Consistent
Financial
Reporting
00175-2007DOM-EN

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School Finance Pack 1
Framework guide
Version One
November 2001
(Printed)
Version Two
June 2002
(Internet download)
Version Three
November 2002
(Printed)
Version Four
November 2003
(Internet download and limited print)
Version Five
February 2007
(Internet download and limited print)
February 2007
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School Finance Pack 3
Contents
Section A – Introduction
1. DfES overview of Consistent Financial Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Benefits of Consistent Financial Reporting For Schools:
2.1 CFR Users:
i how headteachers and teaching staff can use CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
ii how bursars, finance and administrative staff can use CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
iii how governors can use CFR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
iv how school improvement partners can use CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2 CFR Uses:
i benchmarking. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
ii informing budgets/monitoring/medium term planning/school 
development plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
iii reporting to governors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
iv school profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3. Benefits of Consistent Financial Reporting For Local Authorities
i how schools’ financial advisors can use CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
ii how department finance staff can use CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
iii how school improvement partners can use CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
4. How Ofsted can use Consistent Financial Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
5. How the Audit Commission can use Consistent Financial Reporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
6. The Consistent Financial Reporting Framework . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
7. Annex A: Example Use of CFR. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Section B – Framework Section
1. Submitting the Consistent Financial Reporting return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2. Timetable for submitting the Consistent Financial Reporting Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3. Ways to submit the Consistent Financial Reporting return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4. Support to complete the Consistent Financial Return . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Continued
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5. Framework Table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
5.1 Income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
5.2 Expenditure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.3 Capital income . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
5.4 Capital expenditure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.5 Balances . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
6. Annex A: Use of delegated budgets to support extended school 
activities and implications for CFR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Section C – Useful Information
1. Standards Fund Contact List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
2. Useful publications and websites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
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Section A – Introduction
1.
DfES overview of Consistent Financial Reporting
The DfES is keen to streamline administration for schools, collecting only essential data,
automating data collection, and improving the value of information for schools.
The introduction of this framework has provided a national picture of how schools spend
their budgets. This contributes to a much greater understanding of what works in
education. Good quality information is important for providing a benchmarking facility to
help with the financial running of schools. Many schools already have good internal
management systems in place, but to maximise the benefits for all schools through
national benchmarking, some standardisation is essential.
A Consistent Financial Reporting (CFR) return is required for all schools maintained by
Local Authorities (LAs) at the end of each financial year.  
The return records the level of income, expenditure and balances (surpluses/deficits) that
have occurred during that financial year. CFR is a framework of income and expenditure
headings and balances (surpluses/deficits) which, as a financial management tool
showing financial data (not the school’s accounting record), enables comparison
spending and consumption patterns of services, giving schools the tools to promote self-
management and value for money.
Enabling schools to benchmark expenditure is one of the main aims of CFR. There are
over 20,000 school records available for comparisons on the benchmarking website. This
will cover all types of LA maintained schools: primary, secondary, middle and special
schools (for nurseries and Pupil Referral Units completing a CFR return is optional).
Additionally, encouraging the use of the CFR return by all users ensures that the
outcomes of the task (budget planning, forecasting, benchmarking, etc) are informed by
the same baseline financial data.
2.
Benefits of Consistent Financial Reporting for Schools
Schools have developed many strategies to evaluate their effectiveness in recent years.
CFR provides schools with detailed data and allows greater opportunities to compare and
contrast financial decisions in relation to similar schools. It also provides schools with the
opportunity to analyse specific areas of finance over time to help evaluate the direct
impact on pupils’ learning. CFR also reduces the number of demands made on schools to
provide data and information.
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2.1
CFR Users
i
how headteachers and teaching staff can use CFR
➣ As a means to measure performance within departments or curriculum
areas.
For example:
as a ready made in-year total income and expenditure report the CFR return can be
used to calculate the spend of each cost centre as a proportion of total school spend,
on a cost per pupil basis if required. This gives the school a means of measuring
performance by highlighting the departments and curriculum areas that are
performing well and aspiring to achieve value for money and those areas that need to
improve.
The information can also be used as a management tool in assessing the impact on
curriculum areas of rising or falling pupil numbers allowing informed decisions to be
made on the allocation of resources, including staffing structures, and the effect of
changes on the school development and improvement plan, and, used in conjunction
with timetable data the unit cost per lesson and average class cost for key stages.
A worked example can be found in Annex A at the end of this Section.
➣ To compare and contrast the school’s income and expenditure to that
of similar schools.
The CFR data the school has submitted is pre-loaded onto the benchmarking website
(www.teachernet.gov.uk/schoolfinance). Comparable schools can be selected by
choosing a combination of comparison criteria. The website produces a series of
charts showing expenditure per pupil for the schools that match your criteria.
Access to benchmarked data helps school managers to make better informed
decisions for budgets, forecasting and contingency planning, improving overall
efficiency and school outcomes year on year.
➣ As a tool for meeting the FMSiS.
Section 3.2 of the FMSiS (www.fmsis.info) requires that governors and staff have
compared the school’s financial performance with that of similar schools, examined
reasons for differences and taken action where necessary. In addition, section 5.3
requires that the school complies with Consistent Financial Reporting requirements
on a timely basis.
ii how bursars, finance and administrative staff can use CFR
➣ To increase predictability of budgets and improve planning.
As ‘clean’ single year financial data (ie there are no balances rolled forward from
previous years in the income and expenditure headings) the CFR return can be used
to assess trends in income and expenditure to inform budget plans and multi-year
budgets.
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School Finance Pack 7
➣ Compare and contrast the school’s expenditure for contracted services
to that of similar schools.
Use of the benchmarking website (detailed under the second point of paragraph 2.1.i
above) will enable schools to ensure that contracts, particularly for long term contract
reviews, are still offering value for money and question whether there may be
options/suppliers which could provide the same service at a lower cost or a better
service for the same cost.
iii how governors can use CFR
➣ As provision of accurate management information.
The CFR return can indicate if the school is on target with initiatives set out in the
school development and improvement plan, assisting in identifying headings that
may require more detailed information from the school’s own management
information systems and those that may require adjustment.
➣ To assist in demonstrating best value to parents and to ensure that
resources are used effectively.
Use of information provided from the benchmarking website (detailed under the
second point of paragraph 2.1.i above) allows for comparisons to be made with
similar schools in the same local community which may prompt working in
partnership with other schools (for example to achieve Extended School status).
➣ As a tool for meeting the FMSiS
See Section 2.1.i ‘how headteachers and teaching staff can use CFR’ third paragraph.
iv how school improvement partners can use CFR
➣ As part of the school improvement partner’s (SIPs) own pack of data.
Use of information provided from the benchmarking website (detailed under the
second point of paragraph 2.1.i above) for value for money comparisons forms part of
the common core (inputs > focus > outputs) for (SIPs) exchange with the school’s
leadership.
2.2
CFR Uses
i
benchmarking
➣ Comparing and contrasting cost centre and/or curriculum areas using
overall income and expenditure CFR headings and detailed school
records (cross reference 2.1.i)
➣ The benchmarking website can be accessed at 
(www.teachernet.gov.uk/schoolfinance).
