary.

Pupils identified in the October census with a first language other than English attract funding for 3 years after they enter the statutory school system.

10. Pupil mobility

This is a compulsory factor. The factor values must be at least 10% closer to NFF values than their baseline values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

The mobility factor allocates funding to schools with a high proportion of pupils who have an entry date in the last 3 years that is not typical. For year groups 1 to 11, ‘typical’ means that the first census on which a pupil is recorded as attending the school (or its predecessors) is the October census. ‘Not typical’ means that the first census a pupil is recorded as attending the school is a January or May census. For the reception year, ‘typical’ means that the first census is in October or January.

The mobility methodology involves tracking individual pupils using their unique pupil ID through censuses from the past 3 years. If the first census when the pupil was in the school was a January or May census, they are a mobile pupil. This excludes reception pupils who start in January. This methodology also excludes pupils who joined in the summer term after the May census, or pupils who joined in autumn before the October census.

To be eligible for mobility funding, the proportion of mobile pupils in a school must be above the threshold of 6%. A per pupil amount is then allocated in respect of all mobile pupils above that threshold.

11. Sparsity

This is a compulsory factor. Factor values must be at least 10% closer to NFF values than their baseline values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

The sparsity factor allocates funding to schools that are remote, measured by sparsity distances, and are small, based on average year group size.

We measure sparsity distances using road distances. To calculate a school’s sparsity distance, we take all the pupils for whom it is the nearest compatible school and find the average shortest road distance from these pupils’ home postcodes to their second nearest compatible schools.

A school is eligible for sparsity funding in the NFF if:

• its sparsity distance is equal to or above the main distance threshold, or above the tapered distance threshold, and

• the average year group size (calculated as the APT-adjusted pupil count divided by number of year groups present at the school) is below the relevant size threshold

Table 3 below shows the requirements for sparsity funding and the tapers

School phase	Size threshold: maximum average number of pupils per year group	Main distance threshold: minimum average distance to second nearest compatible school	Distance taper threshold: minimum average distance to second nearest compatible school
Primary	21.4	2 miles	1.6 miles
Secondary	120	3 miles	2.4 miles
Middle	69.2	2 miles	1.6 miles
All-through	62.5	2 miles	1.6 miles

Local authorities can reduce the average year group size threshold or increase the distance threshold in their local funding formulae. The distance and group size taper thresholds remain optional in local funding formulae for 2024 to 2025.

11.1 The amount that sparse schools receive

The maximum sparsity values in the 2024 to 2025 NFF are £57,100 for primary schools and £83,000 for secondary, middle, and all-through schools. Different values can be set in local funding formulae across all phases.

11.2 Year group size taper

In the NFF, schools allocations are tapered according to average year group size, so that the smaller the school the greater the allocation. Schools with a sparsity distance equal to or greater than the main distance threshold (2 or 3 miles) and an average year group size of less than or equal to half the year group threshold receive 100% of the sparsity funding for their phase. See examples in annex 1: examples of how sparsity funding can be allocated. More information on the calculation of schools’ sparsity weightings and allocations is available in the NFF technical note.

Local authorities can also determine schools allocations by a ‘continuous’ taper or a fixed sum. Unlike in the NFF methodology, the continuous taper means schools with an average year group size of half the year group threshold will not receive 100% of the sparsity funding for their phase. Instead, they will receive half the maximum. The fixed sum means all eligible schools will receive the exact same sparsity amount irrespective of their size.

11.3 Distance taper threshold

Schools with a sparsity distance between the distance taper threshold and the main threshold will attract some sparsity funding through the NFF. The amount depends on both their size and how far away their sparsity distance is from the main threshold. The closer the school’s sparsity distance to the main distance threshold, the greater their allocation and vice versa. Schools with a sparsity distance half-way between the distance taper threshold and the main threshold will receive half as much as they would were they equal to or above the main threshold.

The distance taper threshold is optional in local funding formulae for 2024 to 2025. Where used, it must be set 20% below the main distance thresholds used in local funding formulae, as in the NFF. It can be used irrespective of whether the NFF year group taper, the continuous taper, or the fixed sum is used. The same principle applies across these methodologies, in that the further away the school is from the main threshold, the smaller their allocation. See annex 1: examples of how sparsity funding can be allocated for examples of use of the distance taper threshold.

11.4 Local flexibilities and applications

As mentioned, local authorities have some flexibility over the design of the sparsity factor in 2024 to 2025. Any changes can be made in the APT, and updates would be recalculated automatically. In addition, local authorities can make applications to the department about very small, sparse secondary schools, as follows:

• local authorities can make an application to the department to include an exceptional circumstance of up to £50,000 for very small sparse secondary schools, which would otherwise be unable to attract sufficient funding to remain viable. Local authorities can only make an application for this where schools have:

  • pupils in years 10 and 11

  • 350 pupils or fewer

  • a sparsity distance of 5 miles or more

• where approval was given in 2023 to 2024 to use an exceptional circumstance for very small sparse secondary schools, that approval can carry forward to 2024 to 2025 if the latest pupil data has not changed significantly and includes the above criteria

The department produces sparsity distances for all schools in the schools block dataset and makes them available to local authorities.

If a school opens after the sparsity distances have been calculated, the local authority can make a disapplication request for the school. The process is the same for schools that are affected by neighbouring schools closing. The department will not recalculate figures during the year in these situations.

An existing school, qualifying for sparsity funding, would not lose the funding in year if a new school opened nearby.

Local authorities should agree the disapplication request with their schools forum before submitting to the department for consideration.

12. Lump sum

This is a compulsory factor. The factor values must be at least 10% closer to NFF values than their baseline values, except where local formulae are already mirroring the NFF values.

Local authorities must add the rolled-in lump sum element of the MSAG to their local formula lump sums in 2024 to 2025, and the allowable values for each local authority are calculated on that basis.

Local authorities can set a flat lump sum for all phases or differentiate the sums for primary and secondary schools.

All-through schools will receive the secondary lump sum value and middle schools will receive a weighted average lump sum value based on the number of primary and secondary year groups in the school.

This worked example below shows how the lump sum amount for a middle school is calculated. In this example, the primary lump sum is set at £100,000, and the secondary lump sum is set at £120,000.

School phase rate	Lump sum amount
3 year groups at primary rate ((3 divided by 5) × £100,000)	£60,000
2 year groups at secondary rate ((2 divided by 5) × £120,000)	£48,000
Total rate for all 5 year groups	£108,000

This middle school has a total of 5 year groups: 3 year groups (years 4 to 6) attracting the primary rate, and 2 year groups (years 7 to 8) attracting the secondary rate.

Where schools have amalgamated during the financial year 2023 to 2024, or on 1 April 2023, they will retain the equivalent of 85% of the predecessor school’s lump sums for the financial year 2024 to 2025.

For example, assuming a lump sum of £120,000, the additional payment would be £84,000 calculated as ((£120,000 × 2) × 85% - £120,000).

Local authorities can apply to the department to reduce this in exceptional circumstances.

Where schools amalgamate after 1 April 2024, the new school will receive funding equivalent to the formula funding of the closing schools added together for the appropriate proportion of the year. This means that they receive the combined lump sum for the remainder of the year and 85% in the following year, as outlined above.

Local authorities may apply to provide a second year of protection. This needs to be discussed and agreed with schools forum.

Applications must specify the level of protection sought, although in general the department would not expect the additional protection to exceed 70% of the combined lump sums. The department will consider applications on a case-by-case basis.

13. London fringe

This factor is only applicable to Buckinghamshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, and West Sussex. It is compulsory for these authorities.

The purpose of this factor is to support schools that have higher costs because they are in the London fringe area, and where only part of the local authority is in this area. The multiplier should be applied to the 7 pupil-led factors, the lump sum factor, the sparsity factor and the split sites factor.

In 2023 to 2024, local authorities could choose between 2 different values for the fringe multiplier - either 1.0156, or the ratio of the area cost adjustment of the London fringe and non-London fringe zones within the local authority.

For 2024 to 2025:

• local authorities which used the 1.0156 multiplier in 2023 to 2024 will be required to move at least 10% closer to the ratio of the 2 area cost adjustments

• local authorities which used the ratio of the 2 area cost adjustments in 2023 to 2024 will be required to continue to do so

The 2.5% mirroring threshold does not apply to the fringe factor. This means that those local authorities which used the ratio of the ACAs in 2023 to 2024 will continue to be required to do so exactly in 2024 to 2025, without a 2.5% margin. It also means that those local authorities which are required to move 10% closer to the ACA ratios are not allowed to ‘overshoot’ and set a fringe multiplier which exceeds the ACA differential.

The ratios of the area cost adjustments for 2024 to 2025 are:

• Buckinghamshire: 1.0175

• Essex: 1.0345

• Hertfordshire: 1.0310

• Kent: 1.0375

• West Sussex: 1.0584

For the London fringe local authorities, the 10% tightening requirements for all factors other than the fringe factor itself will be calculated in respect of the factor values for the part of the local authority which has the lower ACA value.

14. Split sites

In 2024 to 2025 we are introducing a national formulaic approach to split sites funding, which replaces the previous local authority-led approach. The new split sites factor is compulsory for all local authorities, ensuring that split sites funding will be allocated consistently and fairly across the country. Local authorities are required to set their split sites factor values within the 2.5% mirroring threshold for the NFF.

The factor is made up of 2 parts, both of which are compulsory:

• basic eligibility funding: schools must be allocated a lump sum payment for each of their additional eligible sites

• distance funding: additional funding must be paid out on top of the basic eligibility lump sum for schools whose eligible sites are separated by more than 100 metres (by road distance) from the main site

The basic eligibility criteria for split sites funding requires additional sites to:

• be part of the main school, that is, to share the same unique reference number (URN) with the school’s main site

• be separated from the school’s main site by a public road or railway

• have a building on them which is maintained by the school and which is primarily used for the education of 5 to 16- year-old pupils in mainstream education. This excludes playing fields, ‘ancillary buildings’ and buildings leased out full time by the school to another entity

Further details on the eligibility criteria are set out in annex 5: split site eligibility criteria.

Funding for the distance element should be allocated through a tapered approach, beginning at 100 metres, with allocations increasing linearly up to 500 metres, from which point schools should receive the total maximum funding allowed.

The NFF lump sum for basic eligibility is £53,700 and the NFF maximum distance funding is £26,900. Local authorities are required to uplift these values with their respective ACAs in their local formulae and set their local factor values within the 2.5% mirroring threshold of the ACA uplifted lump sum value. (For local authorities in the London fringe area, the relevant ACA as regards the split sites factor value will be the lowest ACA that applies within the local authority).

The number of additional sites that schools can receive funding for should be capped at 3 per school. If a school has more than 3 additional sites, the distance funding should be calculated based on those that are furthest away from the main site.

This worked example below shows how split site funding for schools is calculated. The example is based on a local authority with an area cost adjustment of one.

	School A - has one additional site, located 400 metres from the main school site	School B - has 2 additional sites, one located 175 metres from the main school site, the other located 300 metres from the main school site
Basic eligibility	Funding = 1 × £53,700 = £53,700	Funding = 2 × £53,700 = £107,400
Distance eligibility	Distance weighting = 1 - ((500 - 400) divided by (500 - 100)) = 0.75 Funding = 0.75 × £26,900 = £20,175	Distance weighting 1 = 1 - ((500 - 175) divided by (500 - 100)) = 0.19 Distance weighting 2 = 1 - ((500 - 300) divided by (500 - 100)) = 0.5 Total distance weighting = 0.19 + 0.5 = 0.69 Funding = 0.69 × £26,900 = £18,561
Total allocation for split sites	Total = £53,700 + £20,175 = £73,875	Total = £107,400 + £18,561 = £125,961

The new formulaic approach to split sites funding replaces the previous local authority-led approach. Split sites funding is by default included in the baseline calculation within the APT. As such, any loss in funding for schools which have previously benefited from their local split site factor is automatically protected through the MFG. If a school reorganisation means that a school stops being a split site school, local authorities maintain the right to amend the MFG calculation to prevent the split sites funding from being protected.

15. Rates

This is an optional factor.

In 2024 to 2025 it remains optional for billing authorities to implement the central national non-domestic rates (NNDR) payment process where ESFA pays the NNDR bills on behalf of local authority maintained schools and academies. Local authorities whose billing authority remains on the existing NNDR process will continue to include NNDR data in the APT as previous years.

All local authorities were required to enter the 2023 to 2024 NNDR estimate figure (taken from the 2022 to 2023 APT) in the 2023 to 2024 APT. This has informed the NFF NNDR funding for 2024 to 2025.

For local authorities that remain opted out of the central payment system, any adjustments to 2022 to 2023 rates (or inflationary increases to 2023 to 2024 rates) amounts included in the 2023 to 2024 APT have also formed part of the 2024 to 2025 NFF NNDR allocation. These adjustments will not be part of the DSG cash deduction relating to the centrally paid NNDR in 2023 to 2024 and will remain with the local authority. We will provide further detail in the 2024 to 2025 APT guidance. For local authorities not using the central payments system, NFF NNDR funding remains lagged, as in previous years.

