The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2023

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make provision for local authorities’ financial arrangements in relation to the funding of maintained schools and providers of funded early years provision in England, for the financial year 2023-2024.

The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/59) are revoked on 1st April 2023. The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/27) remain in force.

These Regulations define the non-schools education budget (regulation 4 and Schedule 1), the schools budget (regulation 6 and Schedule 2), central expenditure and the individual schools budget (regulation 8 and Schedule 2). They require local authorities to determine budget shares for schools maintained by them and amounts to be allocated in respect of early years provision in their areas, in accordance with the appropriate formulae (regulations 10 and 11). Regulations 13, 15 and 17 to 22 make provision for certain factors that the local authority must include in their local funding formulae for certain schools. In relation to early years, local authorities are required in their formulae to include one or more social deprivation factors (regulation 16) and information about hours of attendance (regulation 23). Regulation 29 provides that a local authority must set single per pupil amounts, or single sums or lump sums for certain mandatory factors in the calculation of the local authority funding formula for schools. The allowable ranges for these amounts or sums are set in relation to the distance between their respective value in the national funding formula, and the value in the local authority’s funding formula in the previous funding period (financial year 2022 – 2023).

The Regulations also impose a minimum per pupil amount (regulation 30) and a minimum funding guarantee for schools (regulation 31 and Schedule 4). There is a requirement to pass 95 per cent of funding to early years providers (regulation 32) and a twelve per cent limit on the amount of funding that may be attributable to the discretionary (supplementary) part of the early years formulae (regulation 33). There are also requirements in relation to local authorities’ schemes (regulation 40 and Schedule 5). Regulation 26 makes provision in the event that a school enters into a risk protection arrangement.

A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.