As we approach April 1st, Jo Spencer, Head of Schools’ Choice, and Anna Cooksey, Deputy Head of Schools’ Choice, recap this year’s detailed budget planning cycle highlights.
What has been the most challenging part of budget setting this year?
There has been a significant deficit this year, with some schools facing deficits overall. This has meant that schools need to utilise their reserves fully.
With NI increases significantly impacting schools, schools are considering realigning staffing structures and class sizes to accommodate budget constraints.
The DfE has released an NI calculator to calculate grant funding for 2025/26. When working this through, some schools have gained, and some have lost (as this is based on pupils, free school meals, and lump sum). Therefore, those schools with a profile of high staff headcount, low pupil numbers, and low free school meals are less likely to be fully funded than other schools.
Budget approvals continue with governor meetings to ensure an approved operating budget before 1st April. Our teams are very busy attending all of these budget meetings on or before 31st March.
We were pleased to see the budget briefings we held this year were well attended, and our support to schools during this tricky time was highly valued.
In light of the significant challenges ahead, we are planning further budget review sessions during the year to support schools with best practices and solution-focused approaches to budget balancing.
What about 2026/27? Is the DfE planning to fund the NI increase beyond this next year?
The funding for mainstream primary, secondary and all-through schools will be incorporated into core budget allocations for 2026 to 2027, by being rolled into the schools block of the schools national funding formula (NFF) for 2026 to 2027.
