Section 251 Budget Statements

Local Authorities (LAs) are required under section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 to prepare and submit a budget statement setting out the Council’s planned education spending.

The Budget Statement is the means of informing schools and the public in general about the funding plans of local authorities. Statements are intended to provide a clear picture of:

• how much the LA intends to spend on the LEA Budget outside the Schools Budget
• how much the LA is proposing to retain centrally within the Schools Budget
• how the local formula is working to produce budget shares for each school in the LA’s area.

It is important that schools forums and others can compare funding and methodology between different LAs, so as to inform debate about budget levels and such issues as the balance of funding between nursery, primary, secondary and special schools. All statements are therefore prepared to a common format prescribed by the Department for Education.