Guidance

Section 251: 2020 to 2021

Information for local authorities, schools and the general public about local authority education funding and expenditure plans for 2020 to 2021.

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published
26 February 2020
Last updated
16 December 2021 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

This has been withdrawn as it is out of date.

Find the latest section 251 documents.

Applies to England

Introduction

Section 251 is part of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.

Local authorities submit statements on planned and actual expenditure on education and children’s social care.

The Department for Education uses the data for publishing statistics, constructing benchmarking tables, answering parliamentary questions and responding to other data requests.

Comparing information is important for schools forums and others in discussions about budget levels and use of funds.

Budget guidance

Local authorities do not need to submit a section 251 budget statement for 2020 to 2021.

This is to help reduce the burden on educational and care settings so you can focus on the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19). You can view the full list of data collection changes for the remainder of the academic year.

Read the section 251 budget guide for local authorities 2020 to 2021 (PDF, 1.03 MB, 69 pages) to find out how local authorities record their budget statements.

The administrative direction (PDF, 139 KB, 2 pages) is a formal request for the collection of section 251 data. It’s prepared on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.

Section 251 outturn

Read section 251 guidance for local authorities compiling their 2020 to 2021 outturn statement (PDF, 538 KB, 57 pages) to find out how to complete the outturn statement.

Use the S251 outturn XML generator (679 KB) to provide details of actual expenditure for your schools. Please note, this file may not be suitable for users of assistive technology. If you require this in a different format, please email ESFA.GOVUK-ENQUIRIES@education.gov.uk.

The 2020 to 2021 S251 outturn administrative direction (MS Word Document, 61.9 KB) is the formal request prepared on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education.

Outturn data

The section 251 outturn statements provide information about local authorities’ expenditure on education and children’s services.

The outturn data is published on Explore education statistics, the Department for Education’s official statistics dissemination platform.

You can download all the underlying data used in the publication in the ‘Explore data and files’ section, by selecting ‘Download all files’.

You can download individual files by selecting ‘Browse data files’.

Updates to this page

Published 26 February 2020
Last updated 16 December 2021 + show all updates

  1. Updated to include 'Outturn data' section.

  2. Page updated to include guidance, administrative direction and XML generator for local authorities compiling their 2020 to 2021 outturn statement

  3. We have updated the section on budget guidance. LAs do not now need to submit a budget statement for 2020 to 2021, due to coronavirus (COVID-19)

  4. First published.

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