Guidance

Academies accounts return 2024 to 2025: how to complete the online form

Updated 16 September 2025

Applies to England

About the academies accounts return

This guidance aims to help academy trusts to complete and submit the 2024 to 2025 accounts return (AR) to the Department for Education (DfE).

Government departments, including DfE, prepare accounts based on International Financial Reporting Standards (as amended for the public sector context) described in HM Treasury’s Financial Reporting Manual (FReM).

The annual accounts prepared by DfE for the academies sector is known as the Sector annual report and accounts (SARA). The AR is the collection of financial data used to produce the SARA.

Academy trusts’ annual financial statements are prepared in accordance with the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) (FRS102), with guidance and requirements given in the Academies accounts direction.

As the AR and audited financial statements follow different financial reporting frameworks, there are some areas where the AR requires additional or more detailed information compared to that required in the financial statements. Read the ‘Academies accounts return 2024 to 2025: additional information requirements’ on the academies accounts return page for guidance on these differences. You will also find further information about completing the AR on this page.

Updates for 2024 to 2025

As with previous years, the AR has been updated in response to user feedback and policy and regulatory changes. The 3 main changes are as follows.

1. The teaching school hub fields have been removed:  

• CGR090 – SoFA – Capital Grants – Teaching School Hub Grant 
• INC060 – SoFA – Other Income – Teaching School Hub other income 
• RGR130 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – ITT Bursaries Grant 
• RGR140 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – Teaching School Hub grant 
• TSE010 to TSE100 – SoFA – Teaching School hub (expenditure)

2. The COVID-19 grants fields have been removed:  

• RGR151 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – DfE 
• RGR152 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – DfE 
• RGR153 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – DfE 
• ORG041 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – Other  
• ORG042 – SoFA – Revenue Grants – Other  
• BAI061 – Benchmarking – Academies – Income – Grant funding 
• BTI061 – Benchmarking – MAT Central services – Income – Grant funding  
• BOI061 – Benchmarking – Individual Academies – Income – COVID-19 government funding 

3. The Overview section is now available in the downloadable reports.

Most common errors 

The most common errors when completing the AR occur when entering data for: 

• the number of employees whose emoluments exceed £60,000 and £100,000 
• staff numbers 
• Academies chart of accounts (ACoA) reallocations: refer to After accepting the FMS submission – accounts return for information on how to manually reallocate values in the AR if you’re completing the online form through automation

Read the guidance for these sections of the AR carefully.

Who should complete the academies accounts return

All academy trusts with academies open at any point during the year from 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025, including trusts that transferred out all their academies on 1 September 2025, are required to complete the AR online form.

Throughout this guidance, the term ‘academy’ includes the following entities:

• sponsored academies
• academy converters
• free schools
• university technical colleges
• special academy schools
• alternative provision academies
• studio schools
• sixth-form academies

Who is responsible for each trust’s academies accounts return submission

In this guidance, the terms ‘academy trusts’ and ‘trusts’ are used interchangeably to avoid confusion as to the nature of the reporting entity.

The legal requirement to prepare and file financial statements sits with the charitable companies (academy trusts) and arises from the Companies Act 2006. This means that multi-academy trusts (MATs), which operate more than one academy, have one corporate legal entity (the charitable company) but several operational units and trading names (the individual academies).

The requirements to file a trust’s audited financial statements fall on the trustees (directors) of the charitable companies (the trusts).

Although the trust assigns an external auditor approver to submit the accounts return to DfE, the responsibility for accurate data remains with the trust’s financial accounts preparer or approver – that is, the trustees.

Accounts return completion process

A trust must submit a return that matches the scope of its financial statements. Therefore, a trust preparing consolidated financial statements must submit a consolidated return, which includes the same legal entities (for example, trading subsidiaries or, in some cases, a subsidiary academy trust).

The AR must be submitted by 28 January 2026.

Step-by-step guide to completing the accounts return

1. Register for a DfE Sign-in account or log into your existing account. Review and update existing information. Approvers must review user roles and approve any new positions.

2. Select your trust organisation and select the accounts return online form for 2024 to 2025.

3. Where a trust has submitted an AR the previous period, we will use details from that submission to prepopulate the external auditor details table for the current year. If the details are correct, tick the box and mark the table as complete, or edit or add the correct details. Refer to External auditor details for more information on how to do this.

4. The academy trust preparer, approver or external auditor preparer completes the overview to counterparty sections of the return. The external auditor preparer or approver cannot complete the external auditor details table in the overview section.

5. Clear all hard validations and provide explanations (where applicable) to all soft validations.

6. If a preparer completed the return, they will need to complete the preparer declaration table. The accounts return internal approver can then review the form and approve it if satisfied.

7. The external auditor approver reviews the form, approves and submits it to DfE when satisfied. The external auditor approver can reject the form and send it back to the accounts return approver with a narrative about the required amendments.

Getting started: DfE Sign-in registration and roles

All preparers and approvers will need to be set up on the DfE Sign-in system to fulfil their relevant responsibilities in the AR form. You will need to check who has what role in your trust and make any updates to factor in any leavers or joiners.

Users who completed the AR 2023 to 2024 can use the same DfE Sign-in details to access the AR 2024 to 2025.

An approver can invite appropriate staff within their trust to register to use DfE Sign-in and can also assign specific roles.

New external auditors

New external auditors must register with DfE Sign-in. 

The external auditor will then need to request access to the trust’s AR by submitting a query to DfE using the customer help portal.

External auditors will have access to the online form once the trust has completed the external auditor details table in the overview section of the online form. For further information, read Access the DfE Sign-in service.

DfE Sign-in user roles within the AR

Approver

Can invite new users to register and allocate roles to already registered users within the DfE Sign-in system. This role is administrative and only applicable to the DfE Sign-in system. This is a mandatory role.

Accounts return trust preparer

Can input information on the online form and send to the accounts return internal approver for approval. This is an optional role.

Accounts return trust approver

Can input information on the online form and can approve this information. A trust can have multiple accounts return internal approvers who will have access to the AR online form at any point during the collection window. This is a mandatory role.

External auditor preparer

Can input information on the online form to send to the accounts return trust approver for approval. This is an optional role.

External auditor approver

Can view the return in a read-only format at any point. Once the accounts return trust approver has approved the return, they can go in and review it. If happy, they can approve and submit to DfE. If changes are required, the external auditor approver can send the return to the trust approver for amendments. This is a mandatory role.

Although the external auditor approver is assigned to submit the accounts return to DfE, the responsibility for accurate data remains with the trust’s financial accounts preparer – that is, the trustees.

Throughout this guidance, the term ‘AR preparer’ refers to the accounts return internal preparer or the external auditor preparer.

Accounts return review

Once the return has been completed by the AR preparer, the AR trust approver can review the entries made in the form.

The accounts return trust approver should review the content of the online form by checking each screen has been correctly populated.

Reports

The online return provides a series of reports to support the accounts return internal approver in their role. The ‘Reports’ menu can be found in the right-hand side of the ‘Academy trust accounts return’ index page. Reports can be downloaded as Excel or PDF files. You are also able to run a report for your trust’ s previous years’ accounts returns.

Summary tables

The ‘Summary’ menu on the main ‘Academies trust accounts return’ dashboard contains the following summary tables to help trusts review the data entered into the AR:

The SoFA summary table is populated with values from the various SoFA tables throughout the form (refer to the following tables). Trusts should be able to reconcile this SoFA to the SoFA in their financial statements. There may be genuine reasons for differences between IFRS and SORP. We recommend that trusts retain an audit trail of any such adjustments.

Income table

SoFA summary AAR reference	SoFA summary AAR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
SSM010	Donations	DONTOT	SoFA
SSM020	Transfer on conversion from local authorities and elsewhere	TSD010 + TSD020	SoFA
SSM030	Transfer of existing academies into the trust	TSD030	SoFA
SSM040	Capital grants	CGRTOT+ CGGTOT + OCGTOT	SoFA

Income – charitable activities table

SoFA summary AAR reference	SoFA summary AAR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
SSM050	Funding for the academy trust’s educational operations	RGRTOT + RGGTOT + ORGTOT + INCTOT	SoFA
SSM060	Provision of boarding activities	PBITOT	SoFA
SSM070	Other trading activities	OTATOT	SoFA
SSM080	Investments	INVTOT	SoFA
SSM090	Total	SSM010 + SSM020 + SSM030 + SSM040 + SSM050 + SSM060 + SSM070 + SSM080	SoFA summary

Expenditure table

SoFA summary AAR reference	SoFA summary AAR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
SSM100	Raising funds	CRFTOT (-1)	SoFA
SSM110	Transfer of existing academies out of the trust	TSD040 (-1)	SoFA

Expenditure – charitable activities table

SoFA summary AAR reference	SoFA summary AAR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
SSM120	Academy trust educational operations	(CADTOT + CASTOT) (-1)	SoFA
SSM130	Provision of boarding activities	(PBES010 + PBES020) (-1)	SoFA
SSM140	Other	OEX010	SoFA
SSM150	Total	SSM100 + SSM110 + SSM120 + SSM130 + SSM140	SoFA summary
SSM160	Net income/(expenditure)	SSM090 + SSM150	SoFA summary
SSM170	Transfers between funds	TTF070	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
SSM180	Actuarial gain or loss on pension fund	FVA080 - DBO070 - DBO080 - DBO090	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
SSM190	Valuation gain or loss on intangible and tangible fixed assets	IFC100-T + IFA070-T + TFC130-T + TFD070-T	Balance sheet assets
SSM200	Valuation gain or loss on investment portfolio	NCI130-T + CUI130-T	Balance sheet assets
SSM210	Net movement in funds	SSM160 + SSM170 + SSM180 + SSM190 + SSM200	SoFA summary

Balance sheet summary table

This table is populated with values from the various balance sheet tables throughout the form (refer to the tables below). Trusts should be able to reconcile this balance sheet to the balance sheet in their financial statements.

