Funding per pupil 1999/00 to 2008/09

Per pupil revenue funding figures per pupils for Dorset LEA and England between 1999-00 and 2005-06 are shown in Table 1. These figures are in real terms and are based on financial years.

Table 1: Real Terms Revenue Funding Per Pupil (£) - SSA/ EFS plus grants

Notes for Table 1

1. Price Base: Real terms at 2008-09 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 09.12.09
2. Figures reflect relevant sub-blocks of Standard Spending Assessment / Education Formula Spending (EFS) settlements and exclude the pensions transfer to EFS.
3. Total funding also includes all revenue grants in DfES Departmental Expenditure Limits relevant to pupils aged 3-19 and exclude Education Maintenance Allowances (EMAs) and grants not allocated at LEA level.
4. The pupil numbers used to convert £m figures to £ per pupil are those underlying the SSA/EFS settlement calculations plus PLASC 3 year old maintained pupils and estimated 3-4 year olds funded through state support in maintained and other educational institutions where these are not included in the SSA pupil numbers.
5. Rounding: Figures are rounded to the nearest £10.
6. Status: Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal.

The revenue per pupil figures shown in Table 2 below are taken from the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG). They are not comparable with those for the years 1999-00 to 2005-06 (in Table 1 above) because the introduction of the DSG in 2006-07 fundamentally changed how Local Authorities are funded.

The 1997-98 to 2005-06 figures are based on Education Formula Spending (EFS) which formed the education part of the Local Government Finance Settlement, plus various grants. This was an assessment of what local authorities needed to fund education rather than what they spent. The DSG is based largely on an authority's previous spending. In addition, the DSG has a different coverage to EFS. EFS comprised a schools block and an LEA block (to cover LEA central functions) whereas DSG only covers the school block. LEA block items are still funded through DCLG's Local Government Finance Settlement but education items cannot be separately identified. Consequently, there is a break in the Department's time series as the two sets of data are not comparable.

To provide a comparison for 2008-09 DSG, the Department have isolated the schools block equivalent funding in 2005-06 (the baseline); as described above this does not represent the totality of 'education' funding in that year.

Per pupil revenue funding figures for pupils (ages 3-15) for England, the South West Region, and each Local Authority in the South West of England between 2005-06 and 2008-09 are shown in Table 3. As the DSG is a mechanism for distributing funding, a split between primary and secondary schools is not available. These figures are in real terms and are based on financial years.

Table 2: Real Terms Revenue Funding Per Pupil (£) - DSG plus grants

Notes for Table 2

1. This covers funding through the Dedicated Schools Grant, School Standards Grant, School Standards Grant (Personalisation) and Standards Fund as well as funding from the Learning and Skills Council; it excludes grants which are not allocated at LA level.
2. Price Base: Real terms at 2008-09 prices, based on GDP deflators as at 09.12.09
3. These figures are for all funded pupils aged 3-19
4. Figures have been rounded to the nearest £10
5. Some of the grant allocations have not been finalised. If these do change, the effect on the funding figures is expected to be minimal.

Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families Dec 2009.