School Standards and Framework Act 1998

Budgetary framework

45 Maintained schools to have budget shares

(1) For the purposes of the financing of maintained schools by local education authorities, every such school shall have, for each financial year, a budget share which is allocated to it by the authority which maintains it.

(2) Sections 46 and 47 have effect for determining the amount of a school’s budget share for a financial year.

(3) In this Chapter—

(a) references to schools maintained by a local education authority do not include schools which are not maintained schools as defined by section 20(7);

(b) references, in a context referring to a local education authority, to a maintained school or to a school maintained by such an authority shall be read as including a new school—

(i) which on implementation of proposals under section 28 or 31 or paragraph 5 of Schedule 7 will be a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school maintained by the authority, and

(ii) which has a temporary governing body; and

(c) references to the governing body of a maintained school or of a school maintained by a local education authority shall accordingly be read as including the temporary governing body of a new school falling within paragraph (b).

(4) In this Chapter “new school” (without more) has the meaning given by section 72(3).

46 Determination of LEA’s local schools budget and individual schools budget

(1) For the purposes of this Part a local education authority’s “local schools budget” for a financial year is the amount appropriated by the authority for meeting all expenditure by the authority in that year of a class or description prescribed for the purposes of this subsection (which may include expenditure incurred otherwise than in respect of schools).

(2) For the purposes of this Part a local education authority’s “individual schools budget” for a financial year is the amount remaining after deducting from the authority’s local schools budget for that year such planned expenditure by the authority in respect of the year as they may determine should be so deducted in accordance with regulations.

(3) Regulations under subsection (2) may—

(a) prescribe classes or descriptions of expenditure which are authorised or required to be deducted from an authority’s local schools budget; and

(b) provide, in relation to any prescribed class or description of expenditure specified in the regulations, that such expenditure may only be so deducted subject to either or both of the following, namely—

(i) such limit or limits (however framed) as may be specified by the regulations; and

(ii) such other conditions as may be so specified.

47 Determination of school’s budget share

(1) For the purposes of this Part a maintained school’s budget share for a financial year is such amount as the local education authority may determine, in accordance with regulations, to allocate to the school out of the authority’s individual schools budget for that year.

(2) Regulations under this section may, in particular, make provision—

(a) as to the time when schools' budget shares are to be initially determined by local education authorities;

(b) specifying—

(i) factors or criteria which such authorities are to take into account, or

(ii) requirements as to other matters with which such authorities are to comply,

in determining such shares, whether generally or in such cases as are specified in the regulations;

(c) requiring adjustments to be made to such shares by such authorities in respect of—

(i) pupils permanently excluded from schools maintained by them, or

(ii) pupils admitted to schools maintained by them who have been permanently excluded from other maintained schools;

(d) as to the treatment of new schools, including provision authorising the determination of nil amounts as the budget shares of such schools;

(e) authorising or requiring such authorities to take account of matters arising during the course of a financial year—

(i) by redetermining budget shares for that year, or

(ii) by making adjustments to such shares for the following year,

in accordance with the regulations, and requiring them in that connection to disregard such matters as may be specified in the regulations;

(f) requiring consultation to be carried out by such authorities in relation to the factors or criteria which are to be taken into account in determining such shares and as to the time and manner of such consultation;

(g) enabling the Secretary of State, where it appears to him to be expedient to do so, to authorise such authorities to determine (or redetermine) budget shares, to such extent as he may specify, in accordance with arrangements approved by him (in place of those provided for by the regulations).

(3) Regulations made in pursuance of subsection (2)(c) may provide for the adjustments to be made on such basis as may be prescribed, which may involve the deduction from one school’s budget share of an amount which is greater or less than that allocated to another school’s budget share in respect of the excluded pupil.