Fixed assets table

Balance sheet summary AR reference	Balance sheet summary AR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
BSM010	Intangible assets	IFVTOT	Balance sheet assets
BSM020	Tangible assets	TFVTOT	Balance sheet assets
BSM030	Long-term non-current investments	NCITOT-T	Balance sheet assets
BSM040	Debtors greater than 1 year	DEBTOT-B	Balance sheet assets
BSM050	Total fixed assets	BSM010 + BSM020 + BSM030 + BSM040	Balance sheet summary

Current assets table

Balance sheet summary AR reference	Balance sheet summary AR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
BSM060	Stock	STO010	Balance sheet assets
BSM070	Debtors less than 1 year	DEBTOT-A	Balance sheet assets
BSM080	Cash at bank and in hand	CSH010	Balance sheet assets
BSM090	Current investments	CUITOT-T	Balance sheet assets
BSM100	Total current assets	BSM060 + BSM070 + BSM080 + BSM090	Balance sheet summary

Liabilities table

Balance sheet summary AR reference	Balance sheet summary AR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
BSM110	Creditors: amounts falling due within 1 year	CRDTOT-A (-1)	Balance sheet liabilities
BSM120	Net current assets	BSM100 + BSM110	Balance sheet summary
BSM130	Total assets less current liabilities	BSM050 + BSM100 + BSM110	Balance sheet summary

Long-term liabilities table

Balance sheet summary AR reference	Balance sheet summary AR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
BSM140	Creditors: amounts falling due after more than 1 year	CRDTOT-B (-1)	Balance sheet liabilities
BSM150	Provisions	PMTTOT (-1)	Balance sheet liabilities
BSM160	Pension liability	FVATOT - DBOTOT	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
BSM170	Total long-term liabilities	BSM160 + BSM140 + BSM150	Balance sheet summary
BSM180	Net assets/(liabilities)	BSM130 + BSM170	Balance sheet summary

Restricted funds table

Balance sheet summary AR reference	Balance sheet summary AR description	Calculation	AR section where the calculation reference can be found
BSM190	Fixed asset fund	RFFTOT-T	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
BSM200	Restricted income fund	RGFTOT-T - RGFTOT-D	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
BSM210	Pension fund	RGFTOT-D	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
BSM220	Endowment fund	UEFTOT-A	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
BSM230	Unrestricted fund	UEFTOT-B	Balance sheet funds and other disclosures
BSM240	Total funds	BSM190 + BSM200 + BSM210 + BSM220 + BSM230	Balance sheet summary

Outstanding validation triggers table

This table lists any validation errors that have not been resolved. These errors will need to be cleared before the accounts return internal approver can approve the return. Once there are no remaining validations errors, the screen will display a message to confirm this.

The AR internal approver can amend the data in the return prior to completing the approval process.

Accounts review approval

When all validations have been cleared and all available tables show a status of ‘Complete’, the ‘Approval and submission’ tables will become available to complete.

Step 1: preparer declaration

This is optional. If you have no AR preparer, answer ‘No’ to question 29 in the questionnaire. The questionnaire can be found in the Overview section.

The designated AR preparer, either a trust employee or an external auditor preparer, needs to confirm they’ve completed the AR accurately and resolved all validations.

Once the AR preparer completes and approves the preparer declaration table, the AR form will become read-only for them. No amendments can be made by the AR preparer unless they revoke their approval before the academy trust approver approves the AR or if the academy trust approver rejects the AR form.

The external auditor preparer must not also act as the external auditor approver for the same trust.

Step 2: academy trust declaration

To be completed by a responsible finance officer within the trust. If the individual is the trust accounting officer, they should:

• confirm that they are the accounting officer
• read the declaration that appears
• click on the final box to approve the AR

If the accounts return trust approver is not the accounting officer, the form will ask for confirmation that the approver has the authorisation of the accounting officer to approve the return.

Once approved, the accounts return trust approver should inform the trust’s external auditor approver that the trust has approved the AR. The return will be locked in read-only mode for the internal approver.

Unlocking the form

The accounts return internal approver can unlock the form for editing – providing it has not been approved by the external auditor approver – by unticking the approval box on the academy trust declaration table.

Trusts should only do this in conjunction with their auditors, who may have completed some of their review work on the previously approved version.

Step 3: external auditor approval

The external auditor approver role is to review the data that has been entered into the form to ensure:

• it is consistent with the audited financial statements
• that it has been properly extracted from financial records and presented in the AR in accordance with DfE guidance.

Refer to the sample declaration.

If the external auditor approver has approved the AR and then wants to revoke their approval, they need to tick the ‘Reject’ option on the ‘External auditor declaration’ page.

Sample external auditor declaration

Independent reporting accountant’s report on the accounts return for Coketown Academy Trust for the year ended 31 August 2025

We have examined the accounts return, together with the audited statutory financial statements of Coketown Academy Trust for the year ended 31 August 2025 prepared under section 396 of the Companies Act 2006, and the applicable framework comprising the Charities SORP and the Academies accounts direction 2024 to 2025.

This report is made solely for Coketown Academy Trust in accordance with our instructions. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state for Coketown Academy Trust those matters we are required to state to them in an independent reporting accountant’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than Coketown Academy Trust for our work, for this report or for the conclusions we have drawn.

Respective responsibilities of the trustees and independent reporting accountant

The trustees are responsible for preparing the accounts return, in accordance with the requirements set out in the guidance notes issued by the Department for Education (DfE) and the audited statutory financial statements.

It is our responsibility to report to you our conclusion as to both:

• whether information in the accounts return is consistent with Coketown Academy Trust’s audited statutory financial statements for the period

• where appropriate, that information has been properly extracted from Coketown Academy Trust’s financial records and presented in the accounts return in accordance with the guidance issued by DfE.

Scope

As a practising member firm of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants or other relevant accounting body, we are subject to the ethical and other professional requirements of that body.

We have not been instructed to carry out an audit or a review of the accounts return or of the underlying accounting records from which the accounts return is prepared.

For this reason, we have not verified the accuracy or completeness of the accounting records or information and explanations you have given to us.

Consequently, the procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit and, therefore, we do not express an audit opinion on the information presented in the accounts return. Nor do we express an audit opinion in respect of the underlying accounting records from which the accounts return is prepared.

Conclusion

It is our conclusion that the information in the accounts return is consistent with the audited statutory financial statements of Coketown Academy Trust for the year ended 31 August 2025 and, where appropriate, has been properly extracted from Coketown Academy Trust’s financial records and presented in the accounts return in accordance with DfE guidance.

I understand that the data I am submitting may be shared by DfE with its service providers. If you would like to find out more about how we process your data, refer to our privacy policy for details.

Step 4: submission

Once the external auditor approver completes the external auditor approval table, the submission table will then become available for them to submit the return to DfE on behalf of the trust.

Trusts should note that once the external auditor approver has approved and submitted the return, no further amendments can be made, as the AR form becomes read-only for every user. Any subsequent issues will need to be raised using the customer help portal.

It is not possible to amend your submitted return. Subsequently, any data submitted in error could be used for further-information requests such as Freedom of Information.

The external auditor approver for the AR can be different to the auditor who signed off the trust’s financial statements.

The external auditor approver must submit the completed return to DfE by 28 January 2026.

Form navigation and input

You can have multiple sessions open at the same time

While it’s possible to have multiple sessions open at the same time, only the first user (who can input information in the online form) to log in will have read and write access. Subsequent users will have read-only access and will not be able to edit any fields while the first user is online. They will need to wait until the first user has ended their session so they can then log in as the first user.

Data is saved automatically every 2 minutes

Alternatively, you can save the data at any time by pressing the ‘Mark as complete’ button at the bottom left on each table.

AR field codes 

Each line in the online AR has a unique field code. For example, ‘tangible fixed assets – cost’ is referred to as TFC followed by a 3-digit figure. We have used field codes such as DON020 and ORG010 in this guidance to familiarise you with their use.

Search functionality

To search for a word on the AR screen you are viewing, press Ctrl + F, and type it in the search bar. For example, to find a section on ‘Pensions’, click on ‘Open all’ to expand all sections of the index page, press Ctrl + F and search for ‘pensions’. The word ‘pensions’ will be highlighted wherever it appears.

This functionality will also find cell references on a page. For example, if you are on the ‘Donations’ page and press Ctrl + F and search for ‘DON020’, it will highlight the relevant field.

Input data for AR

Where possible, the data used to populate the return should be taken directly from the trust’s audited financial statements without any amendments.

Some entries will require some degree of aggregation or disaggregation of financial statement balances or FReM-style disclosures.

If there are differences between the disclosures in the accounts of individual trusts and those set out in the return, trusts will have to reanalyse their disclosures to fit those required by the return.

Nursery numbers should be included within the trust’ s total numbers in all tables except ‘Benchmarking’ and ‘Land and buildings’, where it would be included as part of the appropriate academy. Private, voluntary and independent (PVI) nurseries should be included if DfE defines the school and nursery as a single entity.

Validations

Validation checks ensure that values entered are consistent across different sections of the form.

When a validation is triggered, the validation reference will appear below the affected field, which will also be highlighted in red. Error details for that validation will be available via a link at the bottom of the related cell reference.

The validation error message shows the values entered into each field within the validation. For validation triggers on an Academy level table, a link will be available to each academy.

The number of validation errors within each table is also displayed on the colour-coded status buttons on the index page next to each section header.

Validations that have been triggered can be resolved as soon as they appear within a table, or later by clicking on ‘Next’ to continue with the return. Any unresolved validation errors will appear in the ‘Outstanding validation triggers’ table in the summary section.

Validation types

Hard validations

Hard validations occur where data in various parts of the return should match, but do not. Hard validations must be resolved by correcting the values in the return or by ticking a confirmation box when you agree with the statement displayed.

Hard validations end with a ‘H’ in the format VALXXXXH.

Soft validations

Soft validations occur where data entered is outside a particular threshold. An ‘explanation’ box will appear next to the value in question. The value can simply be corrected if entered in error. Where the value is correct, trusts are required to provide an explanation for the figure.

Soft validations end with an ‘S’ in the format VALXXXXS.

DfE group organisations

Throughout the return, additional analysis is required, so we can identify academy trust balances with designated bodies and the wider DfE group of organisations, composed of:

• the core department
• DfE’s executive agencies
• non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs)

Collectively, for the period 1 September 2024 to August 2025, the following bodies are referred to as the DfE group:

• Department for Education (DfE)
• Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA)
• Standards and Testing Agency (STA)
• Oak National Academy
• Social Work England
• Office of the Children’s Commissioner (OCC)
• Construction Industry Training Board (CITB)
• Office for Students (OfS)
• Engineering Construction Industry Training Board (ECITB)
• Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (closed 1 June 2025)
• Student Loans Company (SLC)
• LocatED
• Skills England 
• Education and Skills Funding Agency (closed 31 March 2025)

Overview section of the AR

Many of the AR tables and data entry rows and columns in the AR form are dependent on information provided in the 4 tables within the overview section. You must complete these tables to proceed with the rest of the AR form. They concern:

• external auditor details
• academy trust information
• academy information
• the questionnaire

External auditor details

External auditor details will be prepopulated with the information provided in the 2023 to 2024 AR submitted by the trust. If the prepopulated data is correct, tick the box to confirm this. If the data is no longer relevant, update it by either using the ‘Add another external auditor’ link or use the ‘edit’ or ‘remove’ links to the right of each prepopulated auditor details.

If the trust did not submit an AR in 2023 to 2024, complete the external auditor details table by using the ‘Add another external auditor’ link.