Local authorities implementing the central NNDR payment process for April 2024:

• must upload their schools rates data for April 2024 to March 2025 to the NNDR online portal between 1 April 2024 and 22 May 2024. (These dates are provisional and subject to change)

• can submit adjustment claims to schools rates bills for 2024 to 2025 using the NNDR online portal from 23 May 2024 to 31 January 2025. (These dates are provisional and subject to change)

We will ask local authorities to confirm by January 2024 the payment process they will be implementing for April 2024.

NNDR payments will be made by the department to billing authorities in June 2024, October 2024 and March 2025.

Rates should continue to be reflected in the section 251 (s251) outturn statement, and in each schools accounts.

All state funded schools will retain liability for their own business rates, except for community and voluntary controlled schools for which liability will continue to rest with the local authority. Liable parties will continue to retain responsibility for the payment of any penalty charges incurred because of late or non-payment in instances where they are at fault, for example, if an academy converter fails to inform their billing authority of their conversion.

For those local authorities whose billing authority is adopting the central payment process where a late or missed payment arises because of a department error, the responsibility of schools (or local authorities for community or voluntary controlled schools) for payment of any resulting penalty charges is waived and the department will cover any penalty charges incurred. Examples of such cases could include late payment due to processing delays or data upload failure.

For local authorities whose billing authority decides they are not adopting the central NNDR payment process for April 2024, there are no changes to the existing NNDR arrangements.

Local authority DSG allocations will include the 2024 to 2025 NFF NNDR amount. Local authorities should include the 2024 to 2025 NFF NNDR amount in schools’ budgets. Further information will be available in the 2024 to 2025 APT guidance.

NNDR adjustments due to revaluations for 2023 to 2024 will be submitted in the 2024 to 2025 APT by local authorities not on the centralised payments system. For local authorities whose billing authority is on the central payments process, we only expect to see adjustments such as revaluations in the 2024 to 2025 APT which occurred in the last quarter of 2022 to 2023 (January 2023 to March 2023) and were not included in the 2023 to 2024 APT. Any prior year 2023 to 2024 adjustments for local authorities whose billing authority have implemented the centralised payment process will have been paid in-year, as the department pays the actual bill.

In 2 tier local authorities all billing authorities need to agree to implement the central payment process. If mutual consent is not reached it will not be possible for any billing authority to adopt the central payment process.

16. Private finance initiative (PFI) contracts

This is an optional factor.

The purpose of this factor is to support schools that have unavoidable extra premises costs, because they are a PFI school, and to cover situations where the PFI ‘affordability gap’ is delegated and paid back to the local authority. The department reserves the right to ask local authorities for affordability modelling covering the whole of a PFI scheme’s lifespan to substantiate the amounts claimed.

Methodologies for funding PFI schools must be objective and clear, and capable of being replicated for academies. The purpose of the factor is to fund the additional costs to a school of being in a PFI contract, not necessarily the full cost, as some costs may be covered within other factors. The PFI factor covers additional costs relating to building costs - it does not cover other services such as facilities management or energy costs.

An acceptable methodology would generally contain some of the features set out below.

These examples are intended to help local authorities formulate a clear process for funding; it is unlikely that a local authority would need to incorporate all of the features into its own policy. However, we would not expect to see utility or facility costs included.

If a PFI factor is used, all PFI schools should receive it; there may be different arrangements between contracts but, within a contract, all PFI schools should receive funding on an equivalent basis.

This does not necessarily mean all schools should receive the same amount per pupil, but they should be treated on a consistent basis.

Examples of a clear formula for funding PFI schools are:

• allocations are in accordance with an original governors’ agreement

• allocations reflect the difference between the PFI contractual cost, and the grant received by the local authority, less any local authority contribution

Methodologies for calculating allocations could include:

• a percentage of the school’s budget share

• a per pupil rate

• a rate per square metre of floor area

• a historical lump sum previously agreed, and indexed by a percentage per year

Agreements can refer to proportions or elements of the school’s budget share, which, due to changes in funding arrangements, may have changed significantly. Where this situation occurs, the department would expect schools and local authorities to work together to agree an alternative arrangement, so that neither party is significantly disadvantaged.

If an authority considers that there are circumstances which may have a significant impact on an existing PFI contract, including potential grounds for termination arising, please contact the department’s Private Finance Team [email protected] to discuss this in the first instance, as such matters can impact your funding.

17. Exceptional circumstances

This is an optional factor.

Local authorities can apply to the department to use exceptional circumstances relating to school premises, for example rents, or joint-use sports facilities. However, connected party arrangements would not qualify as being exceptional.

Local authorities should only submit applications where the value of the factor is more than 1% of a school’s budget and applies to fewer than 5% of the schools in the local authority’s area.

Local authorities should submit applications annually for approval. Where local authorities have already received approval for exceptional circumstances from 2019 to 2020 onwards, they can continue to use the approved factors if the criteria are still being met. Where the latest approval was prior to 2019 to 2020 the local authority will need to submit a new disapplication request for consideration.

Where an exceptional circumstance has already been approved for particular schools, it is permissible for a further school or schools to receive the factor where a change in circumstances meets the existing approved criteria, providing that the cost to the additional school exceeds 1% of its budget share (as calculated through the APT), and that the factor still applies to fewer than 5% of schools in the local authority area.

Local authorities should apply for any new exceptional circumstances in 2024 to 2025 by the disapplication deadline dates, setting out the rationale for the factor, and demonstrating that the criteria are met.

The deadline date for local authorities to submit any application for exceptional circumstances was 17 November 2023. This was to ensure decisions are communicated back to local authorities prior to the APT submission deadline.

Exceptional circumstances previously approved include:

• rents

• joint use of leisure facilities by contractual agreement

• building schools for the future (BSF) schemes (additional contribution to lifecycle maintenance costs)

• hire of PE facilities

• listed buildings

• school with a farm included as part of its educational provision

Each application is considered on its own merits, and it should not be assumed that a future application would be successful simply because it falls into one of the categories shown above. Supporting evidence must be provided with the application for example joint use agreements, lease agreements, service level agreements, licences where premises are being rented.

Local authorities are not obliged to request additional factors, but in considering whether to do so, they should look at the circumstances of academies and free schools as well as maintained schools.

The department has moved to a digital form for disapplication requests, that covers general, high needs, early years and block movement requests. This enables the department to process and understand the specific details of each request more quickly. We have published guidance on completing the digital form.

18. Variations to pupil numbers

Local authorities are no longer expected to request approval from the department to increase the pupil numbers used for calculating funding for specific schools where:

• there has been, or is going to be, a reorganisation

• a school has changed, or is going to change, its admission limit

However, the department expects local authorities to present any pupil variations to their schools forum, to illustrate the impact to overall funding, and on specific schools budgets.

In general terms, the department would wish to continue to provide protection for all schools, including those where pupil numbers fall between census counts from one year to the next, so any request for a negative adjustment would still require a disapplication, and need to include compelling evidence as to why this should be approved. Other increases not falling within the categories above would require a disapplication.

Where a new school is due to open, the annually made school finance regulations require that local authorities must estimate the pupil numbers expected to join the school in September and fund accordingly, again explaining the rationale underpinning the estimates.

Under the regulations, local authorities must estimate pupil numbers for all schools and academies, including free schools, where they have opened in the previous 7 years, and are still adding year groups. Local authorities can adjust estimates each year, to take account of the actual pupil numbers in the previous funding period. We have included more information in treatment in the APT of new and growing schools.

All mainstream free schools are recoupable from the first year of opening. This means the department will provide funding directly to the free schools opening, and recoup the funding from local authorities from the estimated pupil numbers in the APT.

Whilst the growth fund is a suitable route for short-term increases in pupil numbers and bulge classes, local authorities should vary pupil numbers in situations where the scale of change in numbers is sufficiently great and permanent that it should be applied to all factors in the formula.

If pupil numbers are not adjusted upwards to reflect actual intake, the department will adjust amounts recouped to enable the department to properly fund academies and free schools affected by this.

We have included more information in the flowchart at annex 2: funding for growing schools about when to request a variation, and when to use the growth fund. A text version of the flowchart is at annex 2a: funding for growing schools.

19. Minimum funding guarantee (MFG)

Local authorities will continue to set a pre-16 MFG in their local formulae, to protect schools from excessive year-on-year changes.

Local authorities will be able to set an MFG between +0.0% and +0.5% per pupil. Any local authorities wanting to set an MFG outside of these parameters must apply for permission using the disapplication proforma. Applications to set a lower MFG than +0.0% will only be considered on the grounds of affordability where local authorities have already exhausted the flexibility available from the 2.5% threshold for mirroring the NFF as well as capping and scaling - see final paragraph within methodology underpinning the 10% tightening requirement.

Local authorities must include funding representing the funding allocated through the 2023 to 2024 MSAG in respect of their reception to year 11 pupils into the baseline. This includes the grant’s basic per-pupil, FSM6 and lump sum components. The required adjustment will be included in the APT when it is made available to each local authority. The funding added to the baseline is based on pupil numbers from the APT itself rather than the pupil numbers underpinning the actual MSAG allocations. That is to ensure that changes in pupil numbers do not distort the funding protected through the MFG in per pupil terms.

Local authorities need to consult on any changes to the level of the MFG, as with the rest of the formula.

The MFG applies to pupils in reception to year 11. Early years pupils and post-16 pupils are excluded from the calculation.

The following elements of funding must be added to schools budget shares before the MFG calculation:

• funding deducted through the negative factor for schools entered into the risk protection arrangement as set out in the school finance regulations

• funding for de-delegated services that have been agreed with the schools forum under regulations as set out in the school finance regulations

• negative adjustments for excluded pupils during the year as set out in the school finance regulations

The following elements of funding are automatically excluded from the MFG calculation, as not doing so would result in excessive protection, or would be inconsistent with the school finance regulations:

• the 2024 to 2025 lump sum: this is excluded from both the baseline and 2024 to 2025 funding so that schools are protected against significant change in the lump sum between years

• any higher lump sum paid under the regulations in 2023 to 2024 for amalgamated schools: this is excluded from the baseline only

• any higher lump sum to be paid under the regulations in 2024 to 2025 for amalgamating schools: this is excluded from the 2024 to 2025 funding only

• the 2024 to 2025 sparsity factor: this is excluded from both the baseline and 2024 to 2025 funding so that schools are protected against significant change in the sparsity value between years

• rates: these are excluded from both the baseline and 2024 to 2025 funding, at their respective values for each year

• any positive adjustments for excluded pupils during the year as set out in the school finance regulations

The requirements for the MFG calculation are set out in detail in the school finance regulations.

The school finance regulations relating to the MFG allow for technical adjustments. These do not need authorisation from the Secretary of State but will need to be shown and explained in the tables contained within the APT. They include:

• where a budget was held centrally in the previous financial year and has now been delegated. This could include services that were previously funded centrally but have now been delegated, or additional funding released to schools as historic commitments have ended

• movement of funding from the schools block to the high needs block, but only where the high needs block is now responsible for funding amounts that had previously been met by a school’s delegated budget; in other words, there is a transfer of funding responsibility, not just a transfer of funding between blocks to meet cost pressures

All other funding will be in the MFG baseline and there will be no other automatic adjustments. Local authorities can, however, exclude other premises factors from the MFG without a disapplication, if they wish to mirror the NFF.

Most approvals to disapply the MFG for 2023 to 2024 were specific to that year and the department does not expect these to be repeated. The department will not carry forward any previous approvals.

The first deadline for local authorities to submit any applications to disapply the MFG for 2024 to 2025 was 9 October 2023. The purpose of this deadline was to get decisions back to local authorities before the APT is issued in December. Any later requests needed to be submitted by 17 November 2023 for them to be considered and decisions provided prior to the APT submission deadline.

The digital proforma was launched in October 2023 for all disapplication requests. It is important that local authorities use this route for submitting requests. This will enable the department to process and understand the details of each request more quickly.  All safety valve local authorities have been contacted individually with details about how they should submit disapplication requests for 2024 to 2025.

Local authorities should provide information on the equality impact assessment for any disapplication request.

Applications to disapply the MFG for individual schools will only be considered if there is a significant change in a school’s circumstances or pupil numbers. The department will only consider applications where the inclusion of a factor in the MFG will lead to significant inappropriate levels of protection. Local authorities should provide detailed information on the financial impact of any request.

