The Latest ESFA Update

The recent ESFA update has provided plenty of information concerning the 2020/21 academic year.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, there have been many an update concerning deadline and funding changes, and this continues in the first update since the break-up of schools for the summer holidays. Some of the key talking points in this bulletin include:

Academies Planning Calendar Released

A planner showing key dates for payments, publications and academy actions, for the 2020 to 2021 academic year. Some of the key dates include:

• 2020 BFR3Y deadline 29^th September 2020 - please note we can support with this
• Audited financial statements submitted from 15^th October 2020
• Spring school census January 2021
• BFRO deadline May 2021
• BFR3Y deadline July 2021

School funding arrangements 2021/22

Provisional funding allocations for 2021/22 confirmed. The allocations distribute the second year of the multi-billion school funding settlement that the Secretary of State for Education announced to Parliament on 3 September 2019. Core school funding is increasing by £2.6bn in 2020/21, and will increase by £4.8bn and £7.1bn in 2021/22 and 2022/23 respectively, compared to 2019/20. In addition, the recent increase in pension costs for teachers, worth £1.5bn a year will continue. The aim of this information is to provide certainty of future funding to schools and local authorities. Schools can also apply for exceptional funding to cover specific unavoidable costs incurred by schools due to coronavirus (COVID-19) between March and July that cannot be met from existing resources. Schools will also benefit from the £1bn ‘catch-up’ package for the 2020/21 academic year to directly tackle the impact of the disruption that COVID-19 has caused.

Dedicated schools grant 2020/21

The grant is paid in support of the local authority’s schools budget. It is the main source of income for the school’s budget with 25 payments being made throughout the year. The latest updates reflect the change in dates for the payments as well as the conditions of the grant. If you have any questions, please contact the service desk on 0345 222 1551 • Option 2, or email financeservicedesk@schoolbusinessservices.co.uk.

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