Academy trust information

Check the trust’s prepopulated data is correct and confirm by clicking on the ‘Yes’ button. If the data is incorrect, click on the ‘No’ button and send the correct information to the AR team via the email link academies.sd@education.gov.uk, so the relevant details can be updated. We advise trusts to check these details and report any updates to the AR team at the earliest opportunity.

Academy information

The trust is required to confirm the status of each academy school within the trust. Do this by selecting the correct status from the drop-down list situated below the DfE recorded status in the academy information table.

A trust should only select ‘closure in period’ if the academy school has shut down.

When the academy school has transferred to another trust, it should be classed as an ‘in period transfer out’. Where an academy school has joined from another academy trust, it should be classed as ‘in period transfer in’.

Where there is a transfer or a conversion, additional cells will be available on various tables within the AR form. The ‘Transfers and conversions’ section will also need to be completed.

Before marking the table as complete, check if the prepopulated data is correct and confirm by clicking on the ‘Yes’ button.

If the data is incorrect, click on the ‘No’ button and send the correct information to the AR team via the email link academies.sd@education.gov.uk, so the relevant details can be updated. We advise trusts to check these details and report any updates to the AR team at the earliest opportunity.

Questionnaire

Most trusts will not have disclosures for every table in the return. Completing the questionnaire tailors the return to the tables that are relevant to them.

Trusts can change the answers to questions at any time before the form is approved. Note that doing so would also remove any associated data previously entered.

Trusts may find that certain responses are prepopulated and in a ‘read only’ (greyed out) format. This is because of the closing balances disclosed in the previous year’s AR.

Guidance can be found for many questions by clicking on the ‘Help’ text under the question. Additional guidance for specific questions (not included in the online form) is as follows:

Question 5: has the trust incurred any loss of office payments during the accounting period?

Answer ‘Yes’ to this question if the trust has made payments in the accounting period to trustees or accounting officers for loss of office.

Exit payments made to other members of staff are not loss of office payments for the purposes of this question.

Question 6: has the trust included a note for ‘Related party transactions – trustees – remuneration and expenses’ in its annual report and accounts?

We expect most academies to have a staff member who is a trustee. Their remuneration would therefore class as trustee remuneration. This is the case even if paid solely for their substantive role (for example, as headteacher).

If a trust answers ‘No’ to this question, a soft validation will trigger. If no staff are trustees, then trusts can simply state this in the explanation box.

Question 26: did the trust make any losses or special payments?

Answer ‘Yes’ to this question if the trust has transactions such as:

• cash losses
• claims abandoned
• administration write-offs
• fruitless payments
• stock losses
• gifts
• special payments

Special payments are payments that may fall outside of the usual planned range of activity and may exceed statutory and contractual obligations. Examples include honoraria, ex-gratia, non-contractual exit payments, severance, termination, compensation or other payments.

SoFA – income and expenditure tables

Trusts should be able to reconcile the SoFA in the return to the SoFA in their annual financial statements. The completed SoFA can be found in the summary section of the AR dashboard.

Donations

Information to be entered here can be found in the donations and capital grants disclosure section in the trust audited financial statements.

Capital grants should not be included in the ‘Donations’ (DON) table. They should be included in the ‘Capital grant income’ (CGR) table instead.

Any capital donations entered in this section (DON) should equal donations shown in the fixed asset tables under balance sheet assets.

A capital donation is the gift of an asset. Where cash is donated, even if it is specifically for capital purposes, trusts should record it as other donations – revenue (DON040).

Transfers on conversion are not donations and should be shown under transfers on conversion lines, not in this section.

Grants questionnaire

All questions are related to any adjustments made for grants included within the trust’s financial statements.

If the trust has any repayable cash advances, answer ‘Yes’ to question 1 and provide more detail in the box provided.

Question 3 will only be relevant for those trusts who have had an in-year transfer of an academy in or out of the trust.

Capital and revenue grants

DfE requires all grant income (revenue and capital) to be included within the charitable activities academy’s educational operations section.

Trusts should include capital grants in this section and not under ‘Donations’.

Any representation compared to a trust’s financial statements will therefore be reflected in the SoFA totals.

Academy trusts can use the Academies chart of accounts 2024 to 2025, which shows detailed mapping of each type of grant into the AR form categories.

DfE (CGR and RGR)

Trusts should identify the correct grant heading against which to record income.

Trusts are required to record DfE capital and revenue grants separately.

Teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (TPECG) should be included within the field RGR150 ‘Revenue grants – DfE > Other’ until such time that it is included within the general annual grant (GAG) allocations.

DFE group (CGG and RGG)

DfE group grants should be used to record grants income from the department’s executive agencies and non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs), such as the:

• Student Loans Company (SLC)
• Standards and Testing Agency (STA)
• Office for Students (OfS)

Refer to DfE group organisations for the full list.

Trusts should identify the correct grants heading against which to record income and may use the Academies chart of accounts 2024 to 2025, which shows detailed mapping of each type of grant into the AR form categories.

Other (OCG and ORG)

Included within this section are grants from outside DfE, which might include local authorities, other government departments, and arm’s length bodies such as the National Lottery Community Fund and Sport England.

Local authority grants – for example, special educational needs (SEN) and early years grants – are not provided by DfE. They should be recorded as ‘Capital grants’ > ‘Other’ under OCG010, or ‘Revenue grants’ > ‘Other’ under ORG010, ORG020 or ORG030. They should not be recorded under the ‘DfE grants table‘ or ‘Other income’ table.

‘Other government grants’ could include grants from any other government departments excluding the DfE group organisations and local authority.

‘Non-government grants’ are any grants received from non-government organisations such as charities and philanthropic organisations.

Other income

Non-grant income should be detailed within this section.

Any income from educational visits and school trips should be included within ‘Non-government revenue’ (INC030).

Catering income should be split into 2 categories:

• ‘Student catering income’ (INC040), which should only include income from pupils
• ‘Catering income’ (OTA020) within the ‘Other trading activities’ table, which should include the income from staff and visitors

Further information about ‘Notional apprenticeship levy income’ (INC050) is available in the Apprenticeship levy section, within the staff and trustees information.

Any income in respect of claims made under the risk protection arrangement (RPA) scheme should be shown within the ‘Other trading activities’ table (OTA050). Refer to Risk protection arrangement for more information.

Transfer SoFA disclosure – conversions and academy transfers (TSD)

The return requires trusts to disclose the financial position of academies that have moved in or out of the trust during the academic year.

Information provided in the ‘Transfer SoFA disclosure’ table is required at trust level, which is validated against the detailed academy-level disclosures entered in the transfers and conversions section.

Expenditure

Costs of raising funds (CRF)

All expenditure incurred by the academy trust to raise funds for its charitable purposes, including the cost of all fundraising activities events and non-charitable trading, should be included in this section. These costs should also be included within the benchmarking section where relevant.

Charitable activities (CAD and CAS)

These are costs incurred by the academy trusts educational operations, including support costs and costs relating to the governance of the academy trust apportioned to charitable activities.

CAS390 ‘Revenue expenditure from capital funding’ should be used in the specific scenario where the trust has both:

• derecognised assets under a church supplemental agreement (owned by the diocese, for example)
• received capital funding within the year and spent this on capital improvements

We are aware that trusts in this situation do not have assets on their balance sheet and therefore cannot report capitalised costs relating to these assets.

To ensure expenditure for this scenario is reported clearly, field CAS390 is available to prevent this being reported via maintenance or other premises costs.

Risk protection arrangement (RPA)

The RPA for academy trusts is an alternative to insurance where losses that arise are covered by UK government funds.

Academy trusts that opt to join the RPA will have the RPA fees deducted at source from their GAG funding paid by DfE. In accounting terms, the contractual GAG amount, before deduction of RPA fees, should be accounted for as income.

We expect trusts to make a monthly journal adjustment in their financial ledgers to gross up the GAG cash receipt to the contractual amount. A matching expense will thereby be recorded for ‘Risk protection arrangement fees’ (CAS140) paid by the trust as educational activities.

Any income in respect of claims made under the arrangement should be shown as income in the ‘Other income’ > ‘Other trading activities’ table (OTA050) following on from trusts own entries in their financial ledgers.

Other expenditure not attributable to a specific expenditure heading

Expenditure disclosed in OEX010 should not be included in the benchmarking section.

Provision of boarding activities (PBE)

If the trust included a note for academy boarding account (refer to academies model accounts: note 35) in its annual report and accounts, answer ‘Yes’ to question 8 in the questionnaire within the overview section. Provision of boarding activities tables for income and expenditure will then become available for completion.

Further detailed ‘help’ text is available within the online AR form.

SoFA – staff and trustees tables

Staff costs (STF)

This section requires the disclosure of actual costs incurred. Staff costs disclosed within the SoFA are required to be broken down by role, that is split by where staff spend most of their time.

The total wages and salaries are required to be split into the following 3 categories:

Teachers (STF010)

Include wages and salaries for staff with routine teaching duties, including senior leadership team members with routine teaching duties.

Leadership (STF020)

Include wages and salaries for senior leadership team members who do not have routine teaching duties. Leadership would be those persons with authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of a reporting entity, directly or indirectly, including any director (whether executive or otherwise).

Administration and support category (STF030)

Include all other staff. Examples of this would be office manager, business manager, finance officers and teaching assistants.

All costs in the staff and trustees table must be further split into permanent and temporary staff costs as required by accounting standards applicable to DfE and SARA.

The split between permanent staff (column A) and interim or temporary staff (column B) is not based on hours worked, but on length of contract. Accordingly, all supply and maternity cover staff would automatically be classified as interim staff since they are employed by the trust for a specific period, which is the period of illness or maternity leave.

Part-time staff, such as teaching assistants and lunch-time staff, could be either permanent or temporary staff depending on the terms stipulated in their contract.

For example, a teaching assistant who has an open-ended contract of employment with a trust, but may not have guaranteed weekly hours, would still be classified as a permanent staff member. However, a teaching assistant brought into a trust to cover a known staff absence would be temporary, since their contract has a set end date.

Agency staff are, by definition, temporary. The total cost of agency staff included in a trust’s accounts should be shown as temporary staff costs on the ‘Agency’ line (STF070).

The agency numbers to be reported in the AR should be based on FTE and averaged over the year.

Fixed-term contract staff should be included within the ‘Temporary/interim staff’ column.

The AR form calculates the average staff costs by dividing the total basic wages and salaries (STF010-T, STF020-T and STF030-T) by the total staff numbers (SSNTOT-T), and then by the number of months to which the return relates.

The average staff cost is expected to be within the range of £15,000 to £45,000. If the calculated value falls outside of this range, the AR preparer will be prompted to check the data and tick a box to confirm they are satisfied with the data entered.