Examples of MFG disapplication requests that have been approved previously include:

• schools that previously qualified for PFI or exceptional circumstances but are no longer eligible (or vice versa)

• where the normal operation of the MFG would produce perverse results for very small schools with falling or rising rolls

• secondary schools that are admitting primary age pupils who would otherwise be over protected at the secondary age weighted pupil unit of funding

• where over protection would otherwise occur, for example where additional funding has been distributed in the previous year and the local authority can demonstrate that the funding is genuinely one-off

The worked example below shows how the MFG will be calculated (based on a MFG of 0.5%):

Line	Description	Items and calculation	Amount
1	School budget share (SBS) 2023 to 2024 (inclusive of any MFG and capping)	N/A	£3,010,000
2	MSAG adjustment for 2023 to 2024	N/A	£90,000
3	2023 to 2024 rates	N/A	£40,000
4	Additional lump sum for schools amalgamated during 2022 to 2023	N/A	£105,000
5	2024 to 2025 lump sum	N/A	£130,000
6	2024 to 2025 sparsity value (including any additional sparsity funding for very small schools	N/A	£25,000
7	Agreed MFG exclusions and technical adjustments	N/A	£0
8	2023 to 2024 MFG baseline (including MSAG)	1 + 2 – (3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7)	£2,800,000
9	Funded number on roll in 2023 to 2024	N/A	500
10	MFG baseline value per pupil	N/A	£5,600
11	MFG protected value per pupil	10 × 100.5%	£5,628
12	Formula funding 2024 to 2025 (includes rates)	N/A	£3,002,000
13	2024 to 2025 rates	N/A	£42,000
14	2024 to 2025 lump sum	N/A	£130,000
15	2024 to 2025 sparsity value (including any additional sparsity funding for very small schools)	N/A	£25,000
16	Agreed MFG exclusions and technical adjustments	N/A	£0
17	2024 to 2025 base funding	12 - (13 + 14 + 15 + 16)	£2,805,000
18	Funded number on roll in 2024 to 2025	N/A	500
19	2024 to 2025 base funding per pupil	17 divided by 18	£5,610
20	Guaranteed level of funding	11 × 18	£2,814,000
21	MFG adjustment	20 – 17	£9,000
22	Final 2024 to 2025 SBS	12 + 21	£3,011,000

The MFG calculation for mainstream schools applies only to schools block funding. Funding from the early years block, high needs block (including for PRUs and AP schools) or from the department for post-16 pupils is excluded from the calculation, so has not been shown here as it does not form part of the schools block formula funding.

The department will provide a consistent methodology to those local authorities that have received approval to disapply the MFG because the profile of primary and secondary age pupils in a school is changing.

20. Capping and scaling

The department will again allow overall gains for individual schools to be capped as well as scaled back to ensure that local formulae are affordable.

Local authorities can continue to choose to cap any gains schools receive through the 2024 to 2025 local formula, unlike the NFF where no gains cap is applied. Capping and scaling must be applied on the same basis to all schools.

Local authorities and their schools forums will therefore need, as part of their formula modelling, to determine whether and how to limit gains. This remains a local decision.

The department applies any capping and scaling to academy budgets on the same basis as for maintained schools, although the values may differ from those shown in the APT since the actual baseline position for the academy may not be the same as that shown in the dataset.

Capping and scaling factors must not be applied to schools that have opened in the last 7 years and have not reached their full number of year groups. This definition of new and growing schools does not include existing schools that are extending to include a new phase and have empty year groups in the new phase.

Capping and scaling cannot take a school below the MPPLs.

Should local authorities elect to apply a gains cap in 2024 to 2025, the cap must be set at least as high as the MFG threshold. This ensures all schools retain any gains up to the MFG threshold even where a cap is applied.

21. Redetermination of budget shares

It is not permissible to make an in-year redetermination of schools budget shares other than in the explicit circumstances allowed for within the school finance regulations which relate to:

• sixth form funding

• early years funding

• reallocation of funding for excluded pupils

• rates

• risk protection arrangements

Therefore, any in-year underspends that are not covered by the above should be carried forward to the next funding year.

For local authorities that have an overall DSG surplus, any DSG underspend brought forward from the previous year can be used to support the growth or falling rolls fund in the schools block, or to support the central school services block, the high needs block, or the early years block. For local authorities with an overall DSG deficit, further information is provided in the section on DSG deficits and high needs exceptional funding.

The local authority will need to consult its schools forum and will have to approve allocations from the underspend to any central budgets, where amounts must be approved by the forum.

Alternatively, local authorities can carry forward an underspend to the next funding period and allocate it to schools via the funding formula. In this situation, the local authority will again need to consult with its schools forum. In-year reallocations to schools cannot be made as these do not comply with the annually made school finance regulations.

22. Risk protection

From April 2020 local authority-maintained schools have been able to join the risk protection arrangement (RPA), which was previously only available to academies.

Local authorities may de-delegate funding from primary and/or secondary schools for schools entered into the RPA.

Local authorities are alternatively able to opt schools into the RPA on a school-by-school basis and will need to do this for special schools and pupil referral units (PRUs).

The department operates a process whereby a deduction is made for the appropriate value, from the local authorities’ DSG, as membership becomes known through an online form. Further guidance can be found in the risk protection arrangement for schools.

If local authorities are signing up any or all their maintained schools for a particular phase to become RPA members from the start of the new financial year 2024 to 2025, they must enrol schools through the link above to ensure schools are assigned to the correct RPA scheme rules. Appropriate deductions will then be made to DSG payments to local authorities to reflect the RPA membership.

In this situation, local authorities must include a factor that enables them (for their maintained schools) to determine and, if necessary, re-determine the schools budgets to take account of the cost of the RPA.

The cost of the risk protection arrangement is reviewed annually to ensure breadth of cover and value for money are balanced. The RPA contribution rate for 2024 to 2025 is £25 per pupil as announced on 17 November 2023.

23. Redetermination of budgets where pupils have been excluded

Where pupils are excluded, funding should flow in-year from the school that has excluded the pupil to the provision that takes responsibility for the pupil. If a school subsequently admits a pupil who has been permanently excluded during that financial year, it should then receive additional funding.

The provisions here also apply to pupils who leave a mainstream school for reasons other than permanent exclusion and are receiving education funded by the local authority other than at a school.

The provisions also act independently of whether a particular pupil has been on the census in the first place, and whether the school has received funding for them.

24. Deductions from the excluding school’s budget

When a pupil is excluded from a mainstream maintained school, the local authority must deduct from the school’s budget in-year the amount within the formula relating to the age and personal circumstances of that pupil, pro rata to the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year from the ‘relevant date’. This means the deduction should cover not just the basic entitlement but also the relevant amounts for pupil-led factors, such as FSMs or EAL, where the pupil would attract funding through those criteria.

Where the pupil is funded according to the post-16 formula, the amount attributable to the pupil will be the relevant national funding rate. Therefore, this national funding rate per pupil can be deducted from the excluding school’s budget. The school finance regulations, however, only apply to mainstream maintained schools.

The ‘relevant date’ is the sixth school day following the date of permanent exclusion.

The following worked example demonstrates how the deduction from the excluding school’s budget should be calculated, for a given set of factor values, where the ‘relevant date’ is 1 October, with 26 weeks remaining in the financial year.

Funding formula factor	Amount
Basic entitlement	£5,022
Free school meals	£490
Free school meals Ever6	£1,200
English as an additional language	£1,585
Sub-total	£8,297
Pro-rata total for 26 weeks	£4,148.50
Deduction from excluding school’s budget	£4,148.50

The only exception to using the number of weeks remaining in the financial year is where the exclusion takes place after 1 April, in a school year where the pupil would normally have left at the end of that school year. In that case, the calculation is based just on the number of weeks left until the end of the school year.

Where the excluded pupil is eligible for the pupil premium, the pupil premium itself cannot be recovered from the school from which a pupil is excluded, but the budget share must be adjusted for the pupil premium on the same basis as the calculations above.

The deduction should also include the amount of a financial adjustment order as made under regulation 25(5)(b) of The School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012, where this is relevant.

The adjustment for a particular exclusion relates only to the current financial year and cannot be applied to subsequent years. As set out in the annually made school finance regulations, any deductions or increases relating to pupil exclusions are not included in the MFG. A deduction can be made even if it reduces the budget share below the MFG and an increase will be in addition to the MFG.

The funding deducted should then be used by the local authority to add funding to the receiving school’s budget share (see below) and/or to help with the costs of making AP for the excluded child. Further information on the funding of AP can be found in the high needs funding: 2024 to 2025 operational guidance and you can also read further guidance on AP free school revenue funding.

25. Additions to the admitting school’s budget

Where a mainstream maintained school admits a pupil who has previously been permanently excluded, the local authority must increase the school’s budget in-year.

The increase must be at least the amount of the deduction taken off the excluding school, multiplied by the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year, and divided by the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year from the ‘relevant date’.

In the example above, if a school then admitted the pupil from 1 January, this is with 13 weeks of the financial year remaining. As this is half the 26 weeks originally remaining, the admitting school should have its budget increased by at least £2,074.25.

Where the pupil is eligible for the pupil premium, the same principles apply as set out above. The principles also apply where the school’s governing body subsequently reinstates a permanently excluded pupil. The increase can also include an amount up to the amount of the financial adjustment order where this was applied to the excluding school.

26. Academies

Most academies have provisions in their funding agreement that require the same adjustments to their budgets if requested to do so by their local authority. The wording in model funding agreements states:

“If asked to by a local authority, the academy trust must enter into an agreement with that local authority that has the effect that where:

• the academy admits a pupil who has been permanently excluded from a maintained school, the academy itself, or another academy with which the local authority has a similar agreement; or

• the academy trust permanently excludes a pupil from the academy the arrangements for payment will be the same as if the academy were a maintained school, under regulations made under section 47 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998”

The adjustments should also relate to the local authority financial year. Local authorities can change this to the academy financial year, by local agreement.

It is possible to have a local agreement that adjustments will be made in line with the school or academy’s funding period, with academy adjustments being made on an academic year and maintained schools adjustments being made on a financial year. If these amounts are no greater than those specified in the operational guide, this would constitute a local agreement and would need to be agreed with individual academies.

Some of the oldest academies do not have any provisions in their funding agreement. In these situations, any adjustments would have to be by agreement between the local authority and academy.

27. Inter-authority funding transfers

There are regulations covering the movement of excluded pupils across local authority boundaries:

• The Education (Amount to Follow Permanently Excluded Pupil) Regulations 1999 ^{[footnote 1]}

These regulations cover situations where a pupil is excluded from a maintained school in one local authority, and is either:

• subsequently provided with education in the same financial year at a maintained school, or otherwise than at school (for example, in AP) in a second local authority

• subsequently provided with education in the same financial year at a PRU, or otherwise than at school in a second local authority, and then at a maintained school or otherwise than at school in a third local authority

The calculation is on the same basis described in the deductions from the excluding school’s budget section, using the number of weeks remaining in the financial year from the ‘relevant date’, but the payments are between the authorities concerned.

There would also be a proportional repayment if the pupil were subsequently reinstated by the governing body. The high needs funding: 2024 to 2025 operational guidance provides further information on the funding of AP for excluded pupils by local authorities.

28. Growth funding

Growth funding is provided within local authorities’ schools block DSG allocations.

For 2024 to 2025, it will be calculated using the same methodology as previous year, based on the growth in pupil numbers between the October 2022 and October 2023 censuses. This is detailed in the schools NFF technical note.

To support local authorities to plan ahead for their growth allocation in the DSG settlement, the department sent information in August 2023 allowing local authorities to input their own forecast of pupil numbers in the October 2023 census and estimate the growth funding they could expect to receive in 2024 to 2025. Growth allocations were communicated to each local authority within their DSG settlement.

We will not offer any growth funding protection in 2024 to 2025 - following the same approach as for 2023 to 2024.

As it is within the schools block, a movement of funding from the schools formula into the growth fund would not be treated as a transfer between blocks. The schools forum still needs to be consulted on the total growth fund.

The growth fund can only be used to:

• support growth in pre-16 pupil numbers to meet basic need

• support additional classes needed to meet the infant class size regulation

• meet the costs of new schools (these are new schools identified from the latest census data)

• meet the revenue costs, for schools, of removing or repurposing surplus places

In addition to the required growth funding criteria, local authorities remain responsible for funding growth needs for all schools in their area, for new and existing maintained schools and academies. Local authorities should fund all schools on the same criteria, discussed below. Where growth occurs in academies that are funded on estimates, the department will use the pupil number adjustment process to ensure the academy is only funded for the growth once.

The costs of new schools will include the lead-in costs, for example to fund the appointment of staff and the purchase of any goods or services necessary to admit pupils. They will also include post start-up and diseconomy of scale costs. These pre and post start-up costs should be provided for academies where they are created to meet basic need.

The department will continue to fund start-up and diseconomy costs for new free schools where they are not being opened to meet the need for a new school as referred to in section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

The growth fund must not be used to support:

• schools in financial difficulty: any such support for maintained schools should be provided from a de-delegated contingency

• general growth in individual schools (due to popularity) where there is no overall pupil number growth in the local area. This is managed through lagged funding. This includes cases where academies have admitted above pupil admission numbers (PAN) by their own choice

The growth fund may not be the most appropriate source of funding for growing schools, and the department expects local authorities to use varying pupil numbers where there is a more permanent and significant change to numbers, and where it is appropriate for the change to be reflected in the funding formula.

Local authorities will not need to submit a disapplication request for an increase to numbers where this is due to a change to the admission limit or a local reorganisation. Local authorities are required to agree with their schools forum the criteria on which growth will be allocated.

The schools forum must also be consulted on the total size of the growth fund and criteria for use and should receive regular updates on the use of the funding. Any in-year reduction to the growth fund needs to be agreed with the schools forum.

The department will check the criteria for compliance with the school finance regulations. The criteria should provide a transparent and consistent basis for the allocation of funding, which may be different for each phase.

All criteria will need to be captured in the APT return. This will allow us to publish each local authority’s growth criteria to increase transparency over the operation of growth funding.

