Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding was given to each local authority area to meet the National Funding Formula funding floor in 2021-22.

In the attached spreadsheet the department has provided:

• a local authority breakdown of floor funding through the National Funding Formula (NFF).
• a local authority breakdown of the number of schools attracting floor funding.

It is important to note the differences in floor funding allocated to local authorities and minimum funding guarantee (MFG) funding allocated to schools through local funding formulae.

The NFF does not currently determine individual schools’ funding directly. NFF funding calculated through the floor is given to local authorities as part of their overall Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) allocations. Individual schools’ budgets are determined by local funding formulae, which must include an MFG. The MFG acts, within local formulae, in a similar manner to the funding floor in the NFF. Because schools’ individual budgets are set by reference to the local formula, not the NFF, the number of schools attracting floor funding provided is not the same as the number of schools receiving MFG funding.

The total floor funding allocation figures provided here are the allocations calculated in July 2020. These allocations were used in the calculation of primary units of funding and secondary units of funding for each local authority, which are then multiplied by pupil numbers from the October 2020 census to give local authorities their final, overall DSG allocations published in December 2020.

Published notional school budgets in the NFF for local authority maintained schools are based on the 2020/21 academic year Authority Proforma Tool (APT) data. Published notional NFF school budgets for academies and free schools are based on the 2020/21 academic year General Annual Grant (GAG) data. Published local authority budgets are based on the 2020/21 financial year APT data for all schools, including academies and free schools. The figures used in this response are based on APT data for all schools, and will therefore differ from APT and GAG data which is used in the total spend figures in the 2021/22 financial year NFF policy document published here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs.

Chapter 6 of the 2018/19 academic year schools block national funding formula, available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/647789/Schools_block_national_funding_formula_technical_note.pdf, explains the reason for this use of data.