Maintained schools are funded through a grant from the Department for Education, known as the Dedicated Schools Grant. Local Authorities (LAs) act as the accountable body for maintained schools and, in line with national frameworks and guidance set by the Department for Education, monitor school finances to help reduce the risk of financial difficulty or misuse of funds.
Each Local Authority has a scheme for financing schools, which sets out the financial relationship between the Authority and its maintained schools. The Department for Education also publishes guidance outlining what is required or permitted within these schemes.
Information about school finances is publicly available through the School Financial Benchmarking website. This provides access to each school’s Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) data, including:
🐝 This allows transparency and enables comparisons with other schools nationally.