Criteria for allocating growth funds should contain clear objective trigger points for qualification, and a clear formula for calculating allocations with these criteria applying to all schools on the same basis.

For the first time in 2024 to 2025 local authorities will be required to provide growth funding where a school or academy has agreed with the local authority to provide an extra class to meet basic need in the area (either as a bulge class or as an ongoing commitment). Funding, either through the growth fund, or by adjusting pupil numbers in the APT, will need to be provided regardless of whether the additional class is within or outside of the PAN.

As a minimum local authorities will have to provide funding to a level which is compliant with the following formula:

primary growth factor value (£1,550) × number of pupils × ACA

The primary growth factor value will be used as the factor value for all school types - recognising that this funding is a minimum value.

In addition to the compulsory criteria above, compliant criteria would generally contain some of the features set out below:

• support where a school or academy has agreed with the local authority to provide an extra class to meet basic need in the area (either as a bulge class or as an ongoing commitment). This is a mandatory requirement. There is also a mandatory minimum funding calculation

• additional support where a school has extended its age range (the majority of funding would be paid through the funding formula, where the local authority should seek a variation in pupil numbers)

• support where a school has temporarily increased its PAN, by a minimum number of pupils, in agreement with the local authority

• support for KS1 classes where overall pupil numbers exceed a multiple of 30, by a minimum number of pupils

• pre-opening costs, initial equipping allowance, or diseconomy of scale allowance, for new maintained schools and academies; including new academies where the school is opening in response to basic need

While local authorities have flexibility on how they allocate funding, in cases of funding an additional class (as outlined above) funding must be compliant with the minimum funding requirement.

Methodologies for distributing funding could include:

• a lump sum payment with clear parameters for calculation (usually based on the estimated cost of making additional provision for a new class, or the estimated start-up costs)

• a per-pupil rate (usually based on the basic entitlement rate and reflecting the proportion of the year which is not funded within the school’s budget share)

• a per-pupil rate, with a maximum ceiling

The department has published further guidance for local authorities setting up funds for growth. Where growth funding is payable to academies, the local authority should fund the increase for the period from the additional September intake through until the following August. Local authorities should enter the cost of growth funding for the April to August period, along with appropriate justification, on the recoupment tab of the APT so that the recoupment calculation can be adjusted accordingly.

The department will not make growth fund recoupment adjustments for diseconomy of scale, or start-up funding; local authorities should not enter these on the recoupment tab of the APT. This funding will continue to be met from the local authority’s growth fund.

Where schools have agreed an expansion in pupil numbers with the local authority, the school should ensure that they understand the methodology for funding the increase and are content that the expansion is deliverable within the funding available.

Local authorities should report any unspent growth funding remaining at the year end to the schools forum. For local authorities that have an overall DSG surplus, funding may be carried forward to the following funding period, as with any other centrally retained budget, and local authorities can choose to use it specifically for growth. Any overspent growth funding will form part of the overall DSG surplus or deficit balance.

29. Falling rolls fund

For the first time in 2024 to 2025 the department will allocate funding based on falling rolls.

Funding will be allocated based on the reduction in pupil numbers that medium super output areas (MSOA) within each local authorities experience for each year. It is based on the observed differences between the primary and secondary number on roll in each MSOA in a local authority between the most recent October pupil census and the census in the previous October. The falling rolls allocation for each local authority will be £140,000 per MSOA which sees a 10% or greater reduction in the number of pupils on roll between the 2 census years. These allocations will be subject to an ACA.

Local authorities will continue to have discretion over whether to operate a falling rolls fund. Where local authorities operate a fund, they will only be able to provide funding where the 2022 SCAP shows that school places will be required in the subsequent 3 to 5 years. This SCAP requirement replaces previous guidance that funding may only be used where local planning data shows that the surplus places will be needed within the next 3 financial years.

Growth and falling rolls funding can be used to help meet the revenue costs, for mainstream schools, of removing or repurposing surplus places. For example, the growth and falling rolls fund could be used to meet the revenue costs faced by schools for repurposing space to create SEN provision or early years places. Such use of funding must be for revenue, rather than capital costs.

In addition, from 2024 to 2025, the restriction that support could only be provided to schools judged ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ at their last Ofsted inspection will be removed.

The schools forum should agree both the value of the fund and the criteria for allocation and the local authority should regularly update the schools forum on the use of the funding. As with the growth fund, the falling rolls fund is also within the NFF schools block. Any in-year reduction to the falling rolls fund needs to be agreed with the schools forum.

Criteria for allocating falling rolls funding should contain clear objective trigger points for qualification, and a clear formula for calculating allocations. Differences in allocation methodology are permitted between phases.

Compliant criteria would generally contain some of the features set out below:

• 2022 SCAP shows that school places will be required in the subsequent 3 to 5 years (this is a mandatory requirement)

• surplus capacity exceeds a minimum number of pupils, or a percentage of the published admission number

• formula funding available to the school will not support provision of an appropriate curriculum for the existing cohort

• the school will need to make redundancies to contain spending within its formula budget

Methodologies for distributing funding could include:

• a rate per vacant place, up to a specified maximum number of places (place value likely to be based on basic per pupil funding)

• a lump sum payment with clear parameters for calculation (for example, the estimated cost of providing an appropriate curriculum, or estimated salary costs equivalent to the number of staff who would otherwise be made redundant)

Where falling rolls funding is payable to academies, the local authority should fund the increase for the period from the additional September intake through until the following August. Local authorities should enter the cost of falling rolls funding for the April to August period, along with appropriate justification, on the recoupment tab of the APT so that the recoupment calculation can be adjusted accordingly.

Local authorities should report any falling rolls funds remaining at the end of the financial year to the schools forum.

For local authorities with an overall surplus, funding may be carried forward to the following funding period, as with any other centrally retained budget and local authorities can choose to use it specifically for falling rolls.

The department has published guidance detailing best practice examples of falling rolls (and growth funding) criteria.

The department will check the criteria for compliance with the annually made school finance regulations. The criteria should provide a transparent and consistent basis for the allocation of funding.

All criteria will need to be captured in the APT return. This will allow us to publish local authorities’ falling rolls criteria to increase transparency over the operation of falling rolls funding.

30. Movements between blocks

Local authorities’ DSG consists of 4 blocks of funding:

• schools block

• central school services block (CSSB)

• high needs block

• early years block

The schools block is ring-fenced in 2024 to 2025 in line with the DSG conditions of grant, however local authorities can transfer up to and including 0.5% of their schools block funding into another block, with the approval of their schools forum. Without schools forum agreement, or where they wish to transfer more than 0.5% of their schools block funding into one or more other blocks, local authorities must submit a disapplication request to the Secretary of State.

If local authorities wish to transfer any funding out of the schools block in 2024 to 2025, the department expects to see evidence of recent schools forum discussion and the schools forum vote. This includes cases where schools forums have already agreed DSG recovery/management plans that assume future year transfers.

Local authorities wishing to make a transfer should also consult local maintained schools and academies, and the schools forum should take these views into account before making their decision. It is important that any consultation sets out the full amount of the proposed transfer, not just the amount of proposed transfers in addition to 0.5% or in addition to previous years’ transfers. For example, if a local authority wants to move 1%, the consultation documents must clearly state this. A document showing 0.5% on top of the 0.5% the schools forum can approve is not acceptable.

Most proposals by local authorities to move funding from their schools block arise because of pressures on their high needs budgets. The department therefore expects to see DSG management plans when authorities are proposing block movement transfers. It is important that the local authority provide details of how the transfer from the schools block will decrease the pressure on the high needs block. Local authorities may wish to use the department’s high needs benchmarking tool to compare their patterns of provision and expenditure with similar authorities. Section 251 data can also be used for comparison. In addition, we have published guidance for local authorities on sustainability in high needs systems. You can read further guidance in the DSG management plans section.

It is particularly important that mainstream schools are clear about how they contribute to the local SEND offer and how that can affect the need for more specialist provision and the costs that local authorities consequently have to meet from their high needs budgets.

The department also expects schools forum discussions to include appropriate representation from special schools and other specialist providers. The department has made a DSG management plan template available to assist local authorities in reporting to forums and consulting with schools.

Most local authorities (those without safety valve agreements with the department) must submit disapplication requests to the Secretary of State, using the disapplication proforma provided by the department, in cases where:

• the local authority wishes to move more than 0.5% of the schools block, regardless of any previously agreed transfer amounts

• the schools forum has turned down a proposal from the local authority to move any amount of funding out of the schools block, but the local authority wishes to proceed with the transfer

Local authorities that have safety valve agreements with the department should make disapplication requests to the safety valve team at [email protected]. Any local authorities that are engaged in safety valve discussions with the department during 2024 to 2025 should make disapplication requests as part of those discussions. Local authorities may wish to discuss with the safety valve team in advance what form those requests should take.

The deadline for local authorities (other than those in the safety valve programme) to submit a block movement disapplication request was 17 November 2023. This deadline enables the department to communicate decisions in time for local authorities to submit the APT and provide maintained schools with their budget shares.

Schools forum meetings should be arranged so that requests for block movements have been considered prior to the disapplication deadline. Incomplete applications may lead to a delay in the block movement consideration which will have an impact on local authorities’ ability to set school budgets on time.

The department recognises there may be exceptional situations where local authorities need to amend their request, where circumstances change significantly. For example:

• the demand for high needs provision has changed significantly and unexpectedly

• the final pupil numbers in the October census are significantly different from the expected numbers

In these circumstances, local authorities should submit the amended disapplication request by 12 January 2024 at the latest. The department will include more information on the implications for APT submissions in the ‘completing the authority proforma tool guidance’ which will be published in the autumn.

In such circumstances, local authorities should also have considered how they will manage the timetable for setting their school budgets so that the notifications to schools of their budget shares, and the parallel department process for notification of academy allocations, are not delayed. The department suggests timetabling schools forum meetings to discuss budgets from October to December, to agree the process should any amendments to disapplications need to be made. This allows for schools forum to be informed and vote on proposed changes. Further to this, arrangements for political approval should be timetabled to take account of this later date for amended requests.

When submitting disapplication requests for transfers from the schools block, local authorities (other than those in the safety valve programme) should provide the evidence detailed in the disapplication proforma provided by the department. This includes:

• a DSG management plan that includes:

  • a forecast position for at least the next 3 years

  • details of predicted growth, sufficiency, and the actions the local authority are taking to mitigate the risk of overspending

  • quantified financial and SEND interventions, with detailed narrative explaining how the figures have been derived

• a breakdown of specific budget pressures justifying a transfer, including changes in demand for special provision over the last 3 years and how the local authority has met that demand by commissioning places in all sectors

• assessment of why the high needs costs are exceeding funding levels and plans to change the pattern of provision where necessary

• assessment of the need to seek schools forum approval for further transfers and consideration of plans to avoid this if possible

• partnership between the local authority, those institutions offering special and AP (including mainstream schools) and parents; and between the local authority and neighbouring authorities

• any contributions coming from the health and social care budgets towards the cost of specialist places

• consideration of how additional high needs funding would be targeted to ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ mainstream schools that provide an excellent education for a larger than average number of pupils with high needs, or to support the inclusion of children with SEND in mainstream schools

• details of the effect that any transfer would have on individual schools’ budgets funded from the schools block

• information presented to the schools forum, and to all schools through consultation and details of responses to the transfer proposal

The above information should be as presented in published papers considered by the schools forum, alongside the published minutes of relevant schools forum meetings, recording the discussion at the meetings and details of the vote leading to the forum decision.

Each request will be considered on a case-by-case basis; however, the department will look at the following criteria in determining whether the local authority has a strong case:

• strong evidence that a further transfer remains necessary to address significant cost pressures

• specific and detailed plans which demonstrate that the transferred funding would contribute to addressing cost pressures in a sustainable way, such as ‘invest to save’ options

• strong evidence of a marked and recent transfer of financial responsibility for children with high needs from the schools block to the high needs block, for example through a significant increase in permanent exclusions requiring the local authority to make more AP, or a significant increase in the proportion of children with EHC plans placed in specialist settings rather than mainstream schools

• a strong plan outlining the actions that the local authority will take to ensure a sustainable SEND sector, and how the transfer will impact this work

• a good level of support from local schools and the schools forum for a transfer, including a breakdown of local consultations

Local authorities are required to comply with the duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 when making decisions about disapplication proposals. Section 149 places a duty on local authorities to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations when making decisions and delivering services. The department expects local authorities to have considered, consulted and explained the specific equality impacts their proposals might have in the disapplication request.

If no Equality Impact Assessment has been completed or provided to support the disapplication proforma, the disapplication request will remain on hold until such information has been made available.

31. Movement from other blocks

Movements from the central school services block or high needs block to any other block, are not subject to any limit and can be made in consultation with the schools forum.

Movement from the early years block can be made in compliance with the early years pass through rate conditions, and in consultation with the schools forum.

Any local authority considering a transfer of funding out of the high needs block should have ensured adequate consultation, both with the relevant representatives on the schools forum (including any relevant sub-groups), and with any providers likely to be affected by the transfer.

32. DSG deficits and high needs exceptional funding

Following the consultation in 2019, the department made changes to the school finance regulations, to give statutory backing to a new process for handling DSG deficits.