The ability to compare and contrast schools’ financial data should assist in focusing on
the aspiration to achieve value for money throughout the whole of the school and to
the benefit of everyone involved in the school community. 
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ii informing budgets /monitoring/medium term planning/school
development plan
➣ Comparing budget and actual expenditure and income.
Schools setting their budgets based on the CFR framework, with more detailed
breakdown of headings available through the school’s financial management system,
can easily identify where budget allocations were realistic and headings that may
need further detailed investigation and adjustment.
➣ Monitoring and reporting of expenditure and income.
Using the CFR framework for budget setting and as baseline financial data, using the
framework for subsequent monitoring and reporting would contribute to well
informed, consistent, resource review.
➣ Medium term planning
The CFR return can facilitate comparison of year on year data, highlight trends on
income and expenditure, and identify if schools are managing balances
(surpluses/deficits).
➣ School Development Plan
The CFR framework can complement the school development plan by providing the
financial data to ensure income and/or expenditure is being captured to reflect the
changes happening in school.
iii reporting to governors
➣ Raising the standards of pupil achievement and planning the school’s
future direction.
Using the CFR framework to report to governors and finance committee (if
constituted) provides them with baseline financial data which can be built upon to
assist in meeting school responsibilities to parents and the wider community. 
iv school profile
➣ Indications of school’s progress, priorities and performance to parents
and the wider community.
Including a copy of the CFR return in the school profile will assist in giving parents a
general overview of how the school’s using its resources to improve standards.
3.
Benefits of Consistent Financial Reporting for Local  Authorities
i
how schools’ financial advisors can use CFR
➣ Preparing individual schools’ budgets.
Using the CFR return can support financial advisers in identifying trends and patterns
of income and expenditure, to aid decision making on the best use of resources, when
setting individual budgets in conjunction with school staff.
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➣ Local benchmarking – internally. 
Many local authorities use the CFR data to encourage schools to compare and
contrast income and expenditure within the authority, where schools will be funded
on the same basis. Furthermore, benchmarking clubs have been established where
schools staff meet to discuss the differences and discover how they might change
their spending profile in order to improve standards.
➣ Local benchmarking – externally.
School CFR data is pre-loaded onto the benchmarking website
(www.teachernet.gov.uk/schoolfinance). Comparable schools can be selected by
choosing a combination of comparison criteria. The website produces a series of
charts showing expenditure per pupil for the schools that match your criteria. This
information can assist in advising individual schools of best practice examples, may
prompt partnership working, and, ultimately, contribute to schools demonstrating
value for money. 
ii how department finance staff can use CFR
➣ Balances
The CFR return clearly identifies the in-year surplus/deficit position of schools. This
data can be used to inform the LA that schools are managing balances correctly.
➣ National benchmarking
Some LAs have been providing local benchmarking information for a number of years.
CFR allows national benchmarking, enabling LAs to compare not only schools within
their boundaries, but also in neighbouring areas. 
Benchmarking can include comparison of data such as:
❖ School context information, including staffing ratios and general information about
class sizes and school sizes and the nature of school populations.
❖ Financial information, from overall costs to per pupil costs.
❖ Pupil assessment information.
The comparative data can be used by LAs to take appropriate action if a school does not
appear as effective as neighbouring schools. 
iii how school improvement partners can use CFR
➣ Assessing the capacity of a school to improve
The CFR return can assist in identifying that a school may have significant budget
problems, which, after appropriate action has been taken with the headteacher and
governors, the SIP may need to alert the LA. The benchmarking data can also give an
indication on the school’s capability to improve when compared and contrasted to
other schools locally or nationally. (Cross reference 2.1.iv)
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4.
How Ofsted can use Consistent Financial Reporting
In the inspection of schools Ofsted needs to evaluate how well all resources made
available to schools, including balances from previous years, are used for the benefit of
the pupils. Consistent Financial Reporting provides inspectors and schools with clear data
about finance, and allows comparisons with similar schools. 
The CFR benchmarking facility can enable inspectors to analyse patterns of expenditure
more closely and assist them in determining whether all resources are used effectively.
Consistent Financial Reporting will allow inspectors to look carefully at the impact of
financial decisions and determine how effectively resources are used. It can also improve
the flow of information prior to an inspection.
5.
How the Audit Commission can use Consistent Financial Reporting
The Audit Commission assists school managers achieve value for money, promotes the
accountability of school managers for their spending decisions, and seeks to ensure that
there are sound audit controls over the way that money is used. Consistent Financial
Reporting can also promote the accountability of head teachers and governors. It will do
this by ensuring that all schools have a readily comparable analysis of their spending
decisions, at a time when the amount of public money delegated to schools is rising, and
an increasing number are managing their finances independently of the LA. Consistent
Financial Reporting will also provide both internal and external auditors with information
to enable them to assess the risk of public money being misused.
6.
The Consistent Financial Reporting framework
The framework includes income and expenditure headings that are useful for
benchmarking; including categories that enable Schools and LAs to fulfil the needs of
statutory returns. We will collect financial data only on the categories in the framework.
Financial information beyond the framework
The framework is designed to report the minimum. We recognise, however, that schools
may want a more detailed breakdown of financial activity. This will apply especially to
large secondary schools, which may be interested in cost centre analysis, e.g. comparative
spending by the Geography, English and Physics Departments. Schools can have much
more detailed financial breakdowns. We would recommend that these are mapped to the
relevant heading in the framework. There are also areas that the framework does not
cover but on which you will need to continue to keep accurate records including:
➣ more detailed opening and closing balances on balance sheet items, including bank
accounts, to enable reconciliation to the Authority’s accounts;
➣ details of pay costs, including National Insurance, Superannuation etc. which is
summarised for the CFR headings, but needs to be identified separately for tax and
pensions purposes;
➣ amounts of Value Added Tax and other tax related matters that need to be reported
on.
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Your LA may ask for information that is not readily available from the CFR headings. They
may need the information to fulfil their duties and comply with Authority standing orders
and statutory reporting requirements.
Income and Expenditure Totals
We have aimed for the figures in the framework to be gross totals to enable full
benchmarking and comparison of income and expenditure fields. All incoming funds
should be included as income and all outgoing funds recorded as expenditure.
VAT
The CFR return you submit to the Local Authority should be exclusive of VAT.
Pay and non-pay
We have made an important distinction between pay and non-pay expenditure in the
framework. If a cost to the school arises from the direct employment of a person, these
costs must be recorded separately. This relates to direct employment, not labour received
as part of a wider service contract. This is important because national statistics on
unemployment and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) require identification of expenditure
on public sector employees. Reference to direct employment by the School should be
taken to refer to any staff employed directly by the LA or School, (depending on the
status of the school). All employees’ related pay costs are identified under CFR headings
E01 to E07.
Administration and Curriculum
We have distinguished between administration and curriculum costs to identify the costs
associated with the running of the school. This can be an important area to benchmark to
identify whether a school’s administrative support is similar to that of other schools, and,
in the longer term, whether such differences have any effect on performance. However,
we do not expect school staff to expend a lot of effort in breaking down small expense
items such as a photocopying job into administrative and curriculum elements. Rough
apportionments should suffice for material amounts; allocations to just one heading will
suffice for small amounts. Schools should exercise judgement on items such as these,
taking account of the relative costs and benefits.
