In common with other areas of local government, the education service has seen enormous changes over the past two decades and further changes are underway.

April 2006 saw the introduction of a major new ring-fenced grant, the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG), which must be used in support of the Schools Budget. This has had implications for the financing of local authorities.

A major national secondary schools building programme, Building Schools for the Future, is underway,aimed at renewing all secondary schools over a 10-15 year period. The government’s financial support to other capital schemes is also under review.

Meanwhile, implementation of the Children Act 2004 continues apace with local authorities required to make arrangements through which key agencies co-operate to improve the well-being of children and young people. Structural changes are in train as local authorities tackle the integration of children’s services.

At school level, the stability measures introduced in 2004, most notably the minimum funding guarantee, have been continued.

This new fully revised and updated guide explains the development and evolution of the DSG alongside other changes to the funding arrangements. It also provides an insight into the changes that are due to be implemented for the 2008-11 period.

Education finance remains complex and necessarily so given that, in England, it deals with the flow of over £30 billion revenue to 150 local education authorities and nearly 24,000 schools. This guide will unravel these complexities for you.

The 2007 edition of the guide is being released as a handy wirobound book and also as a fully searchable CD-ROM. This new CD-ROM format will provide purchasing LEAs with a much more flexible and accessible product which will enable it to roll out the new guide to all of its schools where suitable digital pathways are in place. Each CD-ROM also contains a bookmarked pdf of the printed document for easy reference.

Download the Contents: Word | PDF

Download the Foreword: Word | PDF

An Introductory Guide to Education Finance is priced at £54.50 each for a single copy of the book, with a range of discounts for multiple purchases as follows:

2-10 copies: £44.50 each
11-30 copies: £39.50 each
31+ copies: £34.50 each

The CD-ROM is priced at £245.00 (+VAT) = £287.88
This CD-ROM price includes a licence giving the purchasing LEA copyright waiver so the information contained on the CD-ROM can be shared with all its bona fide employees, elected members, schools’ personnel and governors. Details of licensing arrangements for other categories of purchaser are available from CIPFA’s Publications Department.