In terms of looking at the overall position on DSG, a local authority must now:

• carry all the deficit forward to set against the schools budget in the next financial year; or

• carry part of the deficit forward to set against the schools budget in the next financial year and carry the rest of it forward to the following financial year; or

• not set any of the deficit against the schools budget in the next financial year, but carry all the deficit forward to the following financial year

These provisions are being repeated in each set of school finance regulations so that part or all of the deficits can be carried forward further a year at a time, to be dealt with through DSG that will be received in future years.

If the local authority sets any part of the deficit against the schools budget for the next financial year, it must plan to eliminate that part of the deficit through funding from the DSG that it will receive during that financial year.

If the local authority carries any part of the deficit forward to the following financial year, that means it is not planning to eliminate that part of the deficit from DSG received in the next financial year but will need to eliminate it from DSG received in future years.

With effect from the 2020 to 2021 financial year, if a local authority with a DSG deficit wishes to use general funds to eliminate any part of the deficit, or otherwise to add general funds to its schools budget, it must apply to the Secretary of State as set out in the annually made school finance regulations, to disregard the requirement to carry deficits forward under the regulations, to the extent of the amount of general funds that it wishes to use.

Local authorities (other than those in the safety valve intervention programme) should use the disapplication proforma launched in October 2023 for disapplication requests. All safety valve local authorities were contacted individually with details about how they were to submit disapplication requests for 2024 to 2025.

The government has also taken action on local government accounting rules so that, on a temporary basis, DSG deficits are treated in a special way for accounting purposes (this is not the same as the treatment for the purposes of the school finance regulations).

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has amended The Local Authorities Capital Finance and Accounting (England) Regulations 2003 to provide that for the financial years beginning on 1 April 2020 and ending on 31 March 2026, any DSG deficit at the end of a financial year must not be charged to a general fund but must be charged to a separate fund established and used solely for the purpose of recognising deficits in respect of the schools budget. This has the effect of separating any deficits from a local authority’s general fund.

You can read the Chartered Institute of Public Finance & Accountancy (CIPFA) guidance on their website. Any additional DSG deficit at the end of 2021 to 2022 and subsequent years must be added to this separate fund and DLUHC have now extended the operation of these regulations up to the end of financial year 2025 to 2026.

These regulations alter the position on handling DSG reserves for those authorities who had a DSG deficit at the end of 2020 to 2021 or have an in-year DSG deficit in any subsequent year up to 2025 to 2026. The DLUHC regulations set statutory rules for how a DSG deficit is to be calculated each year and that the whole of it must be put in an unusable reserve. The calculation covers the whole of the DSG and where the overall outcome is a deficit, it is not possible to hold separate reserves with surpluses in them for some blocks of the DSG.

The department is now running 3 programmes offering direct support in respect of the effectiveness and sustainability of local authorities’ high needs systems, which together will work with all local authorities: the safety valve intervention programme, the DBV in SEND programme and ESFA support programme. The aim of all 3 programmes is to secure sustainable management of local authorities’ high needs systems. DSG management plans are an important aspect of this and further details on these can be found in the DSG management plans section.

The safety valve intervention programme will continue to target the local authorities with the highest DSG deficits. The programme requires the local authorities involved to develop substantial plans for reform to rapidly place them on a sustainable footing. If the local authorities can demonstrate sufficiently that their DSG management plans create lasting sustainability, the department will enter into an agreement with the local authority. Upon the local authority demonstrating progress they will receive incremental funding to eliminate their historic deficits, generally spread over 5 financial years.

The DBV in SEND programme targets local authorities with less severe but either substantial and/or growing deficit issues, helping them reform their high needs systems, to provide effective and sustainable SEND services that will achieve better outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The DBV in SEND programme has similar aims to the safety valve intervention programme but maintains a slightly different approach to support local authorities regarding the provision of SEND services. The programme does not include funding to eliminate historic deficits.

ESFA will continue its programme of support for all remaining local authorities, supporting them to develop appropriate DSG management plans. The ESFA Local Authority Stakeholder Engagement Team will offer to meet with all local authorities not included in the safety valve intervention and DBV in SEND programmes and will provide support and challenge through a detailed review of management plans for the remaining local authorities in deficit, to help them achieve financial sustainability.

33. DSG management plans

Many local authorities have been incurring a deficit on their overall DSG account, largely because of overspends on the high needs block.

Starting in 2020 to 2021, DfE extended the rules under the DSG conditions of grant to state that any local authority with an overall deficit on its DSG account at the end of the previous financial year, or whose DSG surplus has substantially reduced during the year, must cooperate with the department in handling that situation by:

• providing information as and when requested by the department about its plans for managing its DSG account in the 2023 to 2024 financial year and subsequently

• providing information as and when requested by the department about pressures and potential savings on its high needs budget

• meeting with officials of the department as and when they request to discuss the local authority’s plans and financial situation

• keeping the schools forum updated regularly about the local authority’s DSG account and plans for handling it, including high needs pressures and potential savings

DSG management plans should be discussed with the schools forum on a regular basis and should set out the local authority’s plans for bringing the DSG spend back into balance.

The department expects the DSG management plan to be co-produced. Relevant leads in the finance and SEN areas should sign off each version, (with sign off to be at least at assistant director level).

Where a local authority has a substantial in-year overspend or cumulative DSG deficit balance at the end of the financial year, its management plan should look to bring the overall DSG account into balance within a timely period.

In all cases, the department expects local authorities’ management plans to focus on how they will bring in-year spending in line with in-year resources and address whatever the main causes of overspending on the DSG have been.

The department expects a range of evidence to support local authority management plans. The department will continue to review the management plan process and has provided a template DSG deficit management plan for local authorities to use. The department expects all evidence to have been presented to schools forums.

The evidence should include:

• a full breakdown of specific budget pressures locally that have led to the local authority’s current DSG position. Where this has resulted from high needs pressures, information should include the changes in demand for special provision over the last 3 years, how the local authority has met that demand by commissioning places in different sectors (mainstream and special schools, further education (FE) and sixth form colleges, independent specialist provision and alternative provision) and if there have been any reductions in the provision for mainstream school pupils with high needs

• an assessment and understanding of the specific local factors that have caused an increase in high needs costs to a level that has exceeded the local authority’s high needs funding allocations; and a plan to change the pattern of provision where this is necessary, as well as to achieve greater efficiency and better value for money in other ways; together with evidence of the extent to which the plan is supported by schools and other stakeholders

• evidence of how the local authority intends to bring its DSG account back into balance within a timely period, clearly showing clearly how expenditure will be contained within future funding levels

• details of any previous movements between blocks and any proposed block movements. A detailed explanation of why these have not been sufficient in the past and why they will be needed going forward to meet the local authority’s high needs pressures is required. Further information is included in the movements between blocks section of this guidance

Local authorities not in the safety valve intervention or DBV in SEND programmes who wish to access support with DSG deficits and DSG management plans should contact ESFA at [email protected].

34. Central school services block (CSSB)

The CSSB continues to provide funding for local authorities to carry out central functions on behalf of maintained schools and academies, comprising 2 distinct elements:

• ongoing responsibilities

• historic commitments

Further details on the methodology used for the CSSB are set out in the 2024 to 2025 NFF technical note.

The total funding for ongoing responsibilities is £305 million in 2024 to 2025. This funds all local authorities for the functions they have a statutory duty to deliver for all pupils in maintained schools and academies. It also includes £5.5 million to cover the increased cost in copyright licences that local authorities faced in 2023 to 2024.

Local authorities will continue to be protected so that the maximum per-pupil year-on-year reduction in funding for ongoing responsibilities is 2.5%, while the year-on-year gains cap will be set at the highest affordable rate of 5.51%.

As previously stated, the department has reduced the element of funding within CSSB that some local authorities receive for historic commitments made prior to 2013 to 2014.

In 2024 to 2025, for those local authorities that receive it, historic commitments funding has been reduced by 20%.

The department has protected any local authority from having a reduction that takes their total historic commitments funding below the total value of their ongoing prudential borrowing and termination of employment costs, in recognition of the time required for such costs to unwind. For example, if a local authority had historic commitments funding of £800,000 in 2023 to 2024, this would reduce to £640,000 in 2024 to 2025 (a £160,000, or 20% reduction). However, if that local authority had a termination of employment and prudential borrowing costs to a value of £675,000 that value would be protected, and the reduction to the historic commitments would only be £125,000. Note that we only grant protection against the 20% decrease in historic commitments funding - the protection for 2024 to 2025 cannot increase funding beyond what was received in 2023 to 2024.

The department will continue to consider evidence from local authorities which are in this position. We invite local authorities affected to contact the department at [email protected]. The deadline to reflect this in the December DSG allocation has now passed. To reflect this in the March DSG publication, we request evidence by Friday 2 February 2024. We will not accept evidence after this date for 2024 to 2025 DSG adjustments. Agreements for protection are granted on an annual basis. As such, local authorities which have had their historic commitment funding protected in previous years need to resubmit an application for the year 2024 to 2025 for their protection to continue.

Local authorities are required to have schools forum or Secretary of State approval for expenditure on historic commitments and they may not spend more on these commitments than they did in the previous year unless this is authorised by the Secretary of State. A local authority can maintain spending on these areas using other funding sources if they wish to.

The duties included in the CSSB are set out in annex 3: central services that may be funded with agreement of schools forum, which also includes maintained school only functions.

Where local authorities hold these duties in relation to all schools, all schools must be treated on an equivalent basis. Local authorities should not treat voluntary aided schools, foundation schools or academies differently from other maintained schools in the services they provide to them. This is set out in the DSG conditions of grant.

For example, although admissions appeals are not a duty that the local authority holds in relation to all schools, the department would still expect all schools to be treated fairly and equitably by the local authority.

This does not include funding that has been retained centrally from maintained school budgets only, where some statutory duties relate to community and voluntary controlled schools only.

However, in these situations, local authorities should not charge voluntary aided and foundation schools if requested to provide services to these schools and where there is no charge to community and voluntary controlled schools for the same service.

35. Services for maintained schools

Local authorities can fund some services relating to maintained schools only from maintained school budget shares, with the agreement of maintained school members of the schools forum.

The relevant maintained schools members of the schools forum (primary, secondary, special, and PRUs) should agree the amount the local authority will retain.

If the local authority and schools forum are unable to reach a consensus on the amount to be retained by the local authority, the matter can be referred to the Secretary of State.

Local authorities should set a single rate per 5 to 16-year-old pupil for all mainstream maintained schools, both primary and secondary. In the interests of simplicity, this should be deducted from basic entitlement funding.

The department will not allow adjustments to other factors, and the rate will not include early years or post-16 pupils, who are funded through different formulae.

Local authorities can choose to establish differential rates for special schools and PRUs if the cost of fulfilling the duty is substantially different for these schools. The rate will be expressed per place rather than per pupil for special schools and PRUs (the multipliers used in the CSSB predecessor grant previously were 3.75 for PRUs and 4.25 for special schools).

As with de-delegation (see de-delegated services section below), the amount to be held by the local authority will be determined after MFG has been applied. If a school converts to academy status, the department will recoup the amount retained for that school from the local authority’s DSG for the remaining months of the financial year that the school is an academy. The academy will be reimbursed in its monthly general annual grant payment from the point of conversion.

Unlike for de-delegated services, there will be no phased transfer of funding following conversion so there will be immediate recoupment of this part of the budget. For example, if a school converts on 1 January 2025 (3 months prior to the end of the financial year), the department will recoup three-twelfths of the retained amount relating to that school.

Local authorities can fund some administrative functions, relating to maintained schools out of the DSG, with the agreement of either the schools forum or the Secretary of State. For expenditure to be funded out of the DSG, it has to be defined as part of the Schools Budget. This definition is set out in the annually made school finance regulations.

As an alternative, local authorities may not wish to fund these administrative functions out of the DSG, but to fund them out of general funds.

There are now 2 routes for local authorities to follow, depending on whether they want to ask the schools forum to authorise funding of any part of these functions from the DSG, or whether they want to use general funds.

If they want to use the DSG, local authorities can request schools forum approval as set out in the school finance regulations; and if the schools forum does not agree they can request permission from the Secretary of State.

If a local authority wants to use general funds, it will make a deduction as set out in the school finance regulations without approaching the schools forum. In that case the expenditure ceases to be part of the Schools Budget and therefore cannot be funded out of the 2024 to 2025 DSG. Instead, it is treated as part of the non-schools education budget and falls to be funded out of the local authority’s general funds.

Local authorities should provide sufficient evidence to their schools forum to enable them to make an informed decision on the amount of funding to be held centrally. This could include:

• planned total spending for 2024 to 2025 on each of the headings set out in annex 4: schools forum approvals for centrally held funding, which also covers all central expenditure

• spending shown to at least the level of detail provided in the 2024 to 2025 section 251 budget statement

• comparable figures for previous years’ spending, split where relevant between those relating to all schools, and those for maintained schools only

• consequences for the funding and delivery of each of the services provided, if the request was not approved

• the impact on individual school budgets and their overall financial position

• the impact on the local authority if the amount was not held centrally

• detail of the results of the equalities impact assessment carried out to assess the impact of the central retention/education functions of the funding on children or other people who have one or more of the protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010

36. De-delegated services

De-delegated services are for maintained schools only. Funding for de-delegated services must be allocated through the local funding formula but can be passed back, or de-delegated, for maintained mainstream primary and secondary schools with schools forum approval.

