Dedicated Schools Grant consultation: Mainstream schools document 2025

Leases - (Local updates)

Section 2.8 of Annex J

Current wording (wording to be removed in bold)

"Subject to government legislation on capital expenditure control, schools will have freedom to redeploy expenditure from their delegated budget into capital items. Schools must not enter into finance leases. Schools must not enter into operating leases without the approval of the Children's Services Assistant Director - (Business and Compliance)."

*IFRS = International Financial Reporting Standards

Building Maintenance Fund - (Local updates)

Section 4.2e

Current wording

• "For mainstream schools that do not contract into BMPP* the total amount lodged should be up to a maximum of £650 per pupil on roll at the time of the previous October Census, or £360,000, whichever is the lower.
• For special schools that do not contract into BMPP the total amount lodged can be up to a maximum of £815 per place at the time of the previous October Census.
• Schools with community assets that are required to have a sinking fund for regular repair and maintenance of those assets e.g. swimming pools, Multi-Use Games Areas (MUGAs) etc, may also lodge funds in Schools Building Maintenance Holding Account.
• Once lodged, funds cannot be returned to the school. The funds can only be used to fund building maintenance expenditure."

*BMPP = Building Maintenance Partnership Pool

Annex K - Responsibility for Redundancy and Early Retirement Costs - (Local Updates)

Extract 1 from Annex K, within section 6

Current wording

"Charge of premature retirement costs to local authority non-schools budget:

• Where a school has a long-term reduction in pupil numbers and charging such costs to their budget would impact on standards
• Where a school is closing, does not have sufficient balances to cover the costs and where the central Schools Budget does not have capacity to absorb the deficit
• Where charging such costs to the school's budget would prevent the school from complying with a requirement to recover a licensed deficit within the agreed timescale
• Where a school is in special measures, does not have excess balances and employment of the relevant staff is being/has been terminated as a result of local authority or government intervention to improve standards"

Extract 2 from Annex K, within section 6

Current wording (wording to remove in bold)

"Costs of new early retirements or redundancies can also be charged to the central part of the Schools Budget if the Schools Forum agree and the local authority can demonstrate that the "revenue savings achieved by any termination of employment are equal to or greater than the costs incurred". The Schools Forum must agree to any increase in this budget over the previous financial year. If the Schools Forum does not agree with the local authority's proposal, then the authority can appeal to the Secretary of State. The Schools Forum would also be involved if the additional expenditure resulted in a breach of the central expenditure limit, whereby central expenditure increases faster than the Schools Budget as a whole."

Extract 3 from Annex K, within section 6

Current wording (removal whole of this section)

"An example of where a charge to the central Schools Budget might be appropriate would be a school reorganisation. A reorganisation involving the closure of a number of schools would be likely to result in savings because there would be a reduced amount being allocated through the formula for factors such as flat rate amounts to all schools or floor area. If the savings in the formula exceeded the ongoing costs of the VER/redundancy then this would qualify.

It would be possible to consider savings at an individual school level as well, but this needs to be carefully managed so that there are clear ground rules in place for applications, recommendations and approval. It may be sensible to agree criteria for eligibility which are consistent with the general approach as to when costs should be centrally funded."

Extract 4 from Annex K, within section 6

Current wording (remove whole of this section)

"There are clearly difficulties in setting a budget, whether inside or outside the Schools Budget, at a point prior to the beginning of the financial year before schools have set their budgets and made staffing decisions. Local authorities can only make a best estimate of what may be needed, based on past experience, local knowledge of the financial position of individual schools and the context of that year's funding settlement. There are dangers in raising expectations that costs will be met centrally if the budget is set too high, and so an alternative would be to keep the budget tight and use contingency or schools in financial difficulties budgets if there is an unexpected need for staffing reductions and it is not appropriate for delegated budgets to fund VER/redundancy costs. To achieve best use of resources, local authorities should also have an active redeployment policy, to match staff at risk to vacancies."

Extract 5 from Annex K, within section 6

Current wording (remove all wording)

"One of the permitted uses of the contingency is where "a governing body has incurred expenditure which it would be unreasonable to expect them to meet from the school's budget share" while local authorities are also allowed to retain funding for schools in financial difficulties "provided that the authority consult the schools forum on their arrangements for the implementation of such support."

Extract 6 from Annex K, within section 6

Current wording (words to be changed shown in bold)

"(9) Where a person is employed partly for community purposes and partly for other purposes, any payment or costs in respect of that person is to be apportioned between the two purposes; and the preceding provisions of this section shall apply separately to each part of the payment or costs."