Trusts are required to accrue for any outstanding holiday entitlement at the end of the accounting period. Trusts should accrue for the value of untaken holiday entitlement at 31 August 2025 for academies covered by the return.

The term ‘pay costs’ is used throughout the return to indicate all staff pay costs, including employer’s National Insurance and pension contributions.

Staff-related non-pay costs such as travel and training should not be included in pay costs. They should be disclosed under another appropriate heading according to the format of the analysis being completed. Note that the AR and the trust’s financial statements differ here in that the Academies accounts direction asks for pension finance costs to be excluded from pay costs in the financial statements.

Where there is a total in cell STFTOT-B, trusts must disclose the number of temporary or interim staff numbers in the ‘staff numbers (full time equivalent)’ table.

Apprenticeship levy – STF050, INC050 and CAD040

Employers with an annual pay bill of £3 million or more are required to pay a levy of 0.5% of their annual pay bill to the government. The levy is collected by HMRC as part of an employer existing PAYE process. This payment should be recorded in the ‘Apprenticeship levy’ line (STF050).

Employers that use their levy charge to fund apprenticeships benefit from receiving training in addition to any directly funded training. The value of the additional training between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025 should be recognised as part of the employer’s financial reporting. As employers do not receive these funds directly, the amount recorded will be non-cash.

Accordingly, there is a notional apprenticeship levy income category (INC050) within other income and a notional apprenticeship levy expenditure category (CAD040) within ‘Charitable activities – direct costs’, where this can be disclosed.

The value of the levy training will be available to employers from their own discussions or records with approved training providers. Employers should already be aware of the agreed cost of the training prior to it starting. In addition, it is expected that the balances reported will include the additional 10% match funding provided by government (STF050).

If training courses are priced above the funds available in an employer’s levy account, the employer will settle the difference directly with the training provider. These extra costs should be treated in the same way as directly funded training.

Staff numbers – full time equivalent (SSN)

The staff numbers table requires disclosure of the average full-time equivalent (FTE) staff undertaking a trust’s charitable activities. An analysis of all permanent and temporary staff at the trust is required, which should be split in line with the 3 staff cost categories in:

• STF010 (teachers)
• STF020 (leadership)
• STF030 (administration and support)

Refer to Staff costs for more information about how the FTEs should be categorised.

The staff numbers entered for permanent and temporary staff should be the average FTE for the year for each category (teachers, leadership, and administration and support). To determine this for a full year, you should take the total monthly FTEs for all staff under each category, add together the monthly totals and divide by 12, as outlined in Section 382(6) of the Companies Act 2006.

Calculating an FTE

Calculations of FTEs should be based on contracted hours.

Teachers are generally contracted and paid for 12 months per year.

If a teacher is contracted to work 25 hours per week, the FTE should be calculated by dividing 25 by the number of ‘standard’ contracted hours of a full-time teacher, which is usually 32.5 hours. Such an individual would therefore be counted as an 0.77 FTE.

Employees who only work part of the year (for example, those on term-time-only contracts) should be counted only at the time they are being paid.

If someone works full time in term time only, but they are paid as if they worked for the full 12 months per year, they should be counted as 1 FTE.

If an employee works full time in term time only and is only paid in term time, they should only be counted for the period they work (plus any deemed paid holiday). For example, if someone works 39 weeks and has 4 weeks’ deemed paid holiday, they should count as 0.83 ((39+4)/52) of an FTE.

If you have 200 FTE for 6 months, you report 100 average FTE.

Calculations for agency staff should be treated in a similar manner.

Where there is a total in cell STFTOT-B staff costs, trusts must disclose the number of temporary or interim staff numbers in the ‘Staff numbers (full time equivalent)’ table.

Trusts are also required to split the FTE of permanent staff disclosed in SSNTOT-A into gender and across the categories of accounting officer, staff who serve as trustees, teachers, leadership and administration and support (SGA010 to SGA050).

Trusts should ensure that each FTE is only listed against one category. Where the accounting officer (SGA010-T) or staff who serve as trustees (SGA020-T) categories are relevant, the average FTE should be recorded here rather than, for example, in the teaching category (SGA030).

Number of employees whose emoluments exceed £60,000 and £100,000 (NEE)

Emoluments include all remuneration, salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits such as termination payments and bonuses. All elements of emoluments should be included in the online AR when considering which banding to place staff into.

In addition, the emoluments should all be FTE and annualised except for one-off benefits. For examples, refer to:

Note that the AR guidance differs here from the Academies accounts direction guidance, which asks for individual academy trust financial statements to exclude employer pension costs from this calculation in line with SORP reporting requirements.

This includes any off-payroll arrangements, as defined in section 2.140 of the Academies accounts direction.

Number of employees whose emoluments are between £60,000 and £100,000

In this section, trusts should disclose FTE details on the staff whose emoluments (including salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits) exceed £60,000 per annum but are less than £100,000 per annum.

This includes off-payroll arrangements.

For emoluments between £60,000 and £100,000, the form requires the total number of FTE staff per £10,000 bands (NEE010-040) with the maximum banding as £90,001 to £100,000.

For example, if someone works 3 days a week, that is 0.6 (3/5), and earns £50,000 (including employer pension contributions and other benefits), an annualised FTE emolument would put them in the £80,001 to £90,000 category, as their annualised FTE emolument is £83,333, calculated as (5/3) x £50,000.

Number of employees whose emoluments exceed £100,000

Total emoluments including salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits should be disclosed per £10,000 bands with the maximum banding as £380,000+, which, again, should be the FTE annualised emoluments as outlined in Number of employees whose emoluments are between £60,000 and £100,000.

This includes off-payroll arrangements.

For each banding above £100,000, trusts should use a separate row for each individual within these bandings. They should disclose the following:

1. The relevant job title from the drop-down options in column B. If the exact title does not appear on the list, select the closest role based on the descriptions provided. If you cannot see a relevant job title or description, select ‘other’ and provide a brief description of the individual’s responsibilities. Refer to Relevant job titles for more information.

2. The FTE position of an individual. This is usually between 0.01 and 1. For example, if an employee works 4 days a week, that is 0.8, and the pro-rated total emolument (including salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits) is £85,000, the annualised FTE emolument would put them in the £100,001 to £110,000 banding. Their annualised FTE emolument is £106,250 calculated as (5/4) x £85,000. Declare 0.8 in column D – FTE.

3. An individual’s contracted annual salary (FTE). Declare this in the relevant £10,000 banding in column F, on the same basis as the overall band in column A. If the salary is £0, which would be unusual, the trust must provide an explanation in column I (Comments to explain why the employee has received no salary).

4. An individual’s employer pension contributions (FTE) in the relevant £10,000 banding. If this is not applicable, select £0 in column G, on the same basis as the overall band in column A. If £0 is selected, the trust must provide an explanation in column I (Comments to explain why no pension contributions are included).

5. The total of all other benefits received by the individual in the relevant £10,000 banding. This should include bonuses, benefits in kind, termination payments and any other one-off monetary payments. Declare this in column H. Any one-off payments should be as paid and not averaged. If this is not applicable, select £0.

Employer’s National Insurance contributions should not be included in emoluments.

Relevant job titles

Chief Executive Officer or equivalent

Typically, the most senior figure within a multi or single academy trust. They are unlikely to have routine teaching duties.

Headteacher or Principal

Typically, a senior leader who spends most of their time leading and managing the academy.

Deputy or Assistant Headteacher – business lead

Typically, a senior leader who spends the most of their time leading and managing the academy.

Deputy or Assistant Headteacher – predominantly teaching

Typically, a senior leader who spends the most of their time teaching.

Chief Financial Officer or equivalent

Is responsible for managing the trust’s finances and will not have teaching duties.

Other

For roles not described above, including predominantly teaching and specialist roles. You need to provide further details of these.

Exit packages – non Civil Service schemes (EXP)

Exit payments are payments made to an employee or office holder by their employer when the employee or office holder leaves the organisation. Examples of staff exit packages include compensation payments, which are made on termination of employment, payment in lieu of notice, redundancy, severance or unplanned loss of employment or loss of office.

Exit payments may include:

• cash lump sums, such as a redundancy payment, which is normally calculated based on the salary at the point of exiting the organisation and length of service
• early access to unreduced pensions – for employees close to the relevant pension scheme’s normal pension age, some employers offer the option to take early retirement on a pension with the reduced amount for early payment being met by the employer, or otherwise enhanced, in place of or in addition to a cash lump-sum compensation payment
• non-financial and other benefits – in a smaller number of instances, employers may offer other benefits such as additional paid annual leave at the end of an individual’s employment

DfE discloses breakdowns of employee exit packages agreed during the period of the accounts. Consequently, the consolidated SARA also requires trusts to provide similar disclosures in line with guidance issued by HM Treasury for public sector bodies. Refer to Annex 4.13: Special payments of the HM Treasury publication Managing public money.

FReM-compliant disclosures are split between Civil Service and non-Civil Service exit schemes, although it is expected that only non-Civil Service schemes will be applicable to trusts. The value of the packages disclosed is the total cost including pension contributions, split by the contractual element of the package and the non-contractual element, and not just sums paid directly to the departing employees.

Any non-contractual element of exit packages reported must also be included as a special payment in the ‘Losses and special payments’ table as detailed in the balance sheet funds and other disclosures section (field LSP010). This table becomes available to complete when the answer to question 26 ‘Did the trust make any losses or special payments?’ in the ‘Questionnaire’ table is ‘Yes’.

Non-contractual exit packages are payments made outside of normal statutory or contractual requirements.

Loss of office payments (LOP)

If trusts make any loss of office payments to the accounting officer or any other trustee, these are required to be disclosed here.

Related party transactions: trustee remuneration (RPT)

If a trust has related party transactions (RPTs) to disclose for trustee remuneration, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 6 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The relevant tables will then become available under the ‘SoFA’ > ‘Staff and trustees’ heading to enable completion of the trust’s RPT trustees information.

Remuneration should include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits such as bonuses. The disclosures required here are:

1. Number paid as trustees. The FTE number of trustees where the remuneration is a result of their role of trustee in column A – that is, purely in their capacity as a trustee. This does not include other roles they carry out in the trust, such as headteacher.

2. Number paid as staff. The FTE number of trustees where the remuneration is a result of a role they carry out in the trust in column B, such as headteacher.

3. Once the trust has selected the total remuneration banding overall, they must then confirm that salaries have been included in the remuneration in column C for all FTEs in the banding. If salary is not included, the trust must provide an explanation in column G (Comments to explain why this is the case).

4. Once the trust has selected the total remuneration banding overall, they must then confirm that employer pension contributions have been included in the remuneration in column D for all FTEs in the banding. If employer pension contributions are not included, the trust must provide an explanation in column G (Comments to explain why this is the case).