De-delegation does not apply to special schools, nursery schools, or PRUs. Where de-delegation has been agreed for maintained primary and secondary schools, the department’s presumption is that the local authority will offer the service on a buyback basis to those schools and academies in their area which are not covered by the de-delegation.

In the case of special schools and PRUs, the funding to buy such services will be included in any top-up payments. Any decisions made to de-delegate in 2023 to 2024 related to that year only, new decisions will be required for any service to be de-delegated in 2024 to 2025.

From 2022 to 2023, schools forums have been able to agree to de-delegate funding for local authorities’ core school improvement activities in relation to maintained schools. In addition, since 2017 to 2018, schools forums have been able to agree to de-delegate further funding for additional school improvement provision for maintained schools. From 2023 to 2024, the school improvement monitoring and brokering grant is no longer being paid to local authorities.

Schools forum members for primary maintained schools and secondary maintained schools must as set out in the Schools Forums (England) Regulations 2012 decide separately for each phase whether the service should be provided centrally; the decision will apply to all maintained mainstream schools in that phase.

They must decide on fixed contributions for these services so that funding can then be removed from the formula before school budgets are issued.

There may be different decisions for each phase. The services which may be de-delegated are:

• school improvement services

• contingencies (including schools in financial difficulties and deficits of closing schools)

• behaviour support services

• support to underperforming ethnic groups and bilingual learners

• free school meals eligibility

• insurance

• RPA

• museum and library services

• staff costs supply cover (for example, long-term sickness, maternity, trade union and public duties)

• licences and subscriptions; except for the following, which are paid for by the department:

  • Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI)

  • Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA)

  • Education Recording Agency (ERA)

  • Filmbank Distributors Ltd. (for the PVSL)

  • Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS)

  • Motion Picture Licensing Company (MPLC)

  • Newspaper Licensing Authority (NLA)

  • Performing Rights Society (PRS)

  • Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL)

  • Schools Printed Music Licence (SPML)

Local authorities should make a clear statement of how the funding is being taken out of the formula for each de-delegated service. For example:

• primary insurance £20 per pupil

• secondary behaviour support services £30 per FSM pupil

There should be a clear statement of how contingencies and other resources will be allocated. Academies will continue to receive a share of funding for these services in their delegated budget.

Where de-delegation is agreed, middle schools will potentially be subject to 2 different decisions and the unit value for de-delegation can be different for primary and secondary age pupils. For example, if the primary sector agreed to de-delegate a service but the secondary sector did not, middle schools in the local authority would have their formula allocation reduced only for their primary pupils at the agreed primary school rate.

2024 to 2025 de-delegation arrangements for schools converting to academy status are as follows:

• conversion date on or before 1 April 2024 – no de-delegation

• conversion date between 2 April 2024 and 1 September 2024 – local authority retains any de-delegated funding until 1 September 2024

• conversion date between 2 September 2024 to 21 March 2025 – local authority retains any de-delegated funding until 31 March 2025

After the dates specified, the academy will receive the full formula allocation and the department will recoup this from the local authority.

The local authority should continue to provide the services to new academies where funding is de-delegated if they are asked to do so. If the local authority is unable to provide the requested service, the department expects the local authority and the academy to come to an arrangement to pay the funding directly to the academy.

Exceptions to this would be in cases where contractual arrangements to pay services in advance have already been made, and the local authority does not have the ability to continue to provide this service.

Where the local authority agrees that a school is entitled to receive an allocation from a de-delegated contingency fund, that agreement should be honoured if the school converts to an academy at any point in the year.

Where a school converts to an academy in the period 2 April 2024 to 1 September 2024, local authorities will have an opportunity to present an evidence-based case to request a recoupment adjustment for the period 2 September 2024 to 31 March 2025.

Local authorities should report any unspent de-delegated funding remaining at year-end to their schools forum.

Local authorities with an overall DSG surplus can carry funding forward to the following funding period as with any other centrally retained budget and can choose to use it specifically for de-delegated services.

37. Grants for 2024 to 2025

37.1 Pupil premium

The pupil premium will continue in the 2024 to 2025 financial year.

For 2024 to 2025 the October 2023 school census data will be used to allocate the pupil premium, just as the October 2022 census was used for the 2023 to 2024 pupil premium allocations.

37.2 Other non-DSG grants

In 2023 to 2024 schools were allocated additional funding through the MSAG. For 2024 to 2025, this funding has been rolled into the schools NFF.

There will be a separate teachers’ pay additional grant (TPAG) for 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 which reflects the additional costs of the 2023 teachers’ pay award. The methodology for the 2024 to 2025 TPAG has now been published . You can find further information on TPAG 2023 to 2024 at teachers’ pay additional grant for 2023 to 2024.

There will be an additional grant for 2024 to 2025 to reflect the additional costs of the increase of 5 percentage points, to 28.6%, to the employer contribution rates to the teachers’ pensions scheme from April 2024. We will take a similar approach to the TPAG to distribute funding. This methodology allocates funding such that all schools benefit, but with a weighting towards greater need, as per the schools NFF. A lump sum element will ensure that small schools receive a higher amount of funding, per pupil, than larger schools. This ensures the grant can be efficiently rolled into the NFF in future years, so that schools receive the majority of their funding through their core allocations.  Further details will be announced in due course.

38. High needs funding

The high needs block supports provision for children and young people with SEND, from ages 0 to 25, and AP for children of compulsory school age who, because of exclusion, illness, or other reasons, cannot receive their education in mainstream schools.

The department has confirmed the following aspects of the high needs NFF for 2024 to 2025:

• the funding floor has been set at 3% so each local authority will receive an increase of at least that percentage, considering changes in their 2 to 18 population (as estimated by the ONS)

• the gains limit has been set at 5%, allowing local authorities to see increases up to that percentage, also based on their 2 to 18 population as above

More detail on the high needs NFF is set out in the following documents:

• provisional high needs block allocations for 2024 to 2025 and supporting technical note explaining the calculations

• the NFF policy document, which provides more information about the overall NFF

The operational aspects of high needs funding and the process for finalising local authority allocations of high needs funding and schools and colleges allocations of place funding remain largely unchanged from 2023 to 2024. Details are available in the high needs funding: 2024 to 2025 operational guide.

39. Early years funding

The early years entitlement local authority funding operational guide 2023 to 2024 provides current guidance which local authorities should follow when funding providers to deliver the early years entitlements. The early years entitlement local authority funding operational guide 2024 to 2025 was published 29 November 2023.

The 2024 to 2025 guidance covers funding for:

• the 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of children from 9 months to 2 years old (new entitlement from 1 September 2024)

• the 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of 2-year-old children (new entitlement from 1 April 2024)

• the 15 hours entitlement for disadvantaged 2-year-olds

• the universal 15 hours entitlement for all 3 and 4-year-olds

• the additional 15 hours entitlement for eligible working parents of 3 and 4-year-olds

• supplementary funding for maintained nursery schools

• the early years pupil premium

• the disability access fund

40. Completing the authority proforma tool (APT)

Local authorities must report their local funding formula to the department on a combined modelling tool and proforma, the APT. The department will calculate academy budgets based on the formula set out in the proforma. Local authorities must also include on the APT their calculation of schools notional SEN budget, following a review of that calculation in accordance with the latest guidance on notional SEN budgets.

While local authorities can use their own spreadsheet modelling for their formula, the department strongly recommends the APT is populated alongside their own models to ensure consistency between them and to avoid unnecessary delay in the submission process.

To help local authorities plan and model their funding formula, the department will provide a final APT with information from the October census, which includes the changes announced in the DSG settlement. Local authorities must submit their final APT by 22 January 2024.

Where in exceptional circumstances a local authority has made a significant change to a disapplication request for a movement from the schools block, the department recognises that it cannot finalise the APT until a decision on the disapplication has been reached.

The department will aim to make final decisions in time to allow the local authorities concerned to submit their final APT by 22 February 2024. Local authorities considering this should ensure that they have procedures in place to meet the requirement to calculate maintained school budgets by 29 February 2024. This includes gaining political approval of budgets.

The APT is an integrated tool which contains a range of information, including the underpinning data for school level allocations, details of how split sites and PFI allocations have been calculated, and the methods used for de-delegation of services.

The APT contains a range of validation checks to identify inconsistencies in the data local authorities have entered, and to highlight where required data and information may be missing.

Local authorities should have ensured that all validation checks have passed before submitting the APT. The department will provide detailed guidance on how to complete the APT in the autumn.

Local authorities must ensure they have built the relevant political approval into their planning, as the deadlines shown in the timetable below are critical to achieving the advantages of issuing earlier budgets. The department appreciates that formulae often have to be approved by the local authority’s cabinet or lead member, so it is important that the forward plan takes account of this.

To speed up the approval process, once the DSG and pupil numbers are known, the department strongly advises that local authorities obtain earlier approval for the principles they will use to balance the budget if pupil numbers differ from the estimates they used. Examples could include scaling back the basic per pupil entitlement across all key stages or carrying forward any marginal shortfall on DSG to the following financial year.

41. Completing the APT for split site schools

From 2024 to 2025 onwards, the APT will be pre-populated with information on split sites schools. Local authorities should contact the department if there are any split sites that have not been included on the pre-populated APT (for example, if they are new or in cases of late identification). The department will then assess eligibility and calculate the split site distance. Once the department has confirmed this, the local authority should manually add the site to the APT itself.

The department holds a live list of eligible sites which is updated throughout the year. In preparation for changes to be reflected and funded by the department in 2025 to 2026, please ensure that the department is aware of any new or incorrect split sites by contacting [email protected] by June 2024 (please look out for confirmation of the actual deadline in future weekly ESFA Updates) – even if that occurs after the APT has been submitted for 2024 to 2025. This includes letting us know of any schools which stop being split sites and should be removed from the spreadsheet.

Local authorities may not set their own criteria for split sites funding and can only award split site funding to their schools where that meets the NFF’s eligibility criteria. These are set out in annex 5: split site eligibility criteria.

42. Treatment in the APT of new and growing schools

The annually produced school finance regulations require local authorities to provide estimated numbers on the APT for new schools and schools that have opened in the last 7 years that do not yet have pupils in every year group. This means it is not necessary for local authorities to apply for a pupil number variation in these situations.

As the APT covers the financial year and year groups join at the start of an academic year, the department would generally expect the estimated numbers to reflect seven-twelfths of the financial year.

The department needs to understand details of the academic year numbers as well so that relevant academies can be funded on that basis (this also applies to variations in pupil numbers where there are changes in age range).

Local authorities should work with the schools concerned to provide the most accurate and realistic estimate based on the latest admissions and demographic data. The regulations are not prescriptive about how future numbers on roll (NOR) should be calculated however, methodologies could include:

[October 2023 NOR (from APT) × five-twelfths] + [October 2024 estimated NOR × seven-twelfths]

[October 2023 NOR (from APT)] + [seven-twelfths October 2024 estimated intake in new year group]

Where a school is filling many empty places in existing year groups, it may be more appropriate to consider the estimated NOR of the whole school rather than simply considering the size of the new cohort.

The 2024 to 2025 APT will automatically convert the financial year estimated pupil numbers to pupil numbers expected in the academic year and local authorities should assure themselves that these are correct.

For a school to be classed as a new and growing school, it must have opened in the last 7 years, and not have all year groups present yet. Academies with predecessor schools are not considered as new schools for this purpose.

If a school has opened in the last 7 years and is already taking in pupils in all year groups, there is no requirement to estimate numbers.

Existing schools, which are extending their age range or becoming all-through are unlikely to be classed as growing, unless they also opened in the last 7 years.

The regulations allow retrospective adjustments in the following financial year so that schools are appropriately funded if actual numbers are different from the estimates. This is a matter for local decision, but the department would generally expect such a mechanism.

Local authorities can choose whether to use a threshold. All mainstream free schools are now recoupable from the first year of opening. Local authorities should estimate pupil numbers and characteristics for these schools, as was the case already for those opened under the presumption arrangements.

To help local authorities estimate the recoupment amounts for these schools, the department will include a dataset of free schools predicted to open in the next year, with expected pupil numbers, in the final APT sent out in December 2023.

The department has asked local authorities, when submitting the APT, to combine the data provided with their own local knowledge to determine the most accurate estimate of the number of pupils for new free schools. The department will recoup for newly opening free schools based on the information local authorities have provided in their APT.

If the actual pupil numbers at newly opening free schools differed from the estimates provided in the 2023 to 2024 APT, local authorities should make a retrospective adjustment on the 2024 to 2025 APT, unless the local authority guaranteed the pupil numbers in the previous year.

If local authorities did not show a new free school in the 2023 to 2024 APT and it opens before March 2024, local authorities should show this as a retrospective adjustment in the 2024 to 2025 APT, and the department will recoup accordingly.

The department will check for required amendments by cross-referring to October 2023 school census data when validating the 2024 to 2025 APT. The department will adjust recoupment in 2024 to 2025 for any new free schools where a local authority fails to show, or incorrectly shows, a retrospective adjustment.

