School finance - Section 251 financial statements

Local authorities are required under Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to prepare and submit annual education and children and young people’s services budget and outturn statements for each financial year to the Secretary of State for Education.

These statements are published here and are intended to provide a clear picture of our planned and actual spending on education, children and young people’s services. These statements are also used by the Department for Education (DfE) for the publication of statistics, for constructing benchmarking tables for local authorities, and for answering parliamentary questions and other requests for data.

These statements are prepared to a common format prescribed by the DfE which allows members of the public, schools, local authorities, other government departments and indeed anyone interested, to have accurate financial information, be able to compare funding (and similar information) between different local authorities and have informed debate about budget levels and use of funds.

There are two sets of statements:

The Budget – prepared at the beginning of each financial year reports our planned spend on the Schools Budget (the DSG) and other spend on children and young people, which for most authorities is broadly equivalent to the budget for their Children and Young People’s department or similar.

The Outturn - prepared at the end of each financial year showing how much we actually spend on the Schools Budget (the DSG) and other spend on children and young people

The areas of planned and actual spend are broadly categorized under:

• the schools budget
• de-delegated items
• high needs budget
• early years’ budget
• central provision within the schools budget
• children and young people’s services

Copies of our statements are available:

• to every school maintained by us
• to those private, voluntary and independent providers (PVI Providers) funded by us to provide free early provision to two , three and four year olds
• to the general public
• on our website

If a school, PVI early education provider or any member of the public is not able to download any of these statements from our website and if requested, we will provide a hard copy (at no charge) of any requested statement.

The section 251 budget statement is intended to:

• inform debate around differing levels of planned expenditure between local authorities and schools
• provide schools, parents and others with an interest in education and children’s services with details about schools and local authority funding and planned expenditure
• inform the Treasury for monitoring purposes
• inform Parliament in its role of monitoring the department’s accountability for public funds (MPs ask about school and local authority expenditure via the mechanisms of Parliamentary Questions or through the Education Select Committee)

All statements are prepared to a common format prescribed by the Department for Education which allows them to use this data in the publication of statistics, in the constructing of bench-marking tables for local authorities, and for answering Parliamentary Questions and other data requests.

The budget statement is presented in three parts for the prescribed period in the order specified:

Table 1
Local authority level information provides an overall picture of the funding being allocated direct to schools, the amount being spent on education centrally and the amount being spent on children’s and young people’s services (local authority information covering de-delegated items, high needs budget, early years budget and children’s social care)

Table 2
Maintained special and hospital schools, and pupil referral units lists the place numbers and funding in each setting (local authority information covering high needs i.e. special and alternative provision (AP) settings)

3. Early Years Pro Forma
This provides a format for local authorities to record details of their early years single funding formula, including the three and four year old free entitlements (the universal 15 hours and additional 15 hours for working parents) and the two year old entitlement. Local authorities will also need to confirm their planned budget for the special educational needs (SEN) inclusion fund top up grant, early years pupil premium (EYPP), and the disability access fund (DAF).

Benchmarking and Statistical Analysis 

2025/26 Budget DfE Benchmarking and Statistical Analysis

2024/25 Budget DfE Benchmarking and Statistical Analysis

2018/19 Budget DfE Benchmarking and Statistical Analysis 

Section 251 Statements

2025/26 Budget Statement

2024/25 Budget Statement

2023/24 Budget Statement

2022/23 Budget Statement

2021/22 Budget Statement

2020/21 Budget Statement (COVID-19)

2019/20 Budget Statement

2018/19 Budget Statement

2017/18 Budget Statement

2016/17 Estimate statement  

2015/16 Estimate statement  

2014/15 Estimate statement  

2013/14 Estimate statement  

2012/13 Estimate statement (Part 3)

2012/13 Estimate statement (Part 2)

2012/13 Estimate statement (Part 1)

2011/12 Estimate statement  

2010/11 Estimate statement  

Section 52 Statements

2009/10 Estimate statement  

2008/09 Estimate statement

Please note some of these documents are not fully accessible. If you would like any of these documents in an alternative format or need further assistance please contact us.

The section 251 out-turn statement is intended to:

• inform debate around differing levels of expenditure between local authorities and schools
• provide schools, parents and others with an interest in education and children’s services with details about schools and local authority funding and expenditure
• inform the Treasury for monitoring purposes
• inform Parliament in its role of monitoring the department’s accountability for public funds (MPs ask about school and local authority expenditure via the mechanisms of Parliamentary Questions or through the Education Select Committee)

All statements are prepared to a common format prescribed by the Department for Education which allows them to use this data in the publication of statistics, in the constructing of bench-marking tables for local authorities, and for answering Parliamentary Questions and other data requests.

The out-turn statement is presented in two parts for the prescribed period in the order specified:

Table A
This is information at local authority level that provides an overall picture of the expenditure on schools and the actual amount spent on education centrally.

Table A1
This relates to the actual expenditure on children’s and young people’s services including: sure start children's centres and early years, children looked after, other children and family services, safeguarding children and young people’s services, family support services, services for young people and youth justice.

Benchmarking and Statistical Analysis

2018/19 Out-turn DfE Benchmarking and Statistical Analysis 

Section 251 Statements

2024/25 Out-turn Statement

2023/24 Out-turn Statement

2022/23 Out-turn Statement

2021/22 Out-turn Statement

2020/21 Out-turn Statement

2019/20 Out-turn Statement

2018/19 Out-turn Statement

2017/18 Out-turn Statement

2016/17 Out-turn Statement

2015/16 Out-turn statement

2014/15 Out-turn statement

2013/14 Out-turn statement   

2012/13 Out-turn statement  

2011/12 Out-turn statement  

2010/11 Out-turn statement (part 2)  

2010/11 Out-turn statement (part 1)  

2009/10 Out-turn statement  

Section 52 Statements

2008/09 Out-turn statement  

2007/08 Out-turn statement  

2006/07 Out-turn statement

Please note some of these documents are not fully accessible. If you would like any of these documents in an alternative format or need further assistance please contact us.