Policy paper

National funding formula for schools and high needs

Details of the funding system for schools and high needs.

From:
Department for Education
Published
14 September 2017
Last updated
13 October 2023 — See all updates
This was published under the 2016 to 2019 May Conservative government

Applies to England

Documents

National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2024 to 2025

PDF, 979 KB, 54 pages

National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2023 to 2024

PDF, 605 KB, 45 pages

National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2022 to 2023

PDF, 901 KB, 40 pages

National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2021 to 2022

Ref: DfE-00127-2020

PDF, 417 KB, 23 pages

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National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2020 to 2021

Ref: DfE-00193-2019

PDF, 473 KB, 22 pages

National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2019 to 2020

PDF, 207 KB, 19 pages

National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2018 to 2019

Ref: DFE-00259-2017

PDF, 715 KB, 51 pages

National funding formula for schools and high needs: executive summary

Ref: DFE-00257-2017

PDF, 421 KB, 16 pages

Details

These policy documents set out the details of the national funding formulae (NFF) for schools, high needs and the central school services block. They explain how funding is distributed through the formulae, including annual changes made since the NFF was first introduced in 2018 to 2019.

The NFF is the way the government decides how much core funding to allocate for mainstream state-funded schools in England. You can view NFF allocations. The NFF schools operational guide helps local authorities and their schools forums plan their implementation of the funding system for the 2024 to 2025 financial year.

High needs funding is funding for children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) who need extra support at school or college or in alternative provision settings. The high needs operational guide describes how the 2024 to 2025 financial and academic year high needs system will operate for all types of educational provision.

The central school services block is funding that local authorities use to provide services for all schools.

The NFF tables for schools and high needs are available for:

The 2024 to 2025 tables, and the NFF policy document for 2024 to 2025, have been updated to correct a technical error in the original calculation.

Susan Acland-Hood, DfE Permanent Secretary wrote to the Chair of the Education Select Committee on 6 October 2023 to outline the technical error and the actions taken.

Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools wrote to unions on 13 October regarding the republication.

Updates to this page

Published 14 September 2017
Last updated 13 October 2023 + show all updates

  1. Added link to a letter from Nick Gibb, Minister of State for Schools, to unions.

  2. Replaced 'National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2024 to 2025' published in July 2023, with an updated version.

  3. Added 'National funding formulae for schools and high needs: 2024 to 2025'.

  4. Added 'National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2023 to 2024' and a link to the national funding formula tables for schools and high needs for 2023 to 2024.

  5. We have added the document 'National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2022 to 2023'.

  6. Added 'National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2021 to 2022'.

  7. Added link to national funding formula service.

  8. Added 'National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2020 to 2021'.

  9. Added 'National funding formula for schools and high needs: 2019 to 2020'. Added '2018 to 2019' to older document. Removed April 2018 date from details section and added reference to new 2019 to 2020 document.

  10. First published.

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