Private Finance Initiative (PFI) Contracts
Private Finance Initiative contracts involve public sector organisations buying asset-based
services from the private sector and paying for them over the long term.
The LA pays a Unitary Charge to the contractor which is related to the amounts the
contractor needs to recover its capital deployed on creating the underlying asset and on
the cost of providing the associated services provided under the contract (services
generally relating to the operation and management of the school facilities – such as
maintenance, cleaning and provision of school meals). The LA pays the Unitary Charge
partly from a grant received from Central Government. The LA usually enters into an
associated agreement with the governing body of the school – a direct agreement which
requires the school to pay the LA an amount from its delegated budget to cover part of
the Unitary Charge. 
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Only the Unitary Charge relating to the maintenance elements should be shown in CFR
not the capital elements.
For benchmarking purposes, and to provide consistent data to enable other returns such
as Section 52 to be completed, it is important to distinguish the various components
within a contract and to allocate them to the specific service heading e.g. catering, other
occupation costs. Any management fee for administering the contract should be
recorded under ‘bought in professional services – other’.
The process in one LA has been:
➣ Initial charges were agreed with the contractor and individual schools in 2002.
➣ Year on year increases are based on RPI (2.4%) except where otherwise notified (eg
energy and insurance increases were 29% and 5% respectively for 2006-07)
➣ Schools are sent an invoice with an attached schedule which breaks down the charge
into CFR categories it should be charged to and the general ledger code against which
to record the PFI expenses.
Example of PFI Unitary Charge Schedule
Service
CFR
Expenditure
Unit
Units (Area/
Annual
Heading
Code
Charge £
Pupils)
Payment £
Building Maintenance
E12
22014
4.20
640
2,688.00
Grounds Maintenance
E13
22100
0.50
5410
2,705.00
Water
E15
24201
1.10
640
704.00
Energy
E16
23004
4.05
640
2,592.00
ICT – Curriculum (80%)
E20
30408
3.95
90
355.50
FFE – Admin (20%)
E22
29100
1.00
90
90.00
Telephone Rental
E22
30311
2.35
90
211.50
School Meals Contract Management
E25
29258
1,250.00
1
1,250.00
Insurance
E23
25402
2,980.00
1
2,980.00
Bought in professional services – other
E28
2810
12,375.00
1
12,375.00
Total
25,951.00
The Unitary Charge may be paid monthly, quarterly or annually, subject to the terms of
the contract.
In some cases, LAs have told us that the PFI contract is handled centrally and no details of
an individual school’s payments and services are available. Where this is the case, the LA
will keep all the accounts. Schools in this position would find it difficult to benchmark
these areas, we are, therefore, adding a PFI indicator to the comparison criteria of the
Benchmarking website to ensure that PFI/non-PFI schools are comparing like with like. 
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Capital
We make reference to the ‘de minimis’ level in some of the expenditure headings, as we
realise that schools and LAs have different levels for capitalising expenditure. When
schools submit CFR returns, we will ask them to identify their de minimis level so that it
can be entered as context data on the website for information to enhance benchmarking.
7.
Annex A: An example use of CFR
It is important to recognise that this example can only be in the context of the highest
level of analysis and is meant as an indicative starting point offering general guidance
and direction to enable users of CFR to undertake the further detailed analysis and build
in their own specific factors. 
Scenario:
A school’s Key Stage 3 results shows the percentage of pupils eligible for KS3 tests who
achieved or exceeded level 5 was above the local authority schools’ average for English
and Music and slightly below the local authority schools’ average for Mathematics.
The School Development Plan includes improvement for KS3 Mathematics performance
achievement whilst retaining above average performance in English.
The school undertakes an analysis of the CFR return to compare spend per pupil on KS3
English and Mathematics, compare budgets and resource allocation on key curriculum
headings. This type of analysis may highlight differences in budget and resource
allocation which can be legitimate, for example, the resource allocation for Science may
be higher than the spend per pupil analysis indicates, however, this is due to equipment
and materials needed to fulfil the curriculum. 
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£’s
48
-528
Variance
£’s
Budget
Maths
47,000 
1,000
£’s
0
0
472
260
232
370
132
536
116
119
693
Maths*
4,683
2,276
3,882
1,691
1,190
1,654
CFR Spend
KS3 pupils
47,048
£’s
-528
Variance
-1952
£’s
Budget
English
49,000
1,000
£’s
0
0
472
4,683
2,276
3,882
260
232
370
132
1,691
536
116
119
1,190
1,654
693
CFR Spend
KS3 pupils
English*
47,048
0.56
5.53
2.69
4.59
0.00
0.31
0.27
0.44
0.00
0.16
2.00
0.63
0.14
0.14
1.41
1.95
0.82
% spend
55.59
of budget
£’s
31
0
17
15
25
0
9
36
8
8
79
46
Spend
3,137
231
152
259
113
110
per pupils
£’s
0
0
15,730
75,874
8,651
7,745
12,331
4,406
56,357
3,859
3,969
39,681
55,130
23,101
CFR Return
1,568,266
156,086
129,398
Heading
Teaching staff
Supply teaching staff
Education support staff
Premises staff
Administrative & clerical 
staff
Catering staff
Cost of other staff
Indirect employee expenses
Development and training 
Supply teacher insurance
Staff related insurance
Building maintenance & 
improvement
Grounds maintenance & 
improvement 17,851
Cleaning and caretaking
Water & sewerage
Energy
Rates
Other occupation costs
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School Finance Pack 15
£’s
-412
Variance
1,088
-1,020
£’s
Budget
Maths
5,000
3,700
56,700
£’s
0
0
0
0
182
276
611
211
Maths*
6,088
2,680
1,680
3,363
1,351
2,837
CFR Spend
KS3 pupils
84,631
£’s
-320
Variance
-1412
4,212
£’s
Budget
English
7,500
3,000
29,4000
£’s
0
0
0
0
6,088
2,680
1,680
182
276
3,363
611
1,351
211
2,837
CFR Spend
KS3 pupils
English*
84,631
7.19
3.17
1.99
0.21
0.33
0.00
3.97
0.72
1.60
0.25
0.00
3.35
0.00
0.00
% spend
of budget
100.00
£’s
12
0
41
90
14
0
0
0
Spend
406
179
112
118
224
189
5642
per pupils
£’s
0
0
0
0
89,339
56,000
6,051
9,198
20,363
45,026
7,045
94,560
CFR Return
202,948
112,085
2,821,049
Heading
Learning resources 
(not ICT equipment)
ICT learning resources
Exam Fees
Administrative supply
Other insurance premiums
Special facilities
Catering supplies
Agency supply teaching staff
Bought in professional  
services– curriculum
Bought in professional 
services – other
Loan Interest
Direct Revenue Financing 
(Revenue contributions to 
capital)
Community focussed 
extended school staff
Community focussed 
extended school costs
Total expenditure
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16 School Finance Pack
Notes to spreadsheet:
Spend per pupil based on school roll of 500.
