Extra year given to roll out National Funding Formula

Local authorities have been give until 2021 to fully roll out the new national funding formula – a year later than originally stated, to “support a smooth transition”.

This information was included in the EFSA’s document on Schools block funding formulae 2018-19.

The national funding formula officially came into being last September and aims to address historic disparities in funding between local areas. A transition period of two years was put in place where councils could continue to allocate funding based on local formulae.

The intention was that the full national formula would be rolled out from September 2020 but now local authorities will get an extra year to set their own funding.

The document says that many authorities have moved towards the values in the NFF when setting their 2018-19 funding formula. It says that 73 LAs have moved every one of their factor values in their local formulae closer to the NFF, with 41 mirroring the NFF factor values almost exactly.

Sixty two LAs have set their minimum funding guarantee at 0.5% or above, meaning all schools in that area will gain in cash terms compared to 2017-18, and 112 LAs have brought in a minimum per pupil funding factor, mirroring its introduction in the NFF.

The document says “In light of this significant progress in the first year of the NFF, and to continue to support a smooth transition, local authorities will continue to determine local formulae in 2020-21.”