Dedicated Schools Grant consultation: Mainstream schools document 2025
DfE funding announcements awaited
As previously advised, no information has been received from the Government regarding the overall level of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) funding, or the National Funding Formula factor rates for mainstream schools for 2026-27.
Historically, the Department for Education (DfE) provided provisional DSG allocations in July for the next financial year covering each of the four funding blocks. The Local Authority (LA) would then use this provisional information to provide illustrative funding allocations for the following financial year for each school in Norfolk, within technical papers, to demonstrate the potential implications of any proposed changes to the funding formula at an individual school level and to help to inform consideration of the consultation questions.
So far, only a summary document[1] has been released by the DfE, which does not provide the required level of detail for modelling of 2026-27 technical papers. However, the LA are of the view that it is important to go ahead with the consultation and to seek responses based on principles that can inform decisions that may need to be made quite quickly, rather than await further information expected during autumn but without a clear timeframe from the DfE. Therefore, along with principle-based questions, technical papers based on 2025-26 financial year funding are provided as part of the consultation to inform responses. The LA will provide updated technical papers utilising 2026-27 provisional information once this has been provided by the DfE. This approach was supported by Norfolk's Schools Forum[2] at their meeting on 24 September 2025.
The LA need to be able to consult Schools Forum at their November and January meetings, and we hope that these are informed by additional detailed information from the Government to support financial planning at those points in time. In the meantime, it is important for us to consult with the schools' sector on principle, to be able to have this feedback to combine with the information from central Government once received.
[1] Schools national funding formula (NFF) summary policy document for 2026 to 2027 - GOV.UK
[2] Norfolk Schools Forum is a body set up by the local authority under the requirements of the Schools Forum (England) Regulations 2012, with a consultative role on DSG funding but also some decision-making powers as set out in Schools_forum_operational_and_good_practice_guide.pdf and Schools_forums_powers_and_responsibilities.pdf