*Based on Year 9 pupils only (ie usually14 year olds) – 90 pupils.
(The school may make the decision to use a different key stage factor cost, for instance, all
pupils in KS3 (11-14 year olds).
There is an assumption built into this example that the budgets set for English and
Mathematics will be similar as they are core curriculum subjects undertaken by all pupils
and this is reflected in the figures used. Of course, the template should be populated with
actual data that is available at school level.
The school may take the decision to put the total variances on both budgets (£4,624) into
the Mathematics budget as an additional resource to improve KS3 performance and may,
for example, increase the budget available for ICT learning resources in this curriculum
area. 
If the performance achievement for KS3 Mathematics improves then it could be
demonstrated that the increased resource in the ICT provision has been effectual. Schools
will, however, need to make adjustments to the comparative data if there have been
increased resources from other sources that have affected the data (for example if specific
funding in a particular year is offsetting an increase in expenditure).
If the performance achievement for KS3 Mathematics does not improve this may illustrate
that value for money is being achieved and there is quality ICT provision in Mathematics
and there needs to be a different strategy to address the under achievement. 
If the school uses the above template to help in measuring performance for other
curriculum areas in KS3 the pupil numbers would need to be identified as a percentage of
the total Key Stage 3 pupil numbers, the conversion to cost of KS3 pupil in that
curriculum area would then give comparison costs of the two curriculum areas (see
below).
KS3 English pupils: 90
KS3 Music pupils: 30 (ie Comparative Cost KS3 pupils for Music = 33% of KS3 English) 
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School Finance Pack 17
£’s
-844
-116
-979
Variance
3,526
1,009
-4,554
 for example,
£’s
Budget
Music
12,000
1,000
1,000
1,000
5,000
20,000
£’s
Music
156
2,009
884
446
CFR Spend
KS3 pupils
15,526
19,021
£’s
-528
-320
Variance
-1,952
-1,412
1,351
-2,861
£’s
0
Budget
English
49,000
1,000
7,500
3,000
60,500
£’s
472
Cost KS3
pupils
English*
47,048
6,088
2,680
1,351
57,639
%
of 
68
spend
budget
55.59
0.56
7.19
3.17
1.60
CFR
£’s
31
90
Spend
3,137
406
179
3,843
per pupils
CFR
£’s
Return
15,730
89,339
45,026
1,568,266
202,948
1,921,309
Heading
Teaching staff
Supply teaching staff
Learning resources 
(not ICT equipment)
ICT learning resources
Bought in professional 
services – curriculum
Total
The above table illustrates that whilst the budget headings are allocated in different areas to the English budget (reflecting,
the use of peripatetic music teachers), the overall budget spend is comparative in both curriculum areas.
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Section B – Framework
1.
Submitting the Consistent Financial Reporting Return 
Section 44 of the Education Act 2002 enables the Secretary of State to require accounting
information from schools. This was brought into force by CFR regulations on 1st April
2003. The regulations include the framework headings, as well as requirements for
submitting annual returns. For details of the Act, see Section 44 at:
http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2002.htm
2.
Timetable for submitting the Consistent Financial Reporting return 
LAs are responsible for setting the date that schools need to submit their return. The CFR
regulations require that LAs notify schools of this date by no later than 15 April of each
year. LAs will have until the third Friday in July each year to submit the returns to DfES.
It is crucial we have all the data available at the Department by this date as it will enable
us to: 
a) publish the data on the benchmarking site by November each year;
b) pre-populate LAs’ s52 outturn statements;
c) allow Ofsted to pre-populate forms for schools to check prior to an inspection.
3.
Ways to submit the Consistent Financial Reporting return 
There are two ways schools can submit their Consistent Financial Reporting return:
(i)  by using the DfES data collection internet site to enter your Consistent
Financial Reporting return
or
(ii) by using the Consistent Financial Reporting feature of your software if it has
been upgraded.
All schools should submit a return. In some cases, LAs have agreed with schools that they
will prepare returns. Please ask your LA contact if you are unsure of the process in your
Authority. Paper returns for CFR are not permissible. The standard for submitting returns
is fully compliant with the e-Government Interoperability Framework (e-GIF).
Adherence to the e-GIF standards is mandatory, and CFR is one of the first data collection
exercises to use the e-GIF policies.
Complying with e-GIF means:
➣ providing a browser interface for access;
➣ using XML as the primary source of data integration;
➣ using internet and World Wide Web standards.
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School Finance Pack 19
In time, all data collection exercises will use the e-GIF standards. More information about
e-GIF is available at www.govtalk.gov.uk.
4.
Support to complete the Consistent Financial Return
A range of support is available, including
Your Local Authority
Often a good starting point for answers. We have run a number of information sessions
for LAs, and they will be the best people to speak to, especially as they will understand
the local context.
CFR Direct – 01325 39 26 26 
Our own telephone support line! This contact point is available to help you with mapping
or software queries, or general advice about what is going on behind the scenes with
Consistent Financial Reporting. It is staffed Monday to Friday from 8am to 5pm. In some
cases, the helpdesk team may not be able to solve your problem on the spot. If this is the
case, it will be referred to the DfES policy team and you will be called back. The line has
been operational since January 2002 and will continue to take calls on all aspects of
Consistent Financial Reporting.
VfM website – http://www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm
This has been designed as the main source of up-to-date information about CFR.
Technology allows us to communicate to all schools and LAs effectively by updating our
pages frequently. We have found that both schools and LAs have used the site for a
snapshot of what is happening and also to post questions using our contacts page. The
VfM website not only holds data on CFR but also good practice guides, and offers a page
of links that may help schools and LAs, including links to the Audit Commission and
Ofsted sites.
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the most popular pages on the VfM site, this is a resource used by many LAs to
tailor questions to the needs of local schools. The questions included on the FAQ site
have all been asked by LAs and schools, and we believe that publishing the answers
benefits all of us.
Updated versions of the guide
We have updated the advice on the framework in June 2002, November 2002 and
November 2003, and February 2007, allowing schools and LAs to download the revised
guide. Versions two, three and four of the guide included advice on mapping more
detailed expenditure, and additional guidance has been incorporated in here, version
five.
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20 School Finance Pack
5.
Framework Table
I01
Funds delegated by the LA
I02
Funding for 6th form students
I03
SEN funding
I04
Funding for minority ethnic pupils 
I05
Standards Fund
I06
Other government grants
I07
Other grants and payments
I08
Income from facilities and services
I09
Income from catering
I10
Receipts from supply teacher insurance claims
I11
Receipts from other insurance claims
I12
Income from contributions to visits etc.