5. Once the trust has selected the total remuneration banding overall, they must then confirm whether other benefits if applicable have been included in the remuneration in column F for all FTEs in the banding.

Use the on-screen ‘help’ text when considering which staff fall within the ‘Number paid as trustees’ and ‘Number paid as staff’ columns. It is uncommon for a trustee to be paid in their role as trustee. In most cases, most trustees are paid as members of staff – for example, in their role as a headteacher.

Trusts should note that a staff member receiving remuneration above £60,000 and serving as a trustee should be disclosed in both this section and the staff emoluments disclosure (NEE). The banding emoluments selected in both the NEE and RPT sections should be the same, as the requirements to include salary, employer pension contributions and other benefits are the same for both disclosures.

Trusts should enter the average number of non-staff trustees who are unpaid into category ‘Number of unpaid non-staff trustees’ (NUT010), for example, if an individual is identified as an unpaid non-staff trustee for 9 months during the 12-month accounting period, 0.75 (9 months/12 months) should be reported in NUT010 and not 1.

Off-payroll arrangements (OPA)

Where a trust has entered into (or continues to have) an off-payroll arrangement, ensure you answer ‘Yes’ in the ‘Questionnaire’ table in the overview section of the online form (question 7) and then complete the off-payroll arrangement table in the SoFA – staff and trustees sub-section.

An off-payroll arrangement is where an individual is paid for work completed not through the trust payroll – for example, they may be paid via a private service company.

This section is not intended to capture:

• temporary staff paid by invoice via an employment agency
• curriculum services such as peripatetic teachers

Further details are included in the ‘help’ text for OPA010/OPA020 within the online form.

Balance sheet assets

Intangible fixed assets (IF)

If a trust has included a note for intangible fixed assets (see Academies model accounts: note 14) in its annual report and accounts, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 9 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The relevant intangible fixed assets tables will then be available for completion.

If the trust has no intangible fixed assets, the question can be answered accordingly and the table will not be visible.

The return requires separate disclosures of the following intangible fixed assets:

• additions
• transferred in:
  • on conversion of academies from local authorities
  • conversion – elsewhere
  • existing academies joining the trust
• transferred out on existing academies leaving the trust (where applicable)
• donations
• disposals
• revaluations
• reclassifications

Under the SORP, trusts should disclose software fixed assets in column A. All other intangible fixed assets should be disclosed in column B.

As well as the closing net book value (NBV), the SARA will also have to disclose the split of the NBV by the owner of the intangible fixed asset in the asset financing table. This includes assets owned by the trust, finance leased or on-balance-sheet PFI schemes. All trusts should provide an analysis of their closing net book value accordingly.

Amortisation periods (IAP)

Trusts should enter the length in months of the useful economic lives used to calculate the amortisation charges as disclosed in the trust’s accounting policies note.

For example, if a trust’s accounting policy is to amortise software over 5 years, enter 60 (5 years x 12 months).

If trusts have a range of periods for any single asset class, they should disclose both the lower and upper ranges in the rows provided.

Alternatively, if trusts use a reducing balance methodology for an asset class, they should enter the rate used in the row provided.

Investment assets – current (CUI) and non-current (NCI)

If the trust holds investment assets, the AR preparer must ensure the correct asset types are available on the AR form for current and non-current investments.

Asset types will be prepopulated in the AR form based on 2023 to 2024 closing balances. If the trust has new asset categories in-year, the preparer must also select the appropriate asset type on question 10 for non-current investments and question 11 for current investments within the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table.

Columns within the current and non-current investments tables will then be available for all relevant asset types for completion.

The tables provided for investments are for:

• non-current investments – held for longer than 1 year (NCI)
• current investments – held for less than 1 year (CUI)

Both tables require the same level of disclosure and include 2 broad categories of investments, which are investments carried at:

• market (fair) value
• cost

The investment asset classes appear more than once in each of the asset tables. Items within an asset class can be accounted for under cost or market value.

Asset classes

A summary of the assets that we expect to find within each asset class:

Subsidiaries

Companies wholly owned by the trust but not included in the trust’s consolidated financial statements, which is why the shares held are recorded as investments. In addition, we would expect the subsidiaries to be limited by shares with all issued shares owned by the trust. Subsidiaries are only carried at cost.

Investment properties

Properties owned by a trust that are not used in the furtherance of their educational activities, such as rental houses and flats. Under SORP, such assets can be carried at either cost (depreciated) or fair value (non-depreciated).

Shares

Shares held by the trust but not subsidiaries. These shares should be held for investment purposes (capital growth or dividend income). Therefore, these shares can be carried at cost (unlisted private companies) but more likely at market value (listed public limited companies such as the FTSE100 or FTSE250).

In all cases, the percentage of shares held will not be significant compared to the number the investment has issued, otherwise the non-subsidiary classification would not be permitted.

Corporate bonds

Securities that operate in a similar manner to loans. A trust owning a bond will receive interest income (coupon) and on the maturity of the bond will receive the face value of the bond. Like shares, bonds can be either held at cost (generally issued by an unlisted private company without a secondary market) or at market value when issued by a public limited company.

Managed funds

Listed investment funds that allow investors to buy in by acquiring individual units. Temporary, uninvested cash balances held by the money manager should be classified as unit trust funds.

Cash term deposits

Bank accounts that have set maturities and often offer restricted access rights. For example, a trust with excess cash may want to use this cash by investing it until it is needed. Fixed-term accounts often offer a range of interest rates, as the cash is invested for defined periods of time. These bank accounts are accounted for as market (fair) value because the cash is effectively fair-valued.

Other

A generic asset class for all other asset types held by a trust, such as art (which could be carried at either cost or fair value) or derivatives (which are specialised financial instruments designed to perform specific tasks, such as mitigate foreign exchange risk). All derivatives are carried at fair value.

Endowments

Endowments are not an asset class. Endowment refers to the restrictions a trust may have holding or using the investment’s income stream. They do not feature in the SARA.

Tangible fixed assets (TF)

The trust must select the asset types included in the tangible fixed assets note (refer to Academies model accounts: note 15) in its annual report and accounts.

Asset types will be prepopulated in the AR form based on 2023 to 2024 closing balances. If the trust has new asset types in year, the preparer must select the appropriate asset category or categories on question 12 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. Columns for the relevant tangible fixed asset types will then be available for completion.

Trusts should complete the tangible fixed asset table using the following asset classification:

• freehold land and buildings
• leasehold land and buildings
• leasehold improvements
• plant and machinery
• furniture and equipment
• computer equipment
• motor vehicles
• assets under construction (AUC)

Trusts should note that a further split of the land and buildings figures at academy level will be required in the ‘Land and buildings’ tables.

The return requires separate disclosure of tangible fixed assets:

• funded through the free schools programme, priority school building programme or school rebuilding programme – for example, assets constructed by DfE and transferred to the trust
• funded from other DfE group capital grants
• funded from other sources
• transferred in:
  • on conversion of academies from local authorities
  • conversion – elsewhere
  • existing academies joining the trust
• transferred out on existing academies leaving the trust (where applicable)
• donations from DfE and non-DfE bodies
• disposals
• revaluations
• reclassifications

Any transfers of land and buildings that occur during the period should be disclosed as either a transfer in or a transfer out. The same treatment should be taken within the land and buildings section.

As well as the closing net book value (NBV), SARA will also have to disclose the split of the NBV by the owner of the tangible fixed assets in the asset financing table, including assets owned by the trust, finance-leased or other occupation route, or on-balance-sheet PFI schemes. All trusts should provide an analysis of their closing NBV accordingly.

Asset financing (TFF)

You do not need to disclose donated assets under construction if they are not owned, finance-leased or part of on-balance-sheet PFI contracts.

Depreciation periods per accounting policies (TDP and CAP)

Where there is a closing balance in the cost table for the asset, trusts are required to enter the length in months of the useful economic lives used to calculate the depreciation, as disclosed in the trust’s accounting policies note. For example, if a trust’s accounting policy is to depreciate buildings over 50 years, enter 600 (50 years x 12 months).

If trusts have a range of periods for any single asset class, they should disclose both the lower and upper ranges in the rows provided.

Alternatively, if trusts use a reducing balance method for an asset class, they should enter the rate as a whole number in the field provided.

Where a trust has land, either freehold or leasehold, and has no buildings, insert the number ‘0’ into the single period or minimum of range (months) line. A validation will be triggered. Select the tick box to confirm that the value relates to just land.

There is a requirement for trusts to confirm the minimum value above which they capitalise an asset, by asset type. If the value is between £500 and £2,000, the AR preparer should tick the relevant box. For a value of more than £2,000, the AR preparer is required to key the value into the field provided. This capitalisation table should only be completed if the asset had a closing cost balance in the tangible fixed assets cost table.

Revaluation of land and buildings

If an academy follows a policy of revaluation of tangible fixed assets, which is rare, all other fixed assets in that class will need to be revalued at the same time. Refer to section 3.59 of the Academies accounts direction.

Land and buildings

Trusts are required to provide information in respect of their land and buildings to fulfil DfE’s external audit requirements. These tables are in addition to the Land and buildings collection tool (LBCT) return that trusts complete to identify all the land and buildings assets for each academy in the trust.

Any transfers of land and buildings that occur during the period should be disclosed as either a transfer in or transfer out. Treat other balance sheet items in the assets section in the same way.

The figures disclosed within the land and buildings section should match the figures disclosed within the balance sheet assets.

For trusts that receive assets or incur liabilities for an academy school before they join or after they leave the trust, allocate changes in values to the ‘Centrally held’ table. The land and buildings section for a single academy trust (SAT) will be prepopulated with data entered by trusts in the tangible fixed assets tables.

Centrally held assets

Centrally held assets include balances held by the trust, such as head office buildings that are not associated with any academy. The AR preparer should answer ‘Yes’ to question 15 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table if the trust holds any such assets. The centrally held table will then be available for completion.

If all land and buildings assets are located at an academy site, answer ‘No’ to this question.

If there is an opening balance within the centrally held section of land and buildings that relates to an academy, make an adjustment in the field ‘Adjustments made to opening balance’.

Academies

The ‘Land and buildings’ tables require a breakdown of the total tangible fixed assets for each academy in the trust.

This information enables DfE to track movements at the academy level when adjusting for additions, disposals and impairments, and when commissioning valuations of individual academies. This data is also used when an academy moves in or out of a trust, as it enables DfE to adjust valuations held for changes in the structure of a trust.

The values required for each academy within the trust are for:

• freehold land and buildings
• leasehold land and buildings
• leasehold improvements
• assets under construction

If there is an opening balance within the academy that relates to the trust centrally or to another academy within land and buildings, make an adjustment in the field ‘Adjustments made to opening balance’.