The ‘New ISB’ worksheet in the APT should reflect funding for the period in the year that the new free schools are open, and the department will therefore recoup the figure shown on the APT in full. The department will not pro-rate the calculation in respect of these academies.

43. Funding of academies

Most academies are funded on census in the same way that maintained schools are.

Academies that meet the definition of a new school will be funded on their estimates, rather than the census, because this is the provision in their funding agreements.

There is then a retrospective pupil number adjustment applied by the department in the following year.

Local authorities can choose how to estimate numbers for the APT, and whether and how to use a retrospective adjustment. It is therefore possible that the numbers the academy is funded on, and the subsequent adjustment, may differ.

This is essentially no different to other variations which may occur between the amount recouped and the amount funded because of different baselines being used.

However, where the academy is taking on basic need growth, such as through a bulge class, the local authority must allocate funding to the academy in the same way as it would for a maintained school, and according to the same criteria.

The department will adjust recoupment in 2024 to 2025 for any academy where a local authority fails to show, or incorrectly shows, basic need growth.

Where the local authority has agreed a guaranteed number of pupils to a new academy to ensure viability, this should be indicated in the APT. In this case, the department may use the APT estimate to fund the new academy, instead of the normal estimate process; the local authority should provide commentary on the APT to explain their rationale.

The APT guidance has been updated to cover the situation where there is a need to adjust pupil numbers more than once in the year. If this is the case, the academic year calculation will be incorrect, as the APT cannot handle adjustments for more than once in the year.

In these circumstances, local authorities should add an additional spreadsheet to the commentary sheet providing a full breakdown of the calculation.

Several older academies will also be funded on estimates because of a clause in their funding agreement. Most of these academies will have all year groups present now (or may always have had them) so there would normally be no need for local authorities to vary pupil numbers on the APT, unless there was a change of age range, major restructuring, or the addition of extra classes to meet basic need.

In this case, the local authority must allocate funding to the academy according to its growth criteria in the same way as it would for a maintained school; this could be through amendments to the pupil numbers on the APT, or through specific funding from the growth fund.

The department will ensure through the pupil number adjustments process that the academy is only funded for the growth once. The department will adjust recoupment in 2024 to 2025 for any academy where a local authority fails to show, or incorrectly shows, basic need growth.

Where academies are funded based on the census, the department will use any approved variations to pupil numbers submitted by the local authority, as with age range changes for established schools. It is imperative that local authorities make all maintained schools and academies aware of the consequences for their budget of any variations to pupil numbers. Details of the effect on individual schools should be sent out with a clear explanation.

Where academies are funded on estimates, and there is a variation to pupil numbers on the APT, local authorities need to be clear in their communications to them that their APT modelling is for their own budgeting purposes only and may not have the same effect on the academies’ budgets.

Where a local authority makes additional funding available to schools during the year from central funds outside the formula, for example, to settle equal pay liabilities, it must treat academies in the same way as maintained schools.

44. School and academy closures and infrastructural changes

When a school or academy has closed and the displaced pupils have been admitted to other establishments, it is the local authority’s responsibility to fund these pupils using the growth fund.

If a maintained school closes, the local authority should transfer the remaining budget to their growth fund and support the schools admitting the displaced pupils.

If an academy closes, we will usually stop recoupment at the point of closure and pro-rate for the number of days remaining in the financial year. If a local authority has already accounted for the closure in the APT, we will continue to recoup until the end of the financial year, using the pro-rated value.

ESFA will return the pro-rated closing recoupment value via an in-year adjustment to the recoupment value for that academy. Local authorities should then transfer this to their growth fund to support the schools admitting the displaced pupils. A closed academy will not feature in the local authority’s recoupment reports in the financial year following the closure.

If displaced pupils move to an out of authority school following the closure, then a local agreement to transfer funding is encouraged.

If year groups are moved in a phased approach over 2 or more financial years, the local authority may wish to apply to reduce funded pupil numbers away from the lagged census to reflect a more appropriate level of funding. ESFA would require evidence as part of the disapplication request that the affected school(s) were aware and in agreement, prior to the disapplication.

Where there are mergers or de-mergers that affect academies within a local authority, we will not change recoupment for the remainder of the financial year. The changes will take effect from the following financial year, for example, academy names changes, local authority codes, and any split recoupment values following a de-merger, or joined up recoupment values following a merger.

45. Timetable

The provisional timetable for the data checking and calculation of the blocks is shown below:

45.1 Local authority activity

5 October 2023

• school census day

10 October 2023

Deadline for submitting disapplication requests (for response by December) for:

• MFG exclusions

• exceptional circumstances

• sparsity factors

• lump sum variations for amalgamating schools

• pupil number reductions

• growth funding

27 October 2023

• First deadline for local authorities to provide evidence of the total value of their ongoing prudential borrowing and termination of employment costs, for this funding to be protected in the December DSG allocations

Mid-November 2023

• closing date for submission of the 2024 to 2025 high needs place change workbooks

17 November 2023

Deadline for submitting disapplication requests (for response by the APT deadline) for:

• MFG exclusions

• exceptional circumstances

• sparsity factors

• growth funding

• lump sum variations for amalgamating schools

• pupil number reductions

• deadline for submitting disapplication requests if the local authority wishes to move more than 0.5% of the schools block

• a request must also be submitted if the schools forum has turned down a proposal from the local authority to move funding out of the schools block, but the local authority wishes to proceed with the transfer—the department aims to issue decisions before the APT deadline

• deadline for providing details of any changes to the list of split sites given in the modelling version of the APT

November 2023

• school census database closed

• check and validate school census

• block movement requests from safety valve local authorities - the process for safety valve local authorities is separate and all safety valve local authorities have been sent a letter outlining the process

Mid-January 2024

• schools forum consultation and political approval from local authorities required by 22 January in line with APT submission deadline for final 2024 to 2025 funding formulae

• 12 January schools block disapplication submission amendment date

22 January 2024

• deadline for submission of final 2024 to 2025 APT to the department

2 February 2024

• second deadline for local authorities to provide evidence of the total value of their ongoing prudential borrowing and termination of employment costs, for this funding to be protected in the March DSG allocations

29 February 2024

• confirmation of schools budget shares to mainstream maintained schools

March 2024

• final allocations to mainstream maintained schools (includes de-delegation)

45.2 DfE or ESFA activity

July to September 2023

• NFF arrangements for 2024 to 2025 for schools, central school services and high needs published (illustrative allocations, primary unit of funding (PUFs), secondary unit of funding (SUFs), policy document, technical notes)

• operational guidance published setting out arrangements for 5 to 16 mainstream schools implementation for 2024 to 2025

• high needs funding: 2024 to 2025 operational guidance published

• further information to illustrate 2024 to 2025 growth funding allocations has been provided to local authorities

October to November 2023

• publish 2024 to 2025 high needs place change process guidance.

• check and validate school census

• early modelling version of the APT issued to local authorities to help decision making

December 2023

• final APT issued to local authorities, containing October 2023 census-based pupil data and factors

• publication of 2024 to 2025 DSG schools block (prior to academies recoupment), central school services block, initial early years block allocations and updated high needs block allocations for 2024 to 2025

January 2024

• laying the annual Schools and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations

By 31 March 2024

• confirmation of 2024 to 2025 general annual grant for academies open by 9 January 2024

• 2024 to 2025 allocation statements issued to post-16 institutions, academies, and non-maintained special schools

• publication of 2024 to 2025 high needs place numbers at school level

April 2024

• first DSG payments to local authorities based on 2024 to 2025 allocations, including academies recoupment (DSG allocations updated termly for in-year academy conversions), FE high needs place funding deductions, and other adjustments

Summer 2024

• early years block updated for January 2024 early years pupil numbers

Summer 2025

• early years block updated for January 2025 early years pupil numbers (pro rata seven-twelfths, as this relates only to the period September 2024 to March 2025)

46. Additional support

The department will continue to offer support to local authorities, where possible, as they continue to implement the funding reforms. The department is interested in seeing local authority proposals as they are developed and is happy to offer advice through the process.

In most cases, local authorities should submit any questions about the detail and practical implications of implementation by using the ESFA enquiry form.

The department values the regional meetings of local authority finance officers, which provide the opportunity to discuss practical issues and share best practice. Please make every effort to attend, and the department will ensure that officials continue to attend these meetings.

47. Annex 1: examples of how sparsity funding can be allocated

47.1 NFF sparsity rates and thresholds

The maximum sparsity funding a primary school can attract is £57,100, and the maximum a secondary school can attract is £83,000, plus an area cost adjustment if applicable.

The following table sets out the thresholds used in the NFF sparsity funding calculations. These are replicated here to aid the understanding of examples described below.

Schools with a sparsity distance (the average distance to the second nearest school) equal to or greater than the main distance threshold (2 or 3 miles) and an average year group size of less than or equal to half the year group threshold receive 100% of the sparsity funding for their phase.

The year group size taper applies to schools with an average year group size of more than half of the maximum size threshold. The distance taper applies to schools with a sparsity distance between the main distance threshold and the distance taper threshold.

Table 4 below shows the requirements for sparsity funding and the tapers

School phase	Size threshold: maximum average number of pupils per year group	Main distance threshold: minimum average distance to second nearest compatible school	Distance taper threshold: minimum average distance to second nearest compatible school
Primary	21.4	2 miles	1.6 miles
Secondary	120	3 miles	2.4 miles
Middle	69.2	2 miles	1.6 miles
All-through	62.5	2 miles	1.6 miles

47.2 The year group size taper

Schools’ allocations are tapered according to average year group size, so that the smaller the school the greater the allocation.

Example 1: School A’s sparsity allocation through the NFF:

School phase	Average number of pupils per year group	Average distance to second nearest compatible school	Eligible for sparsity funding?
Primary	16.05	2.2 miles	Yes

School A is small and remote enough to be eligible for sparsity funding. However, it will attract less than 100% of the maximum sparsity funding of £57,100 for its phase, since it has an average year group size which is larger than half the year group size threshold. This school will attract £28,550, which is half the maximum. This is calculated as (1 – ((16.05 – 10.7) divided by 10.7)) × £57,100 through the NFF, where 16.05 is the school’s average year group size, and 10.7 is half the year group size threshold.

Example 2: School B’s sparsity allocation through the NFF

School phase	Average number of pupils per year group	Average distance to second nearest compatible school	Eligible for sparsity funding?
Primary	10.70	2.2 miles	Yes

School B is small and remote enough to be eligible for sparsity funding. This school will attract the maximum sparsity allocation for primary schools of £57,100 through the NFF. This is calculated as: (1 – ((10.7 – 10.7) divided by 10.7)) × £57,100.

47.3 Distance taper threshold

Example 3: School C’s sparsity allocation through the NFF

School phase	Average number of pupils per year group	Average distance to second nearest compatible school	Eligible for sparsity funding?
Primary	16.05	1.9 miles	Yes

As set out in example 1, a primary school with average year group size of 16.05 attracts £28,550 through the average year group size taper. For school C, the distance taper methodology needs to be applied on top of the average year group size taper calculation.

The amount this school will attract through the sparsity factor is calculated as: (1 – ((2 – 1.9) divided by (2 – 1.6))) × £28,550; where 2 is the main distance threshold, and 1.9 is the sparsity distance for this school. In this example, the school will therefore attract £21,412.50 through the sparsity factor. This school is attracting 75% of the amount the school would have received had its sparsity distance been equal to or greater than the main distance threshold.

Example 4: School D’s sparsity allocation through the NFF

School phase	Average number of pupils per year group	Average distance to second nearest compatible school	Eligible for sparsity funding?
Primary	16.05	1.7 miles	Yes

School D has the same average number of pupils per year group as schools A and C. It will therefore attract £28,550 through the year group size taper. For school D, the distance taper methodology also needs to be applied on top of the year group size taper.

The amount this school will attract is calculated as: (1 – ((2 – 1.7) divided by (2 – 1.6))) × £28,550, where 2 is the main distance threshold and 1.7 is the sparsity distance for this school. In this example, the school will therefore receive £7,137.50. This is 25% of the amount the school would have received had its sparsity distance been equal to or greater than the main distance threshold. School D will attract less than school C since the distance to the second nearest compatible school is shorter for school D than school C.

47.4 Variations in local authority formulae

For local authorities using the same factor value, group size threshold, distance threshold and tapers as the NFF, the allocation through their local formula will be exactly the same as in the examples described above. For local authorities which use the tapers but with different factor values and different thresholds, the amount allocated to each school will vary accordingly.

48. Annex 2: funding for growing schools

Figure 1 illustrates a flow chart of funding for growing schools

49. Annex 2a: funding for growing schools (text version)

49.1 Where the growing school is a new school

If the growing school is a new school (so does not have all year groups) and is a non section 6A of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 free school, the local authority should estimate pupil numbers on the APT. ESFA pays free schools using the local formula, based on estimated pupil numbers. ESFA will also pay any agreed start up and diseconomy costs until the free school is deemed viable.

If the growing school is a new school (so does not have all year groups), and is not a non-S6a free school, the local authority should estimate pupil numbers on the APT. Estimates should take account of actual intake in the previous funding period. The local authority may provide additional support from the growth fund.