I13
Donations and/or private funds
I14
SSG pupil focussed
I15
Pupil focussed extended school funding and/or grants
I16
Community focussed extended school funding and/or grants
I17
Community focussed extended school facilities income
(A) Total Income
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School Finance Pack 21
E01
Teaching staff
E02
Supply teaching staff
E03
Education support staff
E04
Premises staff
E05
Administrative & clerical staff
E06
Catering staff
E07
Cost of other staff
E08
Indirect employee expenses
E09
Development and training 
E10
Supply teacher insurance
E11
Staff related insurance
E12
Building maintenance and improvement
E13
Grounds maintenance and improvement
E14
Cleaning and caretaking
E15
Water & sewerage
E16
Energy
E17
Rates
E18
Other occupation costs
E19
Learning resources (not ICT equipment)
E20
ICT learning resources
E21
Exam Fees
E22
Administrative supply
E23
Other insurance premiums
E24
Special facilities
E25
Catering supplies
E26
Agency supply teaching staff
E27
Bought in professional services – curriculum
E28
Bought in professional services – other
E29
Loan Interest
E30
Direct Revenue Financing (Revenue contributions to capital)
E31
Community focussed extended school staff
E32
Community focussed extended school costs
(B) Total Expenditure
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Capital income
CI01 Capital income
CI02 Loans – removed 2006/07
CI03 Voluntary or Private income
CI04 Direct revenue financing (revenue contributions to capital)
Capital expenditure
CE01 Acquisition of land and existing buildings
CE02 New construction, conversion, and renovation
CE03 Vehicles, plant, equipment and machinery
CE04 Information and communication technology (ICT)
Balances
B01 Committed revenue balances
B02 Uncommitted revenue balances
B03 Devolved formula capital balance
B04 Other Standards Fund capital balances
B05 Other capital balances
B06 Community focussed extended school revenue balances
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School Finance Pack 23
5.1.
Income
Reference: I01
Description: Funds delegated by the LA
This is the major part of funding provided by the LA to the school (as paid through the
Dedicated Schools Grant)
Includes
Excludes
➣ In year adjustments or clawbacks should ➣ Sixth form funding (See I02)
be deducted from here
➣ SEN funding (See I03)
➣ The school’s budget share
➣ AEN funding (See I03)
➣ Any additional funding from the LA that
➣ Minority ethnic funding (See I04)
is not formally included in the school’s
➣ Devolved Standards Fund (See I05)
delegated budget but is managed by
the school
➣ Capital Funding 
(See Capital Income)
➣ Funding for nursery pupils
➣ Any carry forward balances from
➣ Teachers pay grants (Threshold Grants)
previous years – added 2005–06
➣ LMS Contingencies
➣ Schools Standard Grant (SSG) (See I14
or I16)
❖ Further information:
This figure must be positive, zero is not a valid entry.
Reference: I02
Description: Funding for sixth form students
Includes
Excludes
➣ Funding from public sources for sixth
➣ Voluntary sources of funding for sixth
form students :
form students. (See I13)
➣ Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding  ➣ Any carry forward balances from
previous years – added 2005–06
➣ Any top-up from the LA for sixth form
students 
➣ SEN funding (See I03) – added 2006–07
❖ Further information:
This figure should not normally be negative. It should be either zero or a positive figure.
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24 School Finance Pack
Reference: I03
Description: SEN funding
All delegated and /or devolved funding for pupils with special educational needs
Includes
Excludes
➣ Notional SEN funding from your school’s ➣ Voluntary sources of funding for SEN
budget share
pupils (See I13)
➣ Funding for SEN units
➣ 6th form funding for SEN pupils (See
I02)
➣ Funding associated with individual SEN
pupils
➣ Funds delegated by the LA to a special
school (See I01)
➣ Any other funds in the control of the
school earmarked for the support of SEN
➣ Any carry forward balances from
pupils
previous years – added 2005–06
➣ Additional Educational Needs (AEN)
funding – added 2005–06
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure. 
Reference: I04
Description: Funding for minority ethnic pupils
Includes
Excludes
➣ Ethnic Minority Achievement Grants
➣ Voluntary sources of funds for minority
(EMAG)
ethnic and traveller pupils (See I13)
➣ Support through the Standards Fund for ➣ Any carry forward balances from
ethnic minority and traveller pupils
previous years – added 2005–06
➣ Single regeneration budget (SRB) funds
and any other government-funded
source intended to promote access and
opportunity for minority ethnic pupils, in
support of English as an additional
language or as part of a wider focus on
raising attainment
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure.
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School Finance Pack 25
Reference: I05
Description: Standards Fund
Includes
Excludes
➣ Standards Fund revenue income 
➣ Standards Fund for ethnic
minority/traveller pupils (See I04)
➣ The targeted behaviour and
improvement programme (BIP)
➣ Standards Fund for capital projects (See
CI01)
➣ Any carry forward balances from
previous years – added 2005-06
➣ Any material portion of this specifically
for extended school use must be
deducted and coded to either I15 or I16
– added 2006–07
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure. 
Reference: I06
Description: Other government grants
Includes
Excludes
➣ Income from the Teacher Training
➣ Grants or monies from government
Agency (TTA)
captured in I01 to I05 above
➣ The total of all development and other
➣ New Opportunities Fund (NOF) (See I07)
non-capital grants from government
➣ Grants not funded through government
(See I07)
➣ Funding related to the Single
Regeneration Budget not already
➣ Any carry forward balances from
included in line I04
previous years – added 2005–06
➣ Any funding at school level for
Education Action Zones (EAZ)
➣ Income from the specialist schools trust
– added 2006–07
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure. 
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Reference: I07
Description: Other grants and payments received
Includes
Excludes
➣ New Opportunities Fund (NOF) or
➣ Grants received from government
Lottery Grants
sources (See I01 to I06)
➣ European Union funding
➣ Any carry forward balances from
previous years –added 2005–06
➣ Payments received from other schools
e.g. from beacon schools to meet supply
➣ Refunds or rebates from over charge or
cover costs to enable your school to
over payment should be credited
participate in development activities
against original expense account –
organised by the beacon school
added 2005–06
➣ Milk Subsidy
➣ Income from recycling refunds ie: paper,
glass, plastic, etc – added 2005–06
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure. 
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School Finance Pack 27
Reference: I08
Description: Income from facilities and services
Includes
Excludes
➣ Income from meals provided to other
➣ Payments received from other schools
schools
for which you have not provided a
service (See I07)
➣ Income from assets such as the hire of
premises, equipment or other facilities
➣ Any charges for extended school
activities that cannot be funded from
➣ All other income the school receives
the delegated budget (See I17) – added
from facilities and services, e.g. income
2006–07
for consultancy, training courses and
examination fees
➣ Income from community focussed
special facilities (See I17) – added
➣ Any interest payments received from
2006–07
bank accounts held in the school’s name
or used to fund school activities
➣ Income from sale of school uniforms,
materials, private phone calls/
photocopying, publications, books, etc.
➣ Income from before and after school
clubs
➣ Income from community activities
➣ Income from re-sale of items to pupils
e.g. musical instruments, classroom
resources, commission on photographs,
etc.
➣ Income from non-catering vending
machines
➣ Income from a special facility
➣ Rent deducted off the site manager’s
salary
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure. 
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Reference: I09
Description: Income from catering
Includes
Excludes
➣ Where the school runs its own catering
➣ Receipts for catering for external
service, income from catering, school
customers (See I08)
milk provision and vending machines
➣ Income from non-catering vending
machines (See I08)
➣ Any payments received from catering
contractors, e.g. where a contractor is in
default of contract or has previously
overcharged the school
➣ Income collected on behalf of catering
contractors
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure. 
