How the school money figures work

The five statuses

• ▼ In deficit The school's revenue reserve was below zero at the end of its latest full year: over the years it has spent more than it received.
• ↘ Heading for deficit Still above zero, but the school has spent more than it received for at least two years running and, at its average overspend over the last three years, its reserve would run out within about three years.
• ● Tight A reserve under 3% of a year's income: little room for an unexpected cost.
• ✓ Healthy A reserve between 3% of income and the large-reserve level.
• ▲ Large reserves A reserve of 8% of a year's income or more (5% for secondary schools), the levels the DfE once called excessive and many councils still use to claw back surpluses.

What a deficit means

A school deficit isn't a bank loan. It means the school has spent more over the years than it received, so its revenue reserve, the money it carries from year to year, is below zero.

For a council-run school, the council covers the gap from its schools budget. It usually agrees a recovery plan, often called a licensed deficit, with a date by which the school must be back in balance, and can step in if the plan isn't kept.

An academy is part of a trust. A trust can move money between its schools, so one academy in deficit may be propped up by the others. Where the DfE publishes it, an academy's reserve here includes its per-pupil share of the trust's central reserve, and each trust has its own page.

Where the numbers come from

Every school in England reports its income, spending and balances to the Department for Education each year. Council-run schools use the Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) return for April to March; academies use the Academy Accounts Return for September to August. The DfE publishes both in its Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool, and every school page here links to the matching DfE page so you can check the figures.

Figures are shown as published, in cash terms, with the per-pupil figure beside every total using that same year's pupil numbers. Part-year returns (a school that opened, converted or changed trust during the year) are left out of statuses and trends. When a school became an academy, its earlier years come from its council-run return under its old DfE number, linked through Get Information about Schools.

Real terms

Where a figure is shown "in 2025-26 prices" it has been adjusted with the HM Treasury GDP deflator (October 2026 edition), the whole-economy measure the Treasury and the Institute for Fiscal Studies use for public spending. Academy years (September to August) use a month-weighted average of the two financial years they span. It reflects general inflation, not school-specific costs such as teacher pay or energy.

Similar schools

For each school we take the 30 schools of the same phase, in London or outside it to match, that are closest in pupil numbers and in the share of pupils on free school meals. Spending per pupil is compared with the middle half of that group.

Councils' schools budgets

Each council page shows the council's dedicated schools grant (DSG) balance by year from the DfE's published outturn: the cumulative surplus or deficit on the money it receives for schools and high-needs provision, in cash terms. Per-pupil figures divide by the pupils on roll that year at the schools on this site. Councils in the DfE's safety valve or delivering better value programmes have agreed plans to recover large high-needs deficits.

Parents' associations

Where a PTA or friends' charity can be matched to a school in the Charity Commission register, its income is shown. That money is separate from the school's own accounts. A missing PTA usually means it is too small to register or couldn't be matched with confidence.

Corrections

If a figure looks wrong, compare it with the DfE page linked from the school. If the DfE's figure differs from ours, it's our mistake: tell us.

Context

National context, such as what schools spend per pupil and why costs have risen faster than funding, draws on Annual report on education spending in England: 2025–26. Cite as: Farquharson, C., Ogden, K., Ornadel, N., Ridpath, N., Sibieta, L., Snape, D. and Tahir, I. (2026), Annual report on education spending in England: 2025–26, IFS Report, IFS, January 2026, URL https://ifs.org.uk/sites/default/files/2026-01/IFS-annual-report-on-education-spending-in-England-2025%E2%80%9326.pdf.

Sources

• DfE Financial Benchmarking and Insights Tool: CFR and Academy Accounts Return workbooks, 2018-19 onwards
• Get Information about Schools: the school register and academy conversions
• Charity Commission register: parents' associations
• HM Treasury GDP deflators, October 2026
• Outturn return: local authority expenditure on schools, other education and community for financial year 2015 to 2016 to financial year 2025 to 2026 (section 251 outturn), lines 1.8.1 / 1.9.3 'Dedicated Schools Grant carried forward' and 1.7.1 / 1.9.2 'brought forward' (council DSG balances) — Open Government Licence v3.0

Licences

The DfE, Get Information about Schools, Charity Commission and HM Treasury data above are published under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Our derived figures and pages may be reused under the same terms with a link back to School Money. IFS material is quoted with attribution to the IFS and the Nuffield Foundation.