Land and buildings totals

All the information disclosed in the ‘Land and buildings totals’ tables should agree with the totals disclosed in the tangible fixed asset tab in the balance sheet assets section.

If there are any inconsistencies between the data entered in the section and the data in any other sections, validations may be triggered on this table.

As the totals table sums up the figures from the ‘Centrally held’ and ‘Academies’ tables, any amendments to clear the validations will need to be made on either the centrally held or the academies tables, or both.

Balance sheet liabilities

Creditors

If the trust has included a note for ‘creditors, amounts falling due in greater than 1 year’, (refer to Academies model accounts: note 19) in its annual report and accounts, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 16 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The appropriate column within the creditors table will then be available for completion.

All amounts owed, accrued or deferred by the academy trust should be included under this heading at their settlement amount. The amount owed must be split between amounts falling due within 1 year and amounts falling due after more than 1 year.

Loans

If the trust has any loans, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 17 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The loans tables will then be available for completion. If there are any opening balances bought forward from the previous year’s AR, question 17 will be greyed out and the table will already be available.

Balances owed on loans are brought together and analysed by loan movement (LMT) and loan maturity (LAN).

Loan movement reconciles the opening and closing balances on loans through providing details of new borrowing, repayments and interest charges. The loan maturity analyses the outstanding loan over time periods.

Salix loans should be recorded as Other (column C) in the ‘Loan movement’ table.

Loan interest paid to DfE group and to others is separately disclosed in the ‘Charitable activities – support costs’ table within the SoFA menu (CAS220 and CAS230).

Provisions

If the trust holds any provisions, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 18 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The ‘Provisions’ table will then be available for completion. If there is an opening balance bought forward from the previous year, question 18 will be greyed out and the table will already be available.

While FReM requires an analysis of provisions by type, DfE is satisfied that provisions are immaterial to SARA, so the analysis is not required.

DfE also requires a maturity analysis across the 3 financial reporting time periods provided, which are:

• less than 1 year (PAN010)
• between 2 and 5 years (PAN020)
• more than 5 years (PAN030)

The totals here must agree with those in the ‘Provisions’ table.

Contingent liabilities

If a trust has included a note for contingent liabilities (refer to Academies model accounts: note 30) in its annual report and accounts, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 19 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The contingent liability table will then be available for completion. If there are any opening balances bought forward from the previous year, question 19 will be greyed out and the table will already be available.

To support accurate consolidation for contingent liabilities, the trust must supply details of movements under a list of common headings, including potential repayment of grants, disputed invoices, contract termination costs and unrecovered fees. If none of those applies, then the ‘Other’ heading should be used.

The return asks trusts to provide sufficient description of the ‘other’ closing balance to allow DfE to understand the underlying issue.

It is not expected that trusts will have contingent assets.

Commitment under PFI

If the trust has a PFI arrangement where the academy trust is the signatory to the PFI contract, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 20 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The ‘Commitment under PFI’ table will then be available for completion within the ‘Balance sheet liabilities’ table heading.

If ‘Yes’ is selected, the AR preparer will be asked to verify this answer, as the local authority is the signatory in most cases. This applies to rare PFI cases and data must be reported in the following sections: 

• SoFA Exp > CAS200 
• B/S liabilities> PFI010 to PFI030 

If the answer is ‘No’, proceed to the next question: ‘Does the trust have a PFI arrangement where the trust’s ex-local authority is the signatory to the PFI contract?’

If the answer is ‘Yes’, which applies to most PFIs, data must be reported in the following sections: 

• SoFA Exp > CAS210 
• B/S and other disc/NCC010-B to NCC030B 

If the answer is ‘No’, no further action is required,

The same arrangement should not be reported both under the non-cancellable contracts disclosure (boxes NCC10B to NCC030B) and within the ‘PFI liability’ table (boxes PFI010 to PFI030). These must only be included once in the AR.

PFI liabilities are required to be split between ‘Off-balance sheet PFI’ (column A) and ‘On-balance-sheet PFI’ (column B). Should a trust’s PFI contracts have been deemed to be on-balance-sheet, they will have recognised an associated liability for the future costs in ’Finance lease charges’ (CRD160).

Some academy trusts occupy premises that are subject to a private finance initiative (PFI) contract with a third-party private sector contractor.

These PFI contracts exist where public sector bodies (in most cases local authorities) act as grantors to the PFI arrangement. That is, the private sector body (the operator) is granted the right to construct and operate the infrastructure on behalf of the public sector. DfE expects that, in most of these cases, the main signatory of the PFI contract and the owner of the freehold site will be the local authority, making the local authority the grantor of the PFI contract, not the academy trust.

Reporting PFI commitments: example scenarios

Scenario 1: Most likely – the academy trust gives the local authority a contribution towards its PFI

Questionnaire > Question 20: Does the trust have a PFI arrangement where the academy trust is the signatory to the PFI contract?

The answer is ‘No’. The service concession contract (A) is between the local authority and the PFI contractor, so no disclosure is required.

Any expenditure on supporting agreements (B) should be disclosed as follows:

• SoFA > Expenditure > Support > PFI support costs to local authority > CAS210
• Balance Sheet Funds and Other Disclosures > Other > Non-cancellable contracts > NCC010-B to NCC030-B
• Benchmarking > Expenditure > Professional Services – Other (PFI)

In most situations, academy trusts are not party to the service concession contracts themselves, but do enter into supporting agreements with their local authorities.

Under the terms of such secondary agreements, academy trusts may be required to support their main PFI contract holder (their local authority) through making contributions to their costs, such as facilities maintenance. These costs should be expensed as incurred, as there is no lease or asset recognised.

However, since the secondary agreement signed by the academy trust covers the same 25-year period as the PFI agreement, there are long-term commitments that should be disclosed as part of the academy trust’s financial statements but not as PFI liabilities.

Recognising the site as an asset

Where academy trusts occupy sites that are managed this way, under a PFI held by the local authority, a useful indicator as to whether to recognise the site as an asset on an academy trust’s balance sheet is to confirm with the local authority (the grantor) whether it recognises the site as its asset.

Where the local authority recognises the PFI site, at least for the duration of the agreement, consideration should be given as to whether it is reasonable for an academy trust to also recognise it as an asset, applying the controls tests set out in FRS102.

Where a local authority has recognised the site as an asset and the academy trust has not, on completion of the PFI agreement, we would expect the local authority to donate the site to the academy trust under the existing long-term lease and for it to then be recognised on the balance sheet.

Scenario 2: Highly unlikely – academy trust is the grantor on the PFI contract

Questionnaire > Question 20: Does the trust have a PFI arrangement where the academy trust is the signatory to the PFI contract?

The answer is ‘Yes’. Any expenditure on service concession contract (A) should be included in:

• SoFA > Expenditure > Support > PFI service costs > CAS200
• Balance Sheet Liabilities > Commitments Under PFI contracts > PFI010 to PFI030
• Benchmarking > Expenditure > Professional Services – Other PFI

Scenario 3: Unlikely – the academy trust gives the local authority a contribution towards their PFI but also has a secondary contract with a private sector contractor for PFI

Questionnaire > Question 20: Does the trust have a PFI arrangement where the academy trust is the signatory to the PFI contract?

The answer is ‘No’. The service concession contract (A) is between the local authority and the PFI contractor, so no disclosure is required.

Any expenditure on supporting agreements (B) should be disclosed as follows:

• SoFA > Expenditure > Support > PFI support costs to local authority > CAS210
• Balance Sheet Funds and Other Disclosures > Other > Non-cancellable contracts >NCC010-B to NCC030-B
• Benchmarking > Expenditure > Professional Services – Other PFI

Balance sheet funds and other disclosures

Funds

Restricted general funds

Comprises funds (except fixed asset funds) received with restrictions imposed by the funder or donor and include grants from the DfE group. Within this section, the information disclosed will be at the trust level. However, within the benchmarking section, the restricted general funds will need to be disclosed per academy school.

Restricted fixed asset funds

Restricted fixed assets funds are resources that are to be applied to specific capital purposes imposed by funders where the asset acquired or created is held for a specific purpose.

Unrestricted income funds

This type of fund represents those resources that may be used towards meeting any of the charitable objects of the academy trust at the discretion of the trustees. Within this section, the information disclosed will be at the trust level. However, within the benchmarking section, the unrestricted income funds will need to be disclosed per academy school.

These tables require a breakdown of opening balances, incoming resources, resources expended, trust transfers, gross transfer between funds and other gains, losses and transfers.

Pensions

Pension schemes

Additional guidance to assist trusts with completing pension disclosures is available in:

• the Guide to pensions section of the Academy accounts return
• examples mapping the ‘Actuaries reporting pension cost statements’ (also known as the results schedule) to the AR

Most of the pension disclosures are as required by SORP. For the purposes of the SARA, the different pension schemes need to be classified by scheme type (for example, defined benefit and defined contribution). Other than the scheme analysis, all other disclosures should be available from the trust’s financial statement pension disclosures or actuarial report.

There is an additional analysis of the SoFA pension charge to allow DfE to correctly aggregate the charges for the different scheme types. In addition, defined benefit SoFA charges will need to be analysed out between contributions payable for the period and the FRS17 adjustment.

Trusts are required to break down employer pension contributions further, according to the scheme type in the pension commitments note. We expect that most trusts will only have 2 pension schemes:

• Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS)
• Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

Pension finance costs

The total of the ‘Breakdown of SoFA pension charge’ table (BPC050) under the ‘Balance sheet funds and other disclosures’ dashboard heading is validated against the pension costs shown in the ‘SoFA’ > ‘Staff costs’ table (STF060).

The SoFA pension charge includes pension finance costs. Therefore, trusts need to include pension finance costs in the staff costs note, even if the trust has legitimately chosen not to include pension finance costs as part of staff costs in their published financial statements.

Other pensions disclosures

Trusts should note the required format of entering data differs from table to table. The data format is indicated against each row and column label requiring input. For example: fields within ‘Breakdown of SoFA pension charge’ table (BPC) specify entries in £000, while the ‘Employee contributions’ table (ERC) specifies entries as a percentage.

Related party transactions

If the trust reported related party transactions (RPTs) in the note for related party transactions in its annual report and accounts (refer to Academies model accounts: note 33), the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 25 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The related party transactions tables will then be available for completion.

Disclosures in these tables relate to transactions with related parties. The ‘Payments to a related party’ table is to capture transactions where the related party has provided goods or services to the trust and the trust has paid it for those goods or services.

The ‘Payments from a related party’ table is to capture transactions where the trust has provided goods or services to the related party, and the related party has paid the trust for those goods or services.

RPT trustee remuneration is captured in ‘SoFA’ > ‘Related party transactions: trustee remuneration’ table and should not be disclosed in this table. If a trustee received remuneration and also has other transactions with the trust, these may appear in both sections.

