Consultation: Funding academies and local authorities for functions that devolve to academies

What is it all about? Currently, academies receive money to fund extra responsibilities, such as education services and asset management through the Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant (LACSEG).

Under the existing system, the government must wait for each local authority to report how much they plan to spend on relevant services for maintained schools before an equivalent amount of LACSEG funding for academies can be calculated. The government wants to simplify the process by replacing LACSEG and the relevant element of the local authority formula grant, with a single national grant to both academies and local authorities.

What are the main points? From April 2013, the government wants the Department for Education to administer and distribute a grant to local authorities and academies proportionate to the number of pupils for which they are responsible. It claims this will help resolve the issue of double funding that occurs when local authorities continue to receive money for the services and functions that devolve to academies. Under the proposals, an amount of money would be deducted from each local authority’s funding allocation that would equal the amount paid back for all pupils in the local authority area. This money would then be allocated to academies and local authorities proportionate to the number of pupils they each have responsibility for.

The consultation seeks views on how the new grant should be calculated. With the teacher-to-pupil ratio in special schools and alternative provision running at around four to five times higher than in mainstream settings, the consultation asks for views on how much more these settings should receive. The consultation also questions whether deprivation should be taken into account.

Who can have a say? All interested parties, including education staff, local authorities and heads of academies.

When does it close? The consultation will close on 24 September. The 10-week consultation period is less than the normal 12-week period to allow the Department for Education time to calculate the grants for local authorities and academies in advance of the 2013/14 financial year.

When will the results be published? The results and the government’s response will be published on the Department for Education’s consultation website this winter.