Reference: I10
Description: Receipts from supply teacher insurance claims
Includes
Excludes
➣ Payments from staff absence insurance
➣ Insurance receipts for any other claim,
schemes (including those offered by the
for example building, contents, and
LA) to cover the cost of supply teachers
public liability (See I11)
❖ Further information:
This figure should not be negative. It should be either zero or a positive figure.
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School Finance Pack 29
Reference: I11
Description: Receipts from other insurance claims
Includes
Excludes
➣ All insurance receipts in respect of
➣ Insurance receipts from supply teacher
claims for losses incurred (including
absence claims (See I10)
absence insurance schemes for non-
➣ Any carry forward balances from
teaching staff)
previous years – added 2005-06
❖ Further information:
Sometimes an insurance receipt relates to a claim for a capital item. When this is the case,
the income should first be recorded under this heading and then posted into the capital
section of the framework via Direct Revenue Financing, E30
This figure should not be negative. It should be either zero or a positive figure.
Reference: I12
Description: Income from contributions to visits etc.
Includes
Excludes
➣ Income from parental contributions
➣ Donations and voluntary funds not
requested by the school e.g. educational
expressly requested by the school (See
visits, field trips, boarding fees,
I13)
payments to the school for damage
➣ Any carry forward balances from
done by pupils etc
previous years – added 2005-06
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure.
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Reference: I13
Description: Donations and/or voluntary funds
Includes
Excludes
➣ All income from private sources under
➣ Any contributions or donations that are
the control of the governing body
not used for the benefit of students’
available for the purposes of the school
learning or the school during the year
or for the purposes of the maintenance
➣ Details of balances available in trust
of any part of the school premises,
funds or other private or non public
including:
accounts
– income provided to the schools
➣ Any carry forward balances from
account from foundation, diocese or
previous years – added 2005-06
trust funds during the year to support
educational needs at the school;
– business sponsorship.
– income from fund-raising activities.
– any voluntary contributions from
parents that are used to provide
educational
– benefits for students
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure
Additional guidance on voluntary funds is available as a Frequently Asked Question (FAQ)
on the Value for Money Unit website at www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/FAQ.shtml
Reference: I14 – added 2006–07
Description: School Standards Grant (SSG) pupil focussed
Includes
Excludes
➣ All SSG funding less any amount that is
➣ Any SSG which is to be attributed to a
spent on a community focussed activity
community focussed activity (See I16)
(See I16) 
➣ Any SSG (personalisation)
❖ Further information:
Additional guidance on use of delegated budget to support extended school activities is
given in Annex A. This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure
and will become part of the B01 or B02 balance. 
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School Finance Pack 31
Reference: I15 – added 2006–07
Description: Pupil focussed extended school funding and/or grants
Includes
Excludes
➣ LSC funding that is deemed to be for
➣ Any charges for these activities should
pupil focussed extended school
still be captured in Income from facilities
activities
and services (See I08)
➣ Extended school standards fund
➣ Any funding which is to be attributed to
a community focussed activity (See I16)
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure and will become
part of the B01 or B02 balance. 
Reference: I16 – added 2006–07
Description: Community focussed extended school funding and/or grants
Includes
Excludes
➣ SSG funding that is attributed to
➣ Any SSG which is to be attributed to
community focussed activities should be
pupil focussed activity (See I14)
deducted from I14 and recorded here
➣ Any funding that is attributed
specifically on a pupil focussed extended
➣ Any LSC grants for community focussed
activities
school activity (See I15)
➣ Sure start funding devolved by the LA
➣ Any extended school funding to be
attributed to a community focussed
activity
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be a negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure and will become
part of the B06 balance. 
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32 School Finance Pack
Reference: I17 – added 2006–07
Description: Community focussed extended school facilities income
Includes
Excludes
➣ The purpose of this code is to capture
➣ Charging for activities that can be
charges for extended school activities
funded from the delegated budget
that cannot be funded from the
should still be captured within Income
delegated budget
from facilities and services (See I08)
❖ Further information:
This figure cannot be a negative. It must be either zero or a positive figure and will become
part of the B06 balance.
5.2.
Expenditure
Explanation of terms used
Employed directly by the school
Where a member of staff is recruited for employment at the school, for whom national
insurance contributions are payable from the funds available to the school, they are
considered to be directly employed by the school. Their salary would be shown under the
appropriate heading from E01 – E07.
Conversely, where someone works at the school, as part of a service contract, his full
cost must be allocated to the relevant expenditure group, for instance:
➣ E12 – Building maintenance and improvement.
➣ E13 – Grounds maintenance and improvement.
➣ E14 – Cleaning and caretaking.
➣ E25 – Catering supplies.
Specific service grouping
Term used by Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to explain
similar types of expenditure which are grouped together and represented as one sum. It
is used throughout the guide to show where expenditure can be allocated to a specific
group heading rather than attributed to a more general expenditure heading.
Extended School Activity
Guidance
Further guidance for schools on extended school activities and implications for CFR can
be found in Annex A of this document and on the Value for Money website at
www.dfes.gov.uk/valueformoney/CFR/extendedschools.shtml where a copy of Planning
and Funding Extended Schools: A guide for schools, local authorities and their partner
organisations, can be downloaded.
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School Finance Pack 33
Reference: E01
Description: Teaching staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Teachers employed directly by the school, ➣ Any teachers employed on a short term
including supernumerary/ peripatetic
basis, i.e. supply teachers (See E02)
teachers on short-term contracts
➣ Any teacher not employed directly by the
school, e.g. agency staff (See E26 or E27)
➣ Relates to all contracted full time and
part time teachers paid within the scope
of the School Teachers Pay and
Conditions Act (STPC Act 1991)
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
consisting of gross pay, including bonus
and allowances, maternity pay and the
employer’s contributions to national
insurance and superannuation
➣ Threshold payments and other
payments relating to teacher pay
reforms
➣ Net any teacher’s maternity pay refunds
here – added 2006–07
❖ Further information:
Expenditure on directly employed classroom staff (E01, E02 and E03) as a percentage of
total expenditure should normally be between 50–80% for primary and secondary schools
and 40–90% for all other schools.
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34 School Finance Pack
Reference: E02
Description: Supply staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Salaries and wages for supply teaching
➣ Supply teachers not employed directly by
staff employed directly by the school who
the school (i.e. paid via an agency or
are covering: 
another third party), regardless of the
period of cover (See E26 for agency
– curriculum release
supply teachers)
– long term absence
– sickness absence
– training absence
➣ Relates to all supply teachers paid within
the scope of the School Teachers Pay
and Conditions Act (STPC Act 1991)
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
consisting of gross pay, including bonus
and allowances, maternity pay and the
employer’s contributions to national
insurance and superannuation
❖ Further information:
Expenditure on directly employed classroom staff (E01, E02 and E03) as a percentage of
total expenditure should normally be between 50–80% for primary and secondary schools
and 40–90% for all other schools.
