The School Finance (England) Regulations 2008
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | SI 2008/228 |
| Year | 2008 |
2008 No. 228
EDUCATION, ENGLAND
The School Finance (England) Regulations 2008
Made 5th February 2008
Laid before Parliament 7th February 2008
Coming into force 29th February 2008
The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families makes the following Regulations in exercise of powers conferred by sections 45(1B)1, 45A2, 45AA3, 474, 47A(4)5, 48(1) and (2)6, 49(2) and (2A)7and 138(7) of, and paragraph 2B of Schedule 148to, the School Standards and Framework Act 19989.
PART 1
INTRODUCTION
Citation, commencement, application and interpretation
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the School Finance (England) Regulations 2008 and come into force on 29th February 2008.
(2) These Regulations apply in relation to the financial years beginning on 1st April 2008, 1st April 2009 and 1st April 2010.
(3) These Regulations apply only in relation to England.
(4) In these Regulations—
“the 1996 Act” means the Education Act 199610;
“the 1998 Act” means the School Standards and Framework Act 1998;
“the 2000 Act” means the Learning and Skills Act 200011;
“the 2002 Act” means the Education Act 200212;
“the 2005 Act” means the Education Act 200513;
“the 2006 Act” means the Education and Inspections Act 200614;
“the 2006 Regulations” means the School Finance (England) Regulations 200615;
“admission number” means the number of pupils in any relevant age group intended to be admitted in any school year as determined by an admission authority in accordance with section 89A of the 1998 Act16;
“capital expenditure” means expenditure of a local authority which falls to be capitalised in accordance with proper practices, or expenditure treated as capital expenditure by virtue of any regulations or directions made under section 16 of the Local Government Act 200317;
“central expenditure” means the total amount deducted by a local education authority from their schools budget;
“CERA” means capital expenditure which an authority expect to charge to a revenue account of the authority within the meaning of section 22 of the Local Government Act 2003;
a “combined service” is a service funded partly from central expenditure, and partly from other budgets of the authority or contributions from other bodies;
“Dedicated Schools Grant” is a grant of that name paid to a local education authority by the Secretary of State under section 14 of the 2002 Act;
“expenditure on the schools specific contingency” is central expenditure deducted for the purpose of ensuring that monies are available to enable increases in a school’s budget share after it has been allocated where it subsequently becomes apparent that—
(a) a governing body has incurred expenditure which it would be unreasonable to expect them to meet from the school’s budget share,
(b) an increase in the school’s budget share is due in accordance with the local education authority’s formula,
(c) a determination or redetermination of the school’s budget share authorised by the schools forum or the Secretary of State has led to such an increase, or
(d) such an increase is necessary for the purpose of correction of errors,
and where such circumstances were unforeseen when initially determining the school’s budget share;
“funding period 1” is the financial year beginning on 1st April 2008;
“funding period 2” is the financial year beginning on 1st April 2009;
“funding period 3” is the financial year beginning on 1st April 2010;
“gifted and talented pupils” means pupils in primary or secondary schools identified as such by a local education authority by virtue of the fact that they are demonstrating, or have the potential to develop, ability in one or more subjects, leadership skills, or organisational skills at a level significantly ahead of other children in their year group;
“key stage 4” means the fourth key stage of the National Curriculum for England comprising the requirements and entitlements described in sections 85 and 85A of the 2002 Act18;
a “local education authority’s formula” has the meaning in regulation 9;
“LSC” is the Learning and Skills Council for England19;
a reference (however framed) to a maintained nursery school, a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school includes a proposed school which, on implementation of proposals for the establishment of the school, will be such a school, and which has a temporary governing body;
a reference to a particular class or description of expenditure in relation to maintained schools and to pupils registered at such schools includes any expenditure of that class or description as the authority may incur in relation to Academies20, and to pupils registered at Academies;
“Performance Reward Grant” is a grant of that name paid to a local authority under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 to reward the authority for improvements in local services;
