In addition to the planned expenditure for individual school budgets and high needs place funding, there is a further £10.1 billion of planned expenditure funded through the schools budget. This £10.1 billion is for central and other services including further SEN funding, behavioural support, bilingual support, museum and library services, and educational welfare. The majority is planned to be spent on high needs with:
- £9.1 billion (90.4%) planned expenditure on high needs, this includes top-up funding, additional targeted funding, SEN support services, hospital education services, other alternative provision services, support for inclusion, direct payments for SEN and disability and therapies and other health related services. It is funding in addition to the high needs place funding details in section (ii) above.
- £622.2 million (6.2%) planned expenditure on central services funded through the schools budget, this includes funding for pupil growth, infant class sizes, the falling rolls fund, fees to independent schools for pupils without SEN, education welfare services, central support services and statutory/regulatory duties.
- £249.1 million (2.5%) on total funding for early years contingency and centrally retained spending for each of the following entitlements: 3 and 4-year-olds, 2-year-old disadvantaged, 2-year-old working parent and 9-month-old to 2-year-old.
- £95.5 million (0.9%) planned expenditure for de-delegated items for primary and secondary schools, this includes contingencies, behavioural support services, funding for underperforming pupils from ethnic minority groups and bilingual learners, determining free school meals eligibility, insurance, services to schools provided by museums and libraries and expenditure on licence fees or subscriptions paid on behalf of maintained schools.
The majority of the £9.1 billion planned expenditure on high needs is for top-up funding:
- Maintained schools: high needs top-up funding is planned to be £2.6 billion
- Non-maintained and independent providers: high needs top up funding is planned to be £2.5 billion
- Academies, free schools and colleges: high needs top up funding is planned to be £2.6 billion.
High needs top up funding is funding over and above the core high needs place funding (in section (ii) above), which a school or college receives to enable a pupil or student with high needs to participate in education and learning. The number of children and young people who have education, health and care plans (EHC plans), increased by 11.4% in 2024 and is now 576,000. The number of pupils in schools in England who have SEN support increased by 4.7% to 1,239,000 in 2024. Currently 13.6% of pupils in schools in England have either an education, heath and care plan or SEN support. This, combined with changes in funding following the 2014 Children and Families Act, has resulted in the planned expenditure related to SEN increasing. The High needs funding: 2024 to 2025 operational guide (opens in a new tab) gives further information on high needs funding.
For categories outside of SEN and disability, planned spend includes central and contingency expenditure on the early years entitlement. This has increased from £166.4 million to £249.1 million (49.7%).
This large rise is due to changes in the early years entitlement which includes
- the introduction of a new national funding formula (NFF) covering both the existing 2-year-old entitlement for disadvantaged children, new working parent entitlements for 2-year-olds and entitlements for children aged 9 months to 2 years
- a requirement for local authorities to have special educational needs inclusion funds (SENIFs) for all children with special educational needs (SEN) eligible for, or taking up, the new and existing entitlements, regardless of the number of hours taken
- extending the eligibility for early years pupil premium and disability access fund to eligible children aged 2 years old and under accessing the entitlements from 2024 to 2025
Information on planned expenditure for each category of early years expenditure can be found under “Planned expenditure on early years education” below.
A full breakdown of planned expenditure for each category of planned expenditure and school phase for the financial year 2024-25 can be found in Table 1: Planned expenditure on schools, by category of expenditure, and phase of school, England, financial year 2024-25.
A table showing planned gross and net expenditure, plus net expenditure per capita for for each LA for the years 2015-16 to 2024-25 can be found in Table 2: Total planned expenditure, income, and net expenditure per capita, England, financial year 2024-25.
A full description of all included planned expenditure including what is included within each category, can be found in the guidance for the Section 251 Budget collection. (opens in a new tab)