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School Finance Pack 35
Reference: E03
Description: Education support staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Salaries and wages of staff employed
➣ Education support staff not employed
directly by the school in support of
directly by the school. Where the cost is
students’ learning :
incurred as part of a service contract,
these costs must be shown in the
– Childcare staff
specific service grouping and not
– Classroom assistants/learning support
identified as separate staffing costs
assistants
(See E27)
– Exam invigilators
– Foreign language assistants
– Librarians
– Nursery assistants
– Nurses and medical staff: removed to
E07 in 2005–06
– Pianists
– Residential childcare officers at a
residential special school
– Supply education support staff
– Workshop and technology technicians
– Education Welfare Officers – added
from E07 in 2005–06
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
consisting of gross pay, including bonus
and allowances, maternity pay and the
employer’s contributions to national
insurance and superannuation
❖ Further information:
Expenditure on directly employed classroom staff (E01, E02 and E03) as a percentage of
total expenditure should normally be between 50–80% for primary and secondary schools
and 40–90% for all other schools.
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36 School Finance Pack
Reference: E04
Description: Premises staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Premises staff employed directly by the
➣ Premises staff not employed directly by
school:
the school. Where the cost is incurred as
part of a service contract, these costs
– Caretakers
must be shown in the framework under
– Cleaners
that service heading i.e. cleaning under
– Maintenance staff
E14 (changed from E12 in 2005–06)
– Grounds staff
➣ Premises staff employed to manage and
– Porters
support the school’s special facilities
– Messengers
(See E07)
– Security staff
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
consists of gross pay, inclusive of bonus,
overtime and allowances and the
employer’s contributions to national
insurance and superannuation
Reference: E05
Description: Administrative and clerical staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Administrative and clerical staff
➣ Administrative and clerical staff not
employed directly by the school :
employed directly by the school. Where
the cost is incurred as part of a service
– Bursars and business managers
contract, these costs must be shown in
– Clerk to the governing body
the framework under that service
– Receptionists
heading eg clerking service under E28
– School secretaries
➣ Administrative and clerical staff
– Telephonists
employed to manage and support the
– Typists
school’s special facilities (See E07)
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
consisting of gross pay, including bonus,
overtime and allowances, maternity pay
and the employer’s contributions to
national insurance and superannuation
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School Finance Pack 37
Reference: E06
Description: Catering staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Catering staff employed directly by the
➣ Catering staff not employed directly by
school associated with catering:
the school. Where the cost is incurred as
part of a supply contract, these costs
– Cashiers
must be shown in the framework under
– Chefs and cooks
that service heading e.g. catering
– Kitchen porters
contract under E25
– Servers
➣ Meal time assistants (See E07)
– Snack bar staff
➣ Catering staff employed to manage and
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
support the school’s special facilities
consisting of gross pay, including bonus
(See E07)
and allowances, maternity pay and the
employer’s contributions to national
insurance and superannuation
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38 School Finance Pack
Reference: E07
Description: Cost of other staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Cost of other staff employed directly by
➣ Cost of other staff not employed directly
the school:
by the school. Where the cost is incurred
as part of a supply contract, these costs
– Boarding staff of a residential school
must be shown in the framework under
i.e. laundry assistants and night-time
that service heading e.g. E28
social workers
– Education welfare officers – removed
to E03 in 2005–06
– Escorts (e.g. for pupils with medical or
special education needs)
– Liaison officers.
– Meal time assistants.
– Staff employed to manage and
support special facilities available at
the school
– Staff supervising students before and
after school sessions or clubs and
during breaks
– Supply cost of other staff
– Youth workers
– Nurses and medical staff – added from
E03 in 2006–07
– Staff employed to manage and
support pupil focussed special facilities
available at the school – added
2006–07
➣ Expenditure on salaries and wages
consisting of gross pay, including bonus
and allowances, maternity pay and the
employer’s contributions to national
insurance and superannuation
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School Finance Pack 39
Reference: E08
Description: Indirect employee expenses
Includes
Excludes
➣ Recruitment costs e.g. advertising,
➣ Salary costs (See E01 to E07)
interviews, relocation expenses
➣ Any cost for persons not employed
directly by the school. Where incurred in
➣ Employee travel and subsistence (where
not directly attributed to another CFR
relation to a supply contract, these costs,
heading) (See E09 and E19)
where possible, should be allocated to
the relevant CFR heading (See E26, E27
➣ Duty meals
and E28)
➣ Pensions payments including any
premature retirement payments made
by the school
➣ Lump sum compensation and
redundancy payments and medical fees
➣ Car leasing expenditure – where the cars
are for staff use
➣ Teacher inter site travel costs
➣ Payments to Site Service Officers
(caretakers, school keepers) for expenses
such as house gas, rates, council taxes,
electricity and telephone rental
➣ Presents for employees
Reference: E09
Description: Development and training
Includes
Excludes
➣ Development and training costs for all
➣ Cost of supply staff used to cover the
staff (directly and not directly employed)
teacher absence (See E02 or E26)
at the school
➣ Cost of all in-service training courses and
other development opportunities
➣ Cost of equipment and resources to
provide in service training
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40 School Finance Pack
Reference: E10
Description: Supply teacher insurance
Includes
Excludes
➣ Premiums paid to insurers for supply
➣ Premiums paid to insurers for cover
teacher cover
other than for teacher absence
➣ Vehicle insurance (See E23)
➣ Accident and public liability insurance
for persons not employed directly by the
school (See E23)
➣ School trip insurance (See E23)
➣ Premises related insurance (See E23)
❖ Further information:
This can be important to help manage risk at your school. Premiums may vary according
to the claims history or as schools choose the level of excess they wish to accept. Where
policies cover wider areas (i.e. for other staff and contract supply staff) please ask your
insurer to apportion premiums across each appropriate CFR heading.
Reference: E11
Description: Staff related insurance
Includes
Excludes
➣ Cover for non-teaching staff absence
➣ Premises related insurance (See E23)
➣ Employee related insurance for accident ➣ Vehicle insurance (See E23)
and liability, assault, fidelity guarantee,
➣ Accident and public liability insurance
libel and slander
for persons not employed directly by the
school (See E23)
➣ School trip insurance (See E23)
➣ Insurance premiums paid to cover
teaching absence for staff directly
employed by the school (See E10)
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School Finance Pack 41
Reference: E12
Description: Building maintenance and improvement
Includes
Excludes
➣ This category is a specific service
➣ Cost of staff where they are directly
grouping, covering:
employed by the school (See E04)
– charges by contractors for internal and
➣ Cost of improvements that is above the
external repair, maintenance and
de minimis level (See CE01 or CE02)
improvement to buildings and fixed
plant including costs of labour and
materials
– related professional and technical
services, including labour costs where
supplied as part of the contract/service
– costs of materials and equipment used
by directly employed staff for internal
and external repair, maintenance and
improvement to buildings and fixed
plant
– fixtures and fittings e.g. carpet,
curtains, etc.
❖ Further information:
For benchmarking purposes, you should look at this expense heading alongside the capital
expenditure headings CE01 and CE02 to ensure you get a full picture that takes account of
different de minimis levels. In the event that buildings and grounds maintenance and
improvement are performed under one contract, please ask your supplier to identify the
costs separately.