“PFI scheme unitary payment” means a charge payable by a local education authority under a private finance transaction, as defined in regulation 16 of the Local Authorities (Capital Finance) Regulations 199721;
“practical and applied learning” means education provided to pupils at key stage 4 in a secondary school or elsewhere which prepares them for employment or for a qualification related to a particular employment sector;
“primary or secondary school” means a primary or secondary school which is a community, foundation, voluntary or maintained nursery school;
“proper practices” means those accounting practices which a local authority are required to follow by virtue of any enactment, or which, so far as they are consistent with any such enactment are generally regarded, whether by reference to any generally recognised published code or otherwise, as proper accounting practices to be followed in the keeping of the accounts of local authorities, either generally or of the description concerned22;
“prudential borrowing” means borrowing money for the purpose of facilitating the modernisation and rationalisation of the school estate, where the revenue savings that will be achieved are equal to or more than the expenditure that will be incurred in borrowing the money;
“PVI providers” means persons other than governing bodies of primary schools, local education authorities or the proprietors of Academies who provide nursery education for three and four year olds for which no charge is made;
“School Standards Grant” is a grant of that name paid to a local education authority by the Secretary of State under section 14 of the 2002 Act;
“school year” has the meaning given to that expression in section 579(1) of the 1996 Act23;
a reference to “special educational needs transport costs”, for the purposes of paragraph 36(e) of Schedule 2, is a reference to the costs of home to school transport for pupils with special educational needs in schools maintained by a local education authority where the authority is meeting such costs because the revenue savings that will be achieved by placing such children in a school maintained by them are equal to, or greater than, the cost of such transport;
“specific grant” means any grant, other than the Dedicated Schools Grant and any grant made by the LSC under section 7 of the 2000 Act, paid to a local authority under conditions which impose restrictions on the particular purposes for which the grant may be used;
“summer term” means the third term of the school year where a school has three terms, or the fifth and sixth terms where a school has six terms;
a reference to “termination of employment costs”, for the purposes of paragraph 36(b) of Schedule 2, is a reference to expenditure relating to the dismissal or premature retirement of, or for the purpose of securing the resignation of, any person employed in a maintained school where—
(a) the dismissal, premature retirement or resignation occurs after 1st April 2008; and
(b) the revenue savings achieved by any termination of employment are equal to or greater than the costs incurred.
Revocation of previous Regulations
2. The Financing of Maintained Schools (England) 200424,The LEA Budget, Schools Budget and Individual Schools Budget Regulations 200425, and The LEA Budget, Schools Budget and Individual Schools Budget (Amendment) (England) Regulations 200526are revoked on 1st April 2008.
PART 2
ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY A LOCAL EDUCATION AUTHORITY
CHAPTER 1
APPROPRIATION OF THE LEA BUDGET
The LEA Budget
3.—(1) The following classes or descriptions of local education authority expenditure are prescribed for the purposes of section 45A(1) of the 1998 Act and the determination of a local education authority’s LEA budget, subject to the exceptions in regulation 6—
(a)
(a) those specified in Schedule 1; and
(b)
(b) any expenditure which falls outside the classes or descriptions of expenditure specified in regulation 5 and Schedule 2 (the schools budget).
(2) Expenditure which falls within the classes or descriptions of expenditure specified in regulation 5 or Schedule 2 is not expenditure prescribed for the purposes of section 45A(1) of the 1998 Act.
CHAPTER 2
DETERMINATION OF SCHOOLS BUDGETS, INDIVIDUAL SCHOOLS BUDGETS, AND BUDGET SHARES FOR FUNDING PERIODS 1, 2 and 3
Initial determination of a local education authority’s schools budgets
4. A local education authority must not later than 31st March 2008—
(a) make an initial determination of their schools budgets for funding periods 1, 2 and 3; and
(b) give notice of any such determination to the governing bodies of the schools they maintain.
The schools budget
5.—(1) The classes or descriptions of local education authority expenditure specified in sub-paragraphs (a) to (c) and Schedule 2 are prescribed for the...
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