This section should not include disclosures of transactions with government bodies, including DfE.

If the trust has no disclosable RPTs in either the ‘to’ or ‘from’ category, add a row and select the ‘no payments’ option from the dropdown list (RPV010 or RPF010). Click on ‘Mark as complete’ to proceed.

Leases

It would not be expected that the same arrangement (at the same values) appears in both the ‘Operating leases’ table and the ‘PFI liabilities’ table. Each arrangement should be reported in one place or the other.

Furthermore, it would not be expected that the same arrangement (at the same values) is duplicated in both the ‘Operating leases’ table and the ‘Non-cancellable contracts’ table. Each arrangement should be reported in one place or the other.

For example, where the trust’s local authority is the signatory to the PFI agreement (refer to scenario 1, if any PFI arrangements have been reported as operating leases in the trust’s financial statements, for the purposes of the annual return, they should be:

• excluded from the operating leases tables in the ‘Balance sheet funds and other disclosures’ section of the annual return (COP0101 to COP030 and OLA010 to OLA090)
• reported in the annual return in the ‘Non-cancellable contracts – other government’ fields (NCC010B to NCC030B)

Operating lease commitments (COP)

An operating lease is a lease in which rental payments (usually monthly) are made by the trust to enable use of an asset without acquiring ownership of that asset. It is a type of lease in which the contract period is shorter than the useful economic life of the asset.

Costs associated with operating leases are classified as expenses, not assets, as is the case with finance leases.

Under SORP, there is no longer any difference between the operating lease commitment disclosures required of academy trusts and those required by SARA.

The remaining cost of a lease must be apportioned across the following time periods:

• within 1 year (COP010)
• within 2 and 5 years inclusive (COP020)
• over 5 years (COP030)

Example of an operating leasing commitment

Lease A (below) has 10 years remaining with an annual cost of £10,000. All 3 time periods would have disclosures relating to the lease, as follows:

• £10,000 in ‘within 1 year’
• £40,000 for ‘2 years to 5 years’
• £50,000 for ‘more than 5 years’

The table below shows how you should report the following leases:

• lease A has 10 years remaining, at £10,000 per year
• lease B has 4 years remaining, at £5,000 per year
• lease C has 2 years remaining, at £15,000 per year

Lease time period remaining	Lease A (£000)	Lease B (£000)	Lease C (£000)	Total (£000)
Within 1 year	10	5	15	30
Within 2 and 5 years	40	15	15	70
Over 5 years	50	-	-	50
Total	100	20	30	150

Finance lease disclosures

A finance lease (also called a capital lease) is a type of lease in which the trust has:

• control over the asset
• most of the financial risks and rewards from the asset
• most of the returns from any change in the asset’s value

These leases usually last for most of the asset’s useful life.

The disclosures required for finance leases are similar to those required for operating leases.

Other

Losses and special payments (LSP)

Losses and special payments include items such as:

• cash losses
• claims abandoned
• administration write-offs
• fruitless payments
• stock losses
• gifts
• special payments

Special payments are payments that may fall outside of the usual planned range of activity and may exceed statutory and contractual obligations. Examples include:

• honoraria
• ex-gratia
• non-contractual exit payments
• severance
• termination
• compensation
• other payments

If the trust made any losses or special payments, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 26 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The ‘Losses and special payments’ table within the ‘Balance sheet funds and other disclosures’ > ‘Other’ dashboard heading will then be available for input.

All bodies producing accounts under FReM are required to disclose losses and special payments under the terms of the HM Treasury publication Managing public money. The scope of the disclosure requires trusts to capture payments that fall into the categories provided for inclusion in the SARA.

It is important to note that any non-contractual element of the exit packages reported in the SoFA section must be reported here as a special payment. Settlements on court cases are only contractual if it is a court ruling. If it is settled during litigation, this is considered non-contractual.

Non-contractual staff payments should be labelled as follows:

• severance payments: label as ‘non-contractual – severance’
• restructuring or redundancy payments: label as ‘non-contractual – severance’
• compensation – for example, payment for damage to property or harm to a person: label as ‘non-contractual – compensation’
• ex gratia payments: label as ‘non-contractual – ex gratia’
• anything noted as ‘other non-contractual’ in the ‘Exit packages’ table: label as ‘non-contractual – other’

For more information on losses and special payments, refer to:

• losses and write-offs – annex 4.10 of Managing public money
• gifts – annex 4.12 of Managing public money
• the Academies trust handbook, previously known as the Academies financial handbook

Details about when the loss or payment occurred (recognition date) should also be provided. If the payment or write-off has not yet occurred as at the balance sheet date, leave the ‘payment date’ cell blank.

Agency arrangements (AA)

If a trust has included a note for agency arrangements (refer to Academies model accounts: note 34) in its annual report and accounts, the AR preparer must answer ‘Yes’ to question 27 in the ‘Overview’ > ‘Questionnaire’ table. The ‘Agency arrangements’ table within ‘Balance sheet other funds and disclosure’ > ‘Other’ will then be available for input.

If there is an opening balance bought forward from the previous year, question 27 will be greyed out and the table will already be available with the prepopulated balances.

The ‘Agency arrangements’ table captures any circumstances where trusts are managing or holding funds on behalf of others, even when the trust has no discretion on how the funds are used.

Under the SORP, trusts are required to disclose such funds in their accounts as a note for agency arrangements. The table in the return is designed to capture the content of this note.

Transfers and conversions

A list of all academies within the trust is prepopulated in the ‘Academy information’ table, where trusts are required to complete the status of each academy. Based on this, the return will create the relevant tables to be completed within the transfers and conversions section of the return.

The ‘Transfers and conversions’ tables aim to capture all assets and liabilities transferred into new academies from their local authorities or elsewhere in more detail. Similar information is captured for existing academies moving between trusts in the relevant sections. For MATs, the return will create a table to be completed for each relevant academy as identified in the academy information page.

Most transferred assets and liabilities are the land and buildings housing the school and the LGPS deficit. The level of disclosures presented in the financial return provides DfE with information to support its disclosures.

The total assets and liabilities transferred are validated against the ‘SoFA’ > ‘Transfers’ table. Tangible and intangible fixed assets and investments transferred are validated against the relevant categories, as are pension scheme surpluses or deficits transferred.

You only need to complete this section for the first accounting period after the academy transfers or the school converts. The balances disclosed should be those immediately after conversion or at transfer and not those as at the period end.

In period transfer in

There are several ways in which an additional school may be transferred into an existing academy trust, including as a:

• constituent academy in a MAT moving to another MAT
• SAT moving to an existing MAT, resulting in the SAT becoming inactive

Where an academy trust has become inactive due to its academies being re-brokered to another academy trust, we would expect both academy trusts to work together to produce the AR and financial statements of the inactive academy trust.

The transferring and receiving academy trusts should both account for the transfer in the same accounting period. Academy trusts should formally agree the same transfer date to apply.

It is important for parliamentary accountability purposes for transfers not to be reported in differing periods by transferring and receiving academy trusts, as this leads to mismatches on consolidation.

Both sides of any transfer of an existing academy are required to present similar disclosures setting out the assets and liabilities transferred. Consequently, it is expected that both academy trusts involved in the academy transfer should formally agree the value of transferred balances.

If there is a mismatch between the net book value being transferred out and the fair value being recognised by the receiving trust, both sides should be clear on what has transferred and why there is a difference. This should be included in the adjustments column in the receiving trust.

Where there are transfers in for the trust, the trust’s opening balances will not reflect this. Any values relating to the transfer in should be reported in the fields labelled ‘transferred in’ within the relevant tables.

In period transfer out

Academy trusts that have transferred out academies should include a summary of the assets and liabilities that have been derecognised, reflecting the assets transfer agreed with the receiving academy trust within this section of the AR.

The transferring and receiving academy trusts should both account for the transfer in the same accounting period. Academy trusts should formally agree the same transfer date to apply.

It is important for parliamentary accountability purposes for transfers not to be reported in differing periods by transferring and receiving academy trusts, as this leads to mismatches on consolidation.

Both sides of any transfer of an existing academy are required to present similar disclosures setting out the assets and liabilities transferred. Consequently, it is expected that both academy trusts involved in the academy transfer should formally agree the value of transferred balances.

Transfers on conversion

An additional school may be acquired by an academy trust through conversion – for example, a maintained school converting to an academy. For any newly converted academies, enter the summarised value of all classes of assets and liabilities transferred on conversion.

Incoming resources and resources expended on conversion to an academy are shown in the SoFA. The SARA will have to provide extensive disclosures covering the entry of new trusts and new academies for existing trusts.

This section will also be used to support the production of a consolidated cash flow statement. The movement of opening to closing balance sheet items used in cash flow statements will need to be adjusted to reflect the ‘new’ assets and liabilities received by the sector through schools converting.

Benchmarking

Additional information is required at academy level so that DfE can publish data that will help academies benchmark their financial performance. Academies can use tools such as the Financial benchmarking and insights tool to do this.

Benchmarking overview

The accounting and disclosure framework underpinning the benchmarking return is not fully aligned with the framework that underpins a trust’s statutory financial statements. The divergence in terminologies and treatments generates differences between the financial return and benchmarking return elements of the AR. Consequently, we do not expect a trust’s retained surplus or deficit for the 2 returns to agree, but a trust should be able to clearly reconcile between the 2 returns.

This guidance is supplementary to the ‘Help’ text in the online form. Both sets of guidance should be referred to when completing the benchmarking tables. You could also refer to the Academies chart of accounts 2024 to 2025 (ACoA) for the ACoA structure and mapping tab, which shows what income and expenditure items should be disclosed under which benchmarking categories.

If the trust is a SAT, most of the data will be prepopulated within the benchmarking section. These figures will be taken from other sections of the AR form. Refer to the Academies chart of accounts 2024 to 2025 document for help with mapping of figures from other sections of the form.

Completion of benchmarking tables

The benchmarking tables require a more focused analysis of staff costs, with different sub-categories to the SoFA. Trusts must ensure that all of their academies’ relative balances are accurately entered into this section of the AR. This data is used as part of the benchmarking publication on the Financial benchmarking and insights tool.

Notably, staff costs allocated as ‘leadership’ in the ‘Staff and trustees’ table within the SoFA should be included as ‘teaching staff’ in the benchmarking tables if the staff member is also a qualified teacher. Other leadership staff are likely to fall within the administrative and clerical support category.

Any pension costs included are limited to employer pension contributions and cash payments made to reduce the pension deficit.

In addition to pension finance costs, all other non-cash items, such as depreciation, are to be excluded from the benchmarking tables. Capital expenditure must not be included in the benchmarking return.

For SATs, most data in the benchmarking tables are prepopulated from the SoFA and balance sheet funds and other disclosures sections. SATs will need to complete the remaining fields that have not been prepopulated.

