Guidance

Core schools budget grant (CSBG): conditions of grant for the 2024 to 2025 financial year

Updated 12 December 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction  

1.1 Legislation 

The core schools budget grant (CSBG) will be paid by the Secretary of State for Education as a grant under section 14 of the Education Act 2002. In accordance with section 16 of that Act, the Secretary of State attaches the following terms to the grant payable.

1.2 Purpose 

The CSBG will provide almost £1.1 billion to support schools with their overall costs in the 2024 to 2025 financial year, in particular following confirmation of the 2024 teacher pay award. 

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will pay the CSBG funding to local authorities for maintained mainstream schools and centrally employed teachers (CETs), and directly to mainstream academies and city technology colleges on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education. 

For maintained special schools and pupil referral units, and for special and alternative provision (AP) academies, independent special schools, and hospital education, ESFA will pay the CSBG funding to local authorities. 

Non-maintained special schools (NMSS) will be funded directly by ESFA.

1.3 Period 

These conditions of grant cover the financial year 2024 to 2025. 

The funding for mainstream primary, secondary and all through schools will be incorporated into core budget allocations for 2025 to 2026, by being rolled into the schools national funding formula (NFF) for 2025 to 2026. Funding for CETs will be rolled into central schools services block funding for 2025 to 2026.  

In financial year 2025 to 2026, we will combine into a single grant to local authorities, the CSBG, teachers’ pay additional grant (TPAG) and teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (TPECG 2024) allocations for special and AP schools and hospital education.

2. Eligibility  

2.1 Types of settings 

The following settings are eligible to receive funding via local authorities: 

• 5 to 16 provision in maintained mainstream schools 

• 5 to 16 provision in pupil referral units (PRUs)

• 5 to 16 provision in AP academies and free schools  

• maintained special schools 

• special academies and free schools 

• independent special schools 

• maintained hospital schools and academies

The following settings are eligible to receive funding directly from ESFA: 

• 5 to 16 provision in mainstream academies and free schools (including studio schools and university technical colleges) 

• city technology colleges 

• non-maintained special schools (NMSS)

2.2 Centrally employed teachers 

Local authorities are also eligible to receive funding for teachers who are centrally employed by the local authority. Dependent on local definitions, it may cover the following teachers:   

• peripatetic teachers, home tutors, and teachers who are employed by education authorities to provide education in institutions other than schools (for example hospitals, home tuition, assessment centres and PRUs).

3. Payments  

3.1 Calculation  

Allocations of this grant have been calculated using the methodology provided in the CSBG methodology document.  

3.2 Payment timetable 

ESFA will pay the CSBG to local authorities for the period 1 September 2024 to 31 March 2025 in a first payment in November 2024, with an updated payment in March 2025.

This second payment will include funding for high needs settings, based on any net increase in place numbers at local authority level as a result of new data on 2024 to 2025 academic year place numbers in maintained special schools and pupil referral units (to take account of new data from the 2024 to 2025 section 251 budget returns from authorities), and special and AP academies and free schools (taking into account new schools that have opened in September 2024).

The second payments of the CSBG in March 2025 will also include allocations for “new and growing” mainstream schools, as set out in the methodology document.

Mainstream academies and NMSS will receive their allocations directly from ESFA.

	LAs (high needs settings and CETs) and their maintained schools	Academies
Payment 1	November 2024	December 2024
Payment 2 (to cover new and growing schools)	February 2025	March 2025
Payment 3 (for high needs settings, based on any net increase in place numbers)	March 2025	April 2025

3.3. School closures, openings and academy conversions 

3.3.1 Mainstream maintained schools and academies 

For mainstream schools that open in September 2024, we will confirm  CSBG  allocations in February 2025. We will calculate their allocations using pupil number data from the October 2024 census.  

The allocation will be pro-rated to the proportion of the 2024 to 2025 financial year that the setting is open. 

ESFA will make a revised allocation to mainstream schools that are not fully open and are still growing their year groups since opening. This means that if, at the start of the autumn term 2024, the setting has been open for fewer years than the number of year groups in the setting; ESFA will confirm the setting’s final allocation for 2024 to 2025 in February 2025, revising the indicative allocations published in autumn 2024.

The revised allocation will be based on pupil numbers in the October 2024 school census.  

If a school closes during the financial year, the local authority (for maintained schools) should allocate the grant for the proportion of the financial year the setting is open. 

Local authorities should pay the CSBG allocations to any and all schools listed as maintained schools in the local authority area on the relevant allocation spreadsheet.

In a small number of cases, schools that convert to academy status after the allocations spreadsheet is produced, will still be listed as local authority-maintained schools on the allocations spreadsheet. In such cases, the local authority should still pass the funding listed on the spreadsheet to the successor academy.

The grant allocation is intended for the school and it will be assumed the local authority passed on the entire grant funding to the school immediately upon receipt from ESFA. In addition, any unspent grant funding should remain with the school after it converts.  

In respect of calculating a school’s final accounts, any pro-rated amount up to the point of conversion is included in the balance calculation for the school. The remaining amount which relates for the period after the school has converted should be accounted for by the academy.

