Local authority section 151 officer grant return certificate
Information about the grant return certificate for pre-16 and post-16 funding for the 2022 to 2023 financial year for local authority section 151 officers.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Purpose of the grant return certificate
The purpose of the grant return certificate is for the local authority section 151 officer (S151), usually know as the chief financial officer (CFO) to provide assurances to ESFA and the Department for Education that the funds for pre-16 and post-16 (non-dedicated schools grant) have been used for the intended purposes, in line with the terms and conditions of the conditions of grants and the funding rules, and that the S151 officer is not aware of any errors, exceptions or fraud for the financial year 2022 to 2023.
In previous years, the S151/CFO returns was a manual process where you were asked to complete a number of different Microsoft Word and Excel documents and return them to ESFA via email to a central mailbox or upload your returns to the Document Exchange.
For the 2022 to 2023 financial year, we are collecting this information digitally.
Where grants are for an academic year and therefore span 2 financial years, assurance is being sought for the 2022 to 2023 financial year funding only.
A further follow-up assurance statement will be required covering the remaining 2022 to 2023 academic year in the 2023 to 2024 financial year return.
What you must report
You must report against each of the funding lines as per the schedule below (if applicable).
Pre-16
- pupil premium grant
- universal infant free school meals grant
- teachers’ pay grant
- teachers’ pension employer contribution grant
- schools supplementary grant
- alternative provision: year 11 transition funding
- school improvement monitoring and brokering grant
- senior mental health lead training grant
- cadet expansion school staff instructor grant
- PE and sport premium grant (academic year 2021 to 2022 and 2022 to 2023)
- school-led tutoring (academic year 2021 to 2022)
- national tutoring programme (academic year 2022 to 2023)
- coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery premium funding
- coronavirus (COVID-19) workforce fund
- early career framework – NQT+1 time off timetable grant
- early career framework – mentor time off grant
- early career framework – early roll-out grant
- homes for Ukraine education and childcare grant
- Afghanistan resettlement education grant
Post-16 grants
- adult education budget (AEB) including Level 3 free course for jobs (FCFJ)
- vulnerable bursary
- apprenticeships
- core Funding (16 to 19)
- high needs
- teachers’ pension employer contribution grant
- teachers’ pay grant
The deadline for submitting all funding forms and your S151 and CFO certificate for the 2022 to 2023 financial year is 5pm on 19 May 2023.
Further information
For more information and instructions on completing your return, read the section 151 officer return: guidance for completing the digital form.
If there are any queries about your return, please complete the ESFA enquiry form and we will investigate. You can still proceed with your submission.