The tables below set out how we have computed prepopulated benchmarking fields. This includes income, expenditure and closing balances.

SAT benchmarking tables – income

Grant funding

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAI010	DfE revenue grants	(RGRTOT) - (RGR090 + RGR011 + RGR130 + RGR140 +)
BAI011	16 to 19 allocations	RGR011
BAI020	Other DfE group grants (revenue)	View help in AR
BAI030	SEN	ORG010
BAI040	Other income	ORG020 + ORG030
BAI050	Grants for trust activity	RGR090
BAI060	Other grants	ORG040 + ORG050

Other revenue income

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAI070	Government source (non-grant)	INC020 + INC050
BAI080	Academies	INC010
BAI090	Non-government	INC030

Self-generated income

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAI100	Income from rentals and lettings	OTA010
BAI101	Other income from facilities and services	OTA030
BAI110	Income from catering	OTA020 + INC040
BAI120	Receipts from supply-teacher insurance claims	OTA040
BAI130	Other income – revenue	OTA050 + OTA060 + PBITOT

Donations, investments, funds inherited on conversions or transfers, contributions from academies to trust

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAI140	Donations or voluntary funds – revenue	DONS020
BAI150	Investment income	INVTOT
BAI160	Funds inherited on conversions or transfers	View help in AR
BAI170	Contributions from academies to trust	View help in AR

SAT benchmarking tables – expenditure

Staff costs

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAE010	Teaching staff	View help in AR
BAE020	Supply-teaching staff – extra note in guidance	View help in AR
BAE030	Education support staff	View help in AR
BAE040	Administrative and clerical staff	View help in AR
BAE050	Premises staff	View help in AR
BAE060	Catering staff	View help in AR
BAE070	Other staff	View help in AR
BAE080	Indirect employee expenses	CAD020
BAE090	Staff development and training	CAD030 + CAD040 + CAS030
BAE100	Supply-teacher insurance	View help in AR
BAE110	Staff-related insurance	View help in AR

Maintenance of premises and other occupancy costs

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAE120	Maintenance of premises	View help in AR
BAE130	Cleaning and caretaking	CAS090
BAE140	Water and sewerage	View help in AR
BAE150	Energy	CAS130
BAE160	Rent and rates	CAS100 + CAS120
BAE170	Grounds maintenance	View help in AR
BAE180	Other occupation costs	View help in AR
BAE190	Special facilities	CAS080 + PBE020 + PBE030 + PBE050 + PBE060 + PBE100

Educational supplies and services

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAE200	Learning resources (not ICT equipment)	View help in AR
BAE210	ICT learning resources	View help in AR
BAE220	Examination fees	CAD090
BAE230	Educational consultancy	CAD120
BAE240	Agency supply-teaching staff	View help in AR

Other supplies and services and funding costs

Reference	AAR description	Academy-A
BAE250	Catering supplies	View help in AR
BAE260	Auditor costs	CAS270 + CAS280 + CAS290
BAE270	Other insurance premiums	View help in AR
BAE280	Administrative supplies – non-educational	View help in AR
BAE290	Direct revenue financing (revenue contributions to capital)	RFF070-T
BAE300	Professional services – non-curriculum	CAS250 + CAS260 + CAS261
BAE310	Professional services – Other (PFI)	CAS200 + CAS210
BAE320	Interest charges for loan and bank	CAS220 + CAS230 + CAS240

SAT benchmarking tables – closing balances

Reference		Academy-A
BAB010	Total revenue income	BAITOT-A
BAB020	Total revenue expenditure	BAETOT-A
BAB030	Closing balance (restricted and unrestricted funds)	View help in AR

Non-teaching agency costs should be disclosed in the heading they relate to.

For example, a trust may settle an invoice for using the service of a cleaner. In the benchmarking section, this cost would be reported under BAE130 – Cleaning and caretaking (academy) or BTE130 – Cleaning and caretaking (MAT central services).

For grounds maintenance, this cost would be reported under BAE170 – Grounds maintenance (academy) or BTE170 – Grounds maintenance (MAT central services).

For security services, this cost would be reported under BAE180 – Other occupation costs (academy) or BTE180 – Occupation costs (MAT central services).

MAT central services table and academies table

MAT central services table

The income and expenditure for a MAT’s central structures and services should be allocated in this table, except for ‘DfE Revenue grants’ (BTI010) and ‘Other DfE grants (Revenue)’ (BTI020). All DfE grants must be allocated to individual academies in the ‘Academies’ table in the first instance.

Any GAG pooling or contributions from academy allocations towards MAT central costs should be included on the row ‘Contributions from academies to the trust’.

MATs may provide services from their central service across their academies that are often, but not exclusively, funded by a contribution to the centre from each academy’s budget. Details of all central income and expenditure, and any retained reserves, should be recorded on the table for the MAT central services.

If the trust includes its subsidiaries within the consolidated financial statements, the subsidiary values should be included within the benchmarking tables. If the subsidiary is controlled by an individual academy, report the data alongside that academy in the ‘Academies’ table. If not, allocate it to central services.

When producing the benchmarking information, DfE will allocate central service costs across academies based on pupil numbers.

For transfers and conversions transactions outside of the accounting period in which the academy transferred or converted, include the following in the ‘MAT central services’ table:

• pre-opening income and expenditure relating to an academy school that is going to open within the next period
• post-closure income and expenditure relating to an academy school that closed within the previous accounting period

Academies table

The benchmarking guidance above also applies to the ‘Academies’ table. Trusts must report academy income and expenditure at individual academy level.

The names of each academy within the trust are prepopulated within the Academies dashboard section. Select an academy name and complete the table generated for that academy, then repeat this process for each academy within the trust.

Funds inherited on conversion or via transfer from an existing academy (BAI160)

For an academy classed as ‘in period transfer in’ in the Academies table, the value of revenue assets held by a predecessor school should include the:

• value of current investments (TTI060-A)
• stock (TTI070-A)
• total debtors less than 1 year (TTIS14-A)
• debtors more than 1 year (TTI120-A)
• cash at bank and in hand (TTI130-A)
• total creditors less than 1 year (TTIS050-A)
• total creditors more than 1 year (TTIS060-A)

For an academy classed as a ‘newly converted member’, the value of revenue assets held by a predecessor school should include:

• current investments (TNC060)
• stock (TNC070)
• total debtors less than 1 year (TNCS030)
• debtors more than 1 year (TNC120)
• cash at bank and in hand (TNC130)
• total creditors less than 1 year (TNCS050)
• total creditors more than 1 year (TNCS060)

The value for intangible fixed assets, tangible fixed assets, non-current investments (cost/fair value), provisions and pensions should be excluded in both of these scenarios, as capital items should not be disclosed on the benchmarking tab.

Benchmarking totals table

Data input into the ‘MAT central services’ and ‘Academies’ tables is summarised in the ‘Benchmarking totals’ table. Validation errors may be triggered in this table if the values input do not match data provided elsewhere in the AR.

Refer to the validation ‘help’ text and the mapping spreadsheet to help you understand the reason for any validations.

All the totals are prepopulated and cannot be edited. The total can be edited only by changing the cells that make up the total.

If there are any inconsistencies between the data entered in the section with data in any other related sections, validations may be triggered on this totals page. As the totals table sums up the figures from the ‘MAT central services’ and ‘Academies’ tables, you need to make any amendments to clear the validations on either or both tables.

Counterparty

Completion of the counterparty tables is necessary to identify transactions and balances between trusts and to allow DfE to eliminate transactions within the academy sector.

Transactions and balances with other academy trusts should be reported under a single counterparty, which will aggregate the sum of all balances with other academy trusts.

Glossary and further information

This guidance is complementary to other information available to help trusts complete the AR. The additional resources and guidance available are as follows.

AR online form guidance

Most fields within the online AR form have a ‘Help with’ link below the field name to provide specific guidance.

AR workbook

This workbook mirrors the AR online form as far as possible. Trusts may find it useful to complete this workbook prior to completing the online AR, but it cannot be used to submit the AR data. The AR workbook can be found on the Academies accounts return page.

Academies accounts return 2024 to 2025: additional requirements to the financial statements

Outlines the main differences between the financial statements and the AR to help trusts prepare for the returns. It can be found on the Academies accounts return page.

Additional pensions information

A pensions guide and example pension actuarial results schedules are available to help trusts complete the pension sub-section. The additional pension information can be found on the  Academies accounts return page.

Academies chart of accounts

The updated standardised Academies chart of accounts (ACoA) can be found in Academies chart of accounts and automating the accounts return, which provides detailed mapping of income and expenditure into the AR online form fields. Within the Academies chart of accounts 2024 to 2025 document, the tab named ‘ACoA structure and mappings’ provides support to complete the AR.

Academies accounts direction

The Academies accounts direction is used by academy trusts, their auditors and reporting accountants to prepare and audit financial statements for the accounting period ending on 31 August annually.

Academies model accounts

The academies model accounts are based on a fictional academy trust (Coketown Academy Trust). They help academy trusts understand what the accounts should look like.

Framework and guide for external auditors and reporting accountants of academy trusts

The Framework and guide for external auditors and reporting accountants of academy trusts supports external auditors with their obligations to issue an audit opinion as to whether the financial statements present a true and fair view. It may also be of interest to trustees, accounting officers and chief financial officers to help them understand the requirements, roles and responsibilities of external auditors and reporting accountants.

Help with specific queries

Any questions should be submitted via the customer help portal. Provide your trust’s details, an explanation of the issue and an accompanying screenshot, where applicable.

Help with incorrect prepopulated data

If the prepopulated data in the academy trust information or academy information table is incorrect, email academies.SD@education.gov.uk. Include the trust’s unique provider identification number (UPIN) and details of what should be changed.

If you’re getting the ‘Having trouble with this service?’ message

If you’re experiencing technical difficulties with the AR online form, use the link available on the right-hand menu of the index page to report the problem. If we’re already aware of an issue, it will be posted under ‘Known issues’, along with advice on how to proceed. If your issue is not listed, report it via the customer help portal.

Help forums

Once the AR form has launched, scheduled dial-in sessions conducted on Microsoft Teams (register through Eventbrite) and web chat sessions will be available for AR users to ask questions or raise issues direct with a member of the AR team. Registration details are available on the Academies accounts return page.

Privacy notices 

This section explains how DfE uses personal information in academy trust data collections. This includes information you give to us or information that we may collect about you. 

We receive your personal data from the online forms you complete. This is part of the information telling us how your trust budgets and spends its money.

Academy trust data collections provide an online service for trusts to send their financial data to DfE. 

This is a requirement from HM Treasury to account for the spending of public funds. 

You can find out more about how we use your data in: 

• Privacy information: education providers’ workforce, including teachers 

• Privacy information: stakeholders