Financial year 2019-20

LA and school expenditure

Data guidance

Published

Description

This document describes the data included in the School Finance in England National Statistics release’s underlying data files. This data is released under the terms of the Open Government License (opens in a new tab) and is intended to meet at least 3 stars for Open Data (opens in a new tab).

The methodology document should be referenced alongside this data. It provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality as well as explaining methodology used in producing the data.

Coverage

The Statistical Publication: ‘School Finance in England’ provides the latest information at national, regional and local level on the expenditure on schools, education and children's and young people's services by local authorities. Alongside the local authority spending, the release also provides a detailed breakdown of income and expenditure by schools, with aggregations to the local authority, regional and national level. The publication summarises the information that was collected via the October 2020 Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) and S251 collections (with collection of both being delayed due to Covid-19). It supersedes the 2019 data release, which was provided as an Excel spreadsheet (LA_and_school_expenditure_2018-19_Tables.xlsx (opens in a new tab)). 

The release is being made in two stages, with the S251 data (spending by local authorities) being released on 21st January 2021 and the CFR data (schools finances) being released on 11th February 2021. The CFR data will also be available at an individual school level via the Schools Financial Benchmarking website. 

This publication includes information on:

  • Local authority spending on schools and other education - time-series giving the detailed breakdown of spending split by school-phase and overall spending area (e.g. individual schools budget, expenditure on free school meals, SEN support etc).
  • Local authority spending on children's and young people's services - time-series giving the detailed breakdown of spending split by provision sector (e.g. own, private, voluntary) and spending area (e.g. sure start centres, family services, youth justice etc).
  • Schools' income and expenditure - time-series giving the detailed breakdown of schools income and expenditure by school phase and financial area (e.g. staff, estates and buildings, etc)
  • Schools' revenue balances - time-series giving the overall financial balance data for schools and overall numbers of schools in surplus and deficit.

File formats and conventions

The data files are provided in comma-separated values format, which is compatible with standard spreadsheet software such as Excel.

The following symbols are used in the underlying data files as follows:

: Not available - this information has not been collected or there are no estimates available at this level of aggregation.

N/A  Not available - this is normally where a statistic cannot be produced. For example where a denominator is not available to produce a percentage. 

z = not applicable. The 'z' symbol is only to be used when an observation is not applicable (e.g. in tables of employment where people under 16 cannot legally be employed).

Data files

All data files associated with this releases are listed below with guidance on their content. To download any of these files, please visit our data catalogue.

CFR School Income and Expenditure (National, Regional, LA levels))

Filename
cfr_incomeexp_v2.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2014-15 to 2019-20
Content

Income and expenditure of LA maintained schools 

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
CategoryFinancial category
DescriptionFinancial entry
ReportGroupIncome/Expenditure
school_phaseSchool phase
ValueTotal
ValueFY_perpupilPer pupil
Footnotes
  1. There are a small number of local authorities with no LA maintained secondary schools, all are academies.

CFR School Revenue Balances (National, Regional, LA Levels))

Filename
cfr_revenuebalance_v2.3.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2014-15 to 2019-20
Content

Revenue balances of LA maintained schools

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
average_revenue_balanceAverage revenue balance
AveValueOverThreshAverage value of surplus over surplus threshold
B01Committed revenue balance (B01)
B02Uncommitted revenue balance (B02)
B06Community focussed extended school revenue balance (B06)
number_schoolsNumber of schools
NumOverThreshNumber of schools over surplus threshold
perc_BalanceofIncomeRevenue balance as percentage of total income
PercOverThreshPercentage of schools over surplus threshold
PercSchoolsPercentage of schools
revenue_stateRevenue state
school_phasePhase
total_incomeTotal Income
total_revenue_balanceTotal revenue balance
ValueOverThreshTotal value of surplus over surplus threshold
Footnotes
  1. There are a small number of local authorities with no LA maintained secondary schools, are all academies.

S251 Children and Young People's Services (National, Regional, LA levels)

Filename
s251_table-a1_cyps_ees_201420_v3.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2014-15 to 2019-20
Content

Spending by local authorities on Children's and Young People's Services

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
CapitaCapita
DescriptionDescription - Choose the funding lines you are interested in
GovGrantsInsideAEFGovernment Grants Inside AEF
GovGrantsOutsideAEFGovernment Grants Outside AEF
IncomeIncome
LEANetRevenueExpenditureNet Revenue Expenditure
NetCurrentExpenditureNet Current Expenditure
NetExpPCapitaNet Current Expenditure per Capita
OtherPublicOther Public
OwnProvisionOwn Provision
PrivateProvisionPrivate Provision
ReportGroupReport group - Choose the reporting group you are interested in
TotalExpenditureTotal Expenditure
VoluntaryVoluntary
Footnotes
  1. Before using this data, please check the methodology section for important information such as definitions, limitations and caveats.

S251 Dedicated Schools Grant Table 2019-20

Filename
s251_dedicatedschoolsgrant_ees_201920_v1a.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2019-20
Content

Financial breakdown of dedicated schools grant funding

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
AllocatedDSGFundingAllocated DSG Funding
DescriptionDescription - Choose the funding lines you are interested in
NetNet
PlannedspendPlanned spend
Footnotes
  1. Before using this data, please check the methodology section for important information such as definitions, limitations and caveats.

S251 Schools Expenditure (National, Regional, LA levels)

Filename
s251_table-a_schexp_ees_201420_v3d.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2014-15 to 2019-20
Content

Spending by local authorities on schools and other education and community services

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
APPruAlternative Provision PRU
DescriptionDescription - Choose the funding lines you are interested in
EarlyYearsEarly years
GrossGross
IncomeIncome
MaintainedSchoolsMaintained Schools Count
NetNet
NetpPupilNet per Pupil
PostSchoolPost-school
PrimaryPrimary
PupilCountPupil Count
ReportGroupReport Group - Choose the reporting group you are interested in
SecondarySecondary
SenSpecialSEN Special
Footnotes
  1. Before using this data, please check the methodology section for important information such as definitions, limitations and caveats.

S251 Summary Data

Filename
cfr-s251_highlightssummary_v1.2.csv
Geographic levels
Local authority; National; Regional
Time period
2014-15 to 2019-20
Content

Combined overview of gross and net spending by local authorities on schools, other education and children's and young people's services.

Variable names and descriptions

Variable names and descriptions for this file are provided below:

Variable nameVariable description
cyps_spendChildren and young people's services
DescriptionDescription
GrossExpendGross expenditure by schools
GrossExpendpPupilGross expenditure by schools per pupil
NetExpendNet expenditure by schools
NetExpendpPupilNet expenditure by schools per pupil
OtherEdCommOther education and community
ReportGroupReport Group
school_expenditureSchool expenditure
Footnotes
  1. Before using this data, please check the methodology section for important information such as definitions, limitations and caveats.