School funding consultation 2025-26

On Tuesday 1 October, we published a consultation document on school funding for 2025-26 (pdf)

The deadline for completion of responses on the school funding consultation 2025-26 survey is Thursday 24 October.

Why we need to consult

The local authority are required to consult annually with all maintained schools and academies in their area about any proposed changes to the local schools funding formula including the method, principles and rules adopted. The consultation responses will inform schools forum and local authority decision making.

National funding announcement have been delayed this year following the change in government, so this consultation asks for in principle views where actual values are not yet known.

There will be a separate consultation on the early years funding formula and centrally retained funding later in the term.

The areas where we would welcome the views of schools on are:

• The value of the mainstream school minimum funding guarantee (MFG).
• Options for adjusting the growth fund for planned increases in pupil numbers, if necessary, should the government funding not cover the costs.
• Whether to introduce a falling roll fund.
• De-delegation of funding for a small range of services run by the LA for maintained schools.
• Funding for the LA’s key duties and historical commitments in relation to maintained schools and academies.
• Maintaining the existing 0.5% transfer from the schools block to the high needs block to support pressures due to the growth and increasing cost of provision for children with high needs.
• The balance control mechanism used by the authority to clawback excess surplus balances with the support of schools forum.

Consultation information meetings

We are holding two consultation information meetings via MS Teams.

• Wednesday 16 October 2024 4pm-5pm
• Thursday 17 October 2024 11am -12pm

At these meetings, we will summarise the proposals and provide an opportunity for governors and school leaders to ask questions and / or seek clarification on the proposals in the document. To attend, please contact Kim Price (details below).

Decision making timetable

As in previous years, all schools and academies are funded based on the LAs formula.

We will report the results of the consultation to the schools forum at its meetings in November and January where the forum will make decisions affecting school funding for 2025-26.

DfE usually publish final DSG allocations just before term ends in December and we intend to publish draft school level allocations in January and final allocations in February after the DfE have carried out their checks.

We look forward to receiving your responses. If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to email Kim Price (details below).