3.3.2 Maintained special schools, PRUs and special and AP academies 

For the second payment of the CSBG to local authorities, ESFA will use 2024 to 2025 academic year place numbers for maintained special and AP schools, as published in the 2024 to 2025 section 251 data from local authorities.

In calculating their allocations to those schools, local authorities should reflect any changes to the place numbers for their maintained special schools and PRUs (for example, reductions or increases in the place number, or the closure of a school), including any that are not included in the published data.

For the second payment of CSBG, ESFA will also use updated data on 2024 to 2025 place numbers for academies and free schools, including new special and AP free schools that have opened, or special or AP academies that have closed. Local authorities should reflect such changes to the place numbers in their allocations to academies and free schools as well.

3.4. Additional local authority duty 

Local authorities will be required to certify that they have passed on the correct amount of funding to schools or, where funding has been spent centrally, that it has been spent in line with these conditions of grant.  The Department for Education (DfE) will issue a certification form in spring 2025. Local authorities must pass funding on to their maintained schools in a timely manner in line with their scheme for financing schools. 

Mainstream schools  

Local authorities must pay CSBG funding to each: 

• maintained primary and secondary school 

• all-through maintained school 

the allocation amounts shown in the school level and local authority allocations. 

Local authorities must comply with the condition above irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share. 

We have now published school level allocations

Special schools  

Local authorities must pay CSBG funding to each: 

• maintained special school 

• special academy and free school 

• PRU maintained by a local authority (pre-16 provision only) 

• AP  academy and free school (pre-16 provision only) 

• maintained hospital school and equivalent academy 

which they are responsible for maintaining, which they previously maintained but is now an academy or, in the case of a free school, which is located in their area.

Local authorities will not receive an allocation for NMSS, which will be funded directly by ESFA. 

Local authorities must comply with the following requirements in setting their local methodology for how they will pass on the additional funding to the eligible school types as listed above, excluding the funding notionally allocated for helping with any independent school fee increases. 

Local authorities must: 

• pass on 100% of the CSBG funding that is allocated, in total, in respect of the eligible school types as listed above, to eligible schools. The total amount is published for each local authority  

• ensure that all eligible schools receive a funding allocation of CSBG in the period September 2024 to March 2025 

• have transparent criteria to distribute funding to individual schools, treating academies and mainstream schools the same. This includes using the same 2024 to 2025 academic year place numbers as the basis for the allocations, even though those numbers for maintained schools will not be used until the updated allocations to local authorities in March 2025 

• consult with eligible schools before deciding the methodology for allocating CSBG funding. 

Local authorities should seek to swiftly confirm the allocations for eligible schools to provide institutions with the earliest possible certainty over their budgets. 

Local authorities are also allocated funding based on the number of pupils with education, health and care (EHC) plans placed in independent schools, as reported in the January 2024 AP census.

This funding is to support the payment of any increases in fees charged by independent schools as a result of any increases in costs due to the teachers’ pay award and other staff salary increases.   

Local authorities should also use this funding to support independent special schools with costs when – due to the timing of fee agreements – those costs have not been reflected in the fees for 2024 to 2025. Local authorities should pass on 100% of the funding notionally allocated for independent special schools, on either of the 2 circumstances above. 

NMSS will receive their funding directly from ESFA. 

Centrally employed teachers 

The CSBG will provide funding to local authorities in respect of teachers categorised as centrally employed on the schools workforce census 2023.   

Local authorities should allocate all or a portion of the funding they receive for their CETs. 

In all settings CSBG funding for mainstream schools is not part of maintained schools’ budget shares nor part of the individual schools’ budget. It is not part of academies’ general annual grant (GAG). It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee for 2024 to 2025. 

4. Assurance 

4.1 Eligible spend 

Mainstream, special and AP academies (including hospital schools), and NMSS must only spend CSBG funds for the purposes of the school.  

Local authorities must ensure that their maintained mainstream and special schools, PRUs and hospital schools only spend CSBG for the purposes of the school or unit. 

4.2 Carry forward 

In all schools, CSBG funds may be carried forward past 31 March 2025.

5. Further information 

Books, other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts shall be open to inspection by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller and Auditor General. 

The Comptroller and Auditor General may, under section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983, carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the recipient has used its resources. 

Local authorities and schools shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether they have complied with these conditions. 

6. Variation  

The basis for allocation of grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from that set out above, if so requested by the local authority, school or college. 

7. Recovery of funding 

If a local authority or setting fails to comply with the terms and conditions set out in this document, the Secretary of State may recover some or all of the CSBG grant that has been allocated. This will be notified in writing to the local authority, school or college. 

Recoveries will be made by invoice or by offsetting the amount against subsequent payments due from the department. 

The recipient must notify ESFA immediately through the Customer Help Portal  if it becomes aware of any instance of error, suspected fraud or financial irregularity in the use of the funds. 

8. Overpayments 

If a setting or local authority identifies that it has been overpaid, it must contact ESFA to arrange repayment of the excess. Where ESFA identifies an overpayment, it may seek to recover the excess. The local authority or school will be notified of this in writing. 

9. Enquiries  

For queries relating to these terms and conditions please use the Customer Help Portal.