49.2 Where the growing school is not a new school

If the growing school is not a new school but the age range is changing, the local authority should estimate pupil numbers on the APT. ESFA recoups formulae funding for academies from the local authority and pays academies direct. The local authority may provide additional support from the growth fund.

If the growing school is not a new school and the age range is not changing but the increase is required to meet basic need, the local authority funds from the growth fund (if in place) for September to August. ESFA adjusts recoupment for academies for April to August to avoid double-counting. Local authorities must use the new NFF requirements for growth funding, whereby additional classes (driven by basic need) must be funded by at least the minimum funding level set out in the funding calculation.

If the growing school is not a new school, the age range is not changing and increase is not required to meet basic need, then:

• local authority maintained schools are paid through their local authority’s formula, based on lagged pupil numbers. Exceptional funding may be available if the schools forum has agreed a de-delegated contingency

• non-local authority maintained schools are paid by ESFA through their formula, based on lagged pupil numbers

49.3 Where the school is not a growing school

If the school is local authority maintained and not a growing school, then the local authority pays formula funding based on lagged pupil numbers. Exceptional funding may be available in certain circumstances if the schools forum has agreed a de-delegated contingency.

If the school is not local authority maintained, and not a growing school, then ESFA pays formula funding based on lagged pupil numbers.

50. Annex 3: central services that may be funded with agreement of schools forum

The split of services between responsibilities that local authorities hold for all schools, and those that relate to maintained schools only are shown below.

Responsibilities held by local authorities for all schools are funded from the central school services block, with the agreement of schools forums or the Secretary of State.

Responsibilities held by local authorities for maintained schools only are funded from maintained schools budgets only, with agreement of the maintained schools members of schools forums.

The department has included references to the relevant schedules in the annually updated school finance regulations. These provisions will be replicated in the regulations we make for the 2024 to 2025 funding year.

50.1 Responsibilities held for all schools

Statutory and regulatory duties

• Director of children’s services and personal staff for director (Schedule 2, paragraph 15a)

• planning for the education service as a whole (Schedule 2, paragraph 15b)

• authorisation and monitoring of expenditure not met from schools’ budget shares (Schedule 2, paragraph 15c)

• formulation and review of local authority schools funding formula (Schedule 2, paragraph 15d)

• internal audit and other tasks related to the local authority’s chief finance officer’s responsibilities under Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 except duties specifically related to maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 15e)

• consultation costs relating to non-staffing issues (Schedule 2, paragraph 19)

• plans involving collaboration with other local authority services or public or voluntary bodies (Schedule 2, paragraph 15f)

• standing Advisory Committees for Religious Education (SACREs) (Schedule 2, paragraph 17)

• provision of information to or at the request of the Crown other than relating specifically to maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 21)

• revenue budget preparation, preparation of information on income and expenditure relating to education, and external audit relating to education (Schedule 2, paragraph 22)

Education welfare

• functions in relation to school attendance (Schedule 2, paragraph 16)

• responsibilities regarding restrictions on the employment of children (Schedule 2, paragraph 18)

• functions in relation to the exclusion of pupils from schools, excluding any provision of education to excluded pupils (Schedule 2, 20)

Asset management

• management of the local authority’s capital programme including preparation and review of an asset management plan, and negotiation and management of private finance transactions (Schedule 2, paragraph 14a)

• landlord responsibilities, including those in relation to land leased to academies for schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 14b)

Other ongoing duties

• licences negotiated centrally by the Secretary of State for all publicly funded schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 8); this does not require schools forum approval

• operation of the system of admissions and appeals (Schedule 2, paragraph 9)

• fees or expenses payable in connection with the attendance of non-SEN pupils at schools not maintained by any local authority (Schedule 2, paragraph 10)

• remission of boarding fees at maintained schools and academies (Schedule 2, paragraph 11)

• servicing of schools forums (Schedule 2, paragraph 12)

• back-pay for equal pay claims (Schedule 2, paragraph 13)

• writing to parents of year 9 pupils about schools with an atypical age of admission, such as UTCs and studio schools, within a reasonable travelling distance (Schedule 2, paragraph 23)

Historic commitments

• capital expenditure funded from revenue (Schedule 2, paragraph 1)

• prudential borrowing costs (Schedule 2, paragraph 2(a))

• termination of employment costs (Schedule 2, paragraph 2(b))

• contribution to combined budgets (Schedule 2, paragraph 2(c))

• special educational needs transport costs (Schedule 2, paragraph 2(d))

50.2 Responsibilities held for maintained schools only

School improvement

• expenditure related to core school improvement activities of local authorities with respect to maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 53)

Statutory and regulatory duties

• functions of local authority related to best value and provision of advice to governing bodies in procuring goods and services (Schedule 2, paragraph 58)

• authorisation and monitoring of expenditure in respect of schools which do not have delegated budgets, and related financial administration (Schedule 2, paragraph 59)

• monitoring of compliance with requirements in relation to the scheme for financing schools and the provision of community facilities by governing bodies (Schedule 2, paragraph 60)

• internal audit and other tasks related to the local authority’s chief finance officer’s responsibilities under Section 151 of the Local Government Act 1972 for maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 61)

• functions under regulations made under section 44 of the Education Act 2002 (Consistent Financial Reporting) in so far as the functions related to maintained schools (Schedule 2,paragraph 62)

• investigations of employees or potential employees, with or without remuneration to work at or for schools under the direct management of the headteacher or governing body (Schedule 2, paragraph 63)

• functions related to local government pensions and administration of teachers’ pensions in relation to staff working at maintained schools under the direct management of the headteacher or governing body (Schedule 2, paragraph 64)

• HR duties, including advice to schools on the management of staff, pay alterations, conditions of service and composition or organisation of staff (Schedule 2, paragraph 65)

• determination of conditions of service for non-teaching staff (Schedule 2 , paragraph 66)

• appointment or dismissal of employee functions (Schedule 2, paragraph 67)

• consultation costs relating to staffing (Schedule 2, paragraph 68)

• compliance with duties under Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (Schedule 2, paragraph 69)

• provision of information to or at the request of the Crown relating to maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 70)

• school companies (Schedule 2, paragraph 71)

• functions under the Equality Act 2010 (Schedule 2, paragraph 72)

• establish and maintaining computer systems, including data storage (Schedule 2, paragraph 73)

• appointment of governors and payment of governor expenses (Schedule 2, paragraph 74)

• budgeting and accounting functions relating to maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 75)

• retrospective membership of pension schemes where it would not be appropriate to expect a school to meet the cost (Schedule 2, paragraph 77)

Education welfare

• inspection of attendance registers (Schedule 2, paragraph 80)

Asset management

• general landlord duties for all maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraphs 78a & b (section 542(2)) Education Act 1996; School Premises (England) Regulations 2012) to ensure that school buildings have:

  • appropriate facilities for pupils and staff (including medical and accommodation)

  • the ability to sustain appropriate loads

  • reasonable weather resistance

  • safe escape routes

  • appropriate acoustic levels

  • lighting, heating, and ventilation which meets the required standards

  • adequate water supplies and drainage

  • playing fields of the appropriate standards

  • general health and safety duty as an employer for employees and others who may be affected (Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974)

  • management of the risk from asbestos in community school buildings

  • Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012

Central support services

• clothing grants (Schedule 2, paragraph 54)

• provision of tuition in music, or on other music-related activities (Schedule 2, paragraph 55)

• visual, creative, and performing arts other than music (Schedule 2, paragraph 56)

• outdoor education centres (but not centres mainly for the provision of organised games, swimming, or athletics) (Schedule 2, paragraph 57)

Premature retirement and redundancy

• dismissal or premature retirement when costs cannot be charged to maintained schools (Schedule 2, paragraph 79)

Monitoring national curriculum assessment

• monitoring of National Curriculum assessments (Schedule 2, paragraph 76)

Therapies

• this is now covered in the high needs section of the regulations and does not require schools forum approval

Additional note on central services

Services set out above will also include administrative costs and overheads relating to these services (regulation 1(4)) for:

• expenditure related to functions imposed by or under chapter 4 of part 2 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (financing of maintained schools), the administration of grants to the local authority (including preparation of applications) and, where it is the local authority’s duty to do so, ensuring payments are made in respect of taxation, national insurance, and superannuation contributions

• expenditure on recruitment, training, continuing professional development, performance management and personnel management of staff who are funded by expenditure not met from schools’ budget shares and who are paid for services

• expenditure in relation to the investigation and resolution of complaints

• expenditure on legal services

51. Annex 4: schools forum approvals for centrally held funding

A number of the services that are covered by funding that is held centrally are subject to a limitation of no new commitments or increases in expenditure from 2023 to 2024.

This limit does not apply to admissions or the servicing of schools forums.

Schools forum approval is required each year to confirm the amounts on each line.

When using centrally held funding, local authorities must treat maintained schools and academies on an equivalent basis.

The following sections set out the level of approval required for each centrally retained service.

Where schools forum approval is not provided, the local authority can apply to the Secretary of State to decide.

51.1 Schools forum approval is not required (although they should be consulted)

• high needs block provision

• central licences negotiated by the Secretary of State

• funding of brought forward deficits

51.2 Schools forum approval is required on a line-by-line basis

• funding to enable all schools to meet the infant class size requirement

• back pay for equal pay claims

• remission of boarding fees at maintained schools and academies

• places in independent schools for non-SEN pupils

• admissions

• servicing of schools forum

• contribution to responsibilities that local authorities hold for all schools

• contribution to responsibilities that local authorities hold for maintained schools (voted on by relevant maintained school members of the forum only)

• de-delegated services from the schools block (voted on by the relevant maintained school members of the forum only)

51.3 Schools forum approval is required

• central early years block provision

• any movement of funding out of the schools block

51.4 Schools forum approval is required on a line-by-line basis – the budget cannot exceed the value agreed in the previous funding period, and no new commitments can be entered into

• capital expenditure funded from revenue:

  • projects must have been planned and decided on prior to April 2013; no new projects can be charged

  • details of the remaining costs should be presented

• contribution to combined budgets:

  • where the schools forum agreed prior to April 2013 a contribution from the schools budget to services which would otherwise be funded from other sources

• existing termination of employment costs

  • costs for specific individuals must have been approved prior to April 2013; no new redundancy costs can be charged

• prudential borrowing costs:

  • the commitment must have been approved prior to April 2013

  • details of the remaining costs should be presented

• SEN transport where the schools forum agreed prior to April 2013 a contribution from the schools budget (this is now treated as part of the high needs block but still requires schools forum approval as a historic commitment)

51.5 Schools forum approval is required on a line-by-line basis, including approval of the criteria for allocating funds to schools

• funding for significant pre-16 pupil growth, including new schools set up to meet basic need, whether maintained or academy

• funding where SCAP shows that school places will be required in the subsequent 3 to 5 years

52. Annex 5: split site eligibility criteria

For the NFF, an additional site attracts split sites funding if it meets the following conditions (up to a maximum of 3 additional sites per school):

1. It does not have a different unique reference number (URN) to the school’s main site. The URN is allocated to every school and can be found on Get Information about Schools (GIAS). If a site has a different URN, we count it as a different school for funding purposes because they receive a separate lump sum payment.

2. It is separated from the school’s main site by a road or a railway. If separated by a road, it must be a road with 24-hour access to public traffic. This includes where, in order to access the school’s additional site, you have to leave the school site and walk alongside a road. If a school’s sites are separated by a feature not covered in the eligibility criteria, but you believe they should be eligible for split sites funding, please contact us with details of the school’s circumstances at [email protected].

3. It has a building on it which is maintained by the school. We are following the definition of a building used by the DfE condition data collection (CDC) programme^{[footnote 2]}, a block located on a school site which is owned, controlled and/or maintained by the school and which is primarily used for educational purposes. This excludes any ‘ancillary’ buildings ^{[footnote 3]}, swimming pools or playing fields.

4. If a building is rented by the school from another entity, but the school has maintenance responsibilities for the building, it is eligible for split sites funding if it meets the other criteria. Conversely, if the school is leasing out a building to another entity full time, the school would not be eligible to receive split sites funding.

5. It is used primarily for the educational purposes of 5 to 16-year-olds in mainstream education. By primarily, we mean that the site is used by 5 to 16-year-old pupils that attend the school during school hours for the majority of those hours. This excludes any sites used solely for special schools (for example, within the same multi-academy trust), nurseries, or school sixth forms. However, it does include sites used to support 5 to 16-year-old mainstream pupils on the school roll who have SEND, including a site used exclusively for a special unit or resourced provision.

You can use the following chart to assess a school’s eligibility for split sites funding:

Split site funding flow chart

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1. As amended by The Education (Amount to Follow Permanently Excluded Pupils)(Amendment)(England) Regulations 2001 S.I 2001/870). ↩

2. More information can be found on the condition data collection 2 (CDC) programme. You can check whether a building meets CDC criteria by checking the school’s latest CDC Site Plan. ↩

3. Buildings whose use is ancillary to education, including privately owned or occupied domestic properties on the school site, for example, caretaker’s bungalows, observatories, storage sheds, externally funded leisure centres, and secure children’s homes. ↩