Council budgets

In this section:
Pay policy and senior management responsibilities
Budget reports
Statement of accounts
Section 251 budget and outturn statement
Tax strategy
Social housing assets

Section 251 budget and outturn statement

Budget and outturn statements published under Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.

Local authorities are required under Section 251 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 (and previously under Section 52 of the Schools Standards and Framework Act 1998) to prepare a budget statement before the beginning of each financial year ie by 31 March. After the end of that financial year they are required to prepare an Outturn statement.

It is a statutory duty that Local Authorities (LA's) must publish and outturn statements as and when prescribed in the administrative direction issued by the Secretary of State for Education.

The budget statement is intended to provide a clear picture of the authorities planned spending by showing:

  • How much the LA's intends to spend on their schools budget, de-delegated items, high needs budget, early years budget, central provision within the schools budget and children's and young people's services.

The outturn statement is intended to:

  • provide schools, parents and others with an interest in education and children services with details about schools and LA funding and expenditure
  • provide data for the Department for Education Annual Report
  • inform policy making 
  • inform the Treasury for monitoring purposes
  • inform Parliament in its role of monitoring the Department's for Education's accountability for public funds.  MPs ask about school and authority expenditure via the mechanisms of Parliamentary Questions or through the Education Select Committee.

Budget statements 

 

Individual school budgets

 

Outturn statements

 

Financing schools scheme

This scheme is binding on both the authority and maintained schools. It aims to set the parameters within which schools can exercise the financial and management freedoms they have experienced in Hillingdon. 

 

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Page last updated: 17 Jul 2025
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