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42 School Finance Pack
Reference: E13
Description: Grounds maintenance and improvement
Includes
Excludes
➣ This category is a specific service
➣ Cost of premises staff who are directly
grouping, covering:
employed by the school (See E04)
– maintenance and improvement on
➣ Cost of improvements that is above the
gardens and grounds, including car
school/LA de minimis level (See CE01 or
parking, play areas, playground
CE02)
equipment, sports fields and pitches
on the school campus
– related professional and technical
services, including labour costs where
supplied as part of the contract/service
❖ Further information:
For benchmarking purposes, you should look at this expense heading alongside the capital
expenditure headings CE01 and CE02 to ensure you get a full picture that takes account of
different de minimis levels. In the event that buildings and grounds maintenance and
improvement are performed under one contract, please ask your supplier to identify the
costs separately.
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School Finance Pack 43
Reference: E14
Description: Cleaning and caretaking
Includes
Excludes
➣ This category is a specific service
➣ Cost of staff where they are directly
grouping, covering:
employed by the school (See E04)
– supplies used in cleaning and
caretaking
– cost of equipment such as floor
polishers, vacuum cleaners and other
hardware
– charges by contractors for providing a
cleaning service.
– charges by contractors for providing a
caretaking service
– related professional and technical
services
❖ Further information:
If the school has a contract for cleaning, covering all costs including supply of labour,
cleaning solutions and materials, all costs should be included in this specific service
grouping.
If the school directly employs cleaning and/or caretaking staff, the costs of equipment,
cleaning solutions and materials should be included in this specific service grouping and
staff costs shown in E04.
For comparative purposes, benchmarking might involve comparing similar schools where
the services are wholly contracted out or provided in house, or taking costs under E04 with
E14 to help identify the relative costs of contracting out versus in house provision.
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44 School Finance Pack
Reference: E15
Description: Water and sewerage
Includes
Excludes
➣ All costs related to water and sewerage
➣ Any costs arising from repairs or
maintenance to water or sewerage
➣ Emptying of septic tanks
systems (See E12 or E13)
❖ Further information:
Benchmarking water expenditure over a time series and across similar schools may
highlight areas of overspending due to leaks or otherwise.
To benchmark water consumption, see: www.watermark.gov.uk.
Reference: E16
Description: Energy
Includes
Excludes
➣ All costs related to fuel and energy,
➣ Any costs arising from repairs or
including fuel oil, solid fuel, electricity
maintenance to energy supplies
and gas
(See E12 or E13)
❖ Further information:
Energy may be a controllable expense within a school budget, and identified separately it
can lead to better conservation, for both environmental and expense reasons.
Reference: E17
Description: Rates
Includes
Excludes
➣ Non Domestic Rates expenditure
❖ Further information:
This is separate from other occupation costs because it is imposed and therefore not a
controllable expense. Unlike other items in E18, where there will be some element of
control, it is a difficult area to benchmark.
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School Finance Pack 45
Reference: E18
Description: Other occupation costs
Includes
Excludes
➣ Rents, lease or hire charges for premises
➣ Cost of staff where they are directly
employed by the school (See E04 or
➣ Refuse collection
E07)
➣ Hygiene services e.g. paper towels, toilet
rolls, hand dryers, etc.
➣ Emptying of septic tanks (See E15)
➣ Security patrols and services
➣ CCTV/Burglar alarm maintenance
contracts
➣ Landlord’s service charges
➣ Health and safety costs, including fire-
fighting equipment
➣ Electrical testing and pest control
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46 School Finance Pack
Reference: E19
Description: Learning resources (not ICT equipment)
Includes
Excludes
➣ Payments to alternative provision
➣ Curriculum ICT costs (See E20 and CE04)
services including pupil referral units
➣ Resources that are used for
(PRU), non-maintained special schools
administration purposes (See E22)
(NMSS) and independent special schools
Where a resource is used for curriculum
and administration purposes, and where
➣ Achievement gifts and prizes awarded to
pupils
costs are material, costs or estimates of
the split should be coded separately at
➣ Books (library and text books)
the time of purchase
➣ Charges for the school library
➣ Classroom and learning equipment
(excluding ICT equipment)
➣ Curriculum transport, including minibus
expenses such as maintenance, tax, fuel
(excludes insurance see E23)
➣ Furniture used for teaching purposes
➣ Pupil travel for work experience
placements
➣ Purchase, lease, hire or maintenance
contracts of audio-visual or other
equipment used for teaching
➣ Reprographic resources and equipment
used specifically for teaching purposes
➣ School trips – and Educational Visits –
added 2005-06
➣ Servicing and repairs to musical
instruments and PE equipment used as
part of the curriculum
➣ Subscriptions, publications, periodicals
and copyright fees associated with the
curriculum
➣ Teaching materials
➣ Television licence fees used for teaching
purposes
➣ Primary school PIP exam cost – added
2005-06
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School Finance Pack 47
Reference: E20
Description: ICT learning resources
Includes
Excludes
➣ Educational software, including site or
➣ Resources that are used for specific
other licences, hardware including
administration purposes (See E22)
keyboards, monitors, printers etc. used
Where a resource is used for curriculum
for teaching purposes
and administration purposes, and where
costs are material, costs or estimates of
➣ Purchase, lease, hire or maintenance
the split should be coded separately at
contracts of ICT used for teaching
the time of purchase.
➣ Costs of Broadband, ISDN, ASDL or other
dedicated phone lines
➣ ICT expenditure that is over the de
minimis level (See CE04)
➣ ICT in schools revenue expenditure
❖ Further information:
It is important to look at this expenditure heading with CE04 to get the full picture of
hardware, software, supplies and peripherals that are purchased during the year.
Reference: E21
Description: Exam fees
Includes
Excludes
➣ The costs of test and examination entry
➣ The cost of exam resources eg the test
fees, and any accreditation costs related
papers themselves should be recorded
to pupils. This includes GCSEs, A/AS
under Learning Resources (See E19)
levels, GNVQs
➣ Administrative costs eg external marking
– added 2005–06
❖ Further information:
Primary schools should not expect to see anything in E21.
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48 School Finance Pack
Reference: E22
Description: Administrative supplies
Includes
Excludes
➣ Any governors expenses as they should
➣ Any costs directly attributable to the
not be attached to any staff related costs
curriculum (See E19)
➣ Administrative stationery and printing
➣ Material costs directly attributable to
another specific service grouping
➣ Administrative reprographics
(See E19)
➣ Postage
➣ Bank charges
➣ Advertising (but not for recruitment –
See E08)
➣ Telephone charges (not dedicated
internet lines – See E20)
➣ Medical and domestic supplies
➣ Purchase, hire or maintenance contracts
of ICT or other furniture and equipment
not used for teaching purposes
➣ Subscriptions, publications, periodicals
and copyright fees not related to the
curriculum
➣ School publications e.g. Parents’ Report
and School Brochure
Reference: E23
Description: Other insurance premiums
Includes
Excludes
➣ Premises related insurance
➣ Insurance for supply teacher cover
(See E10)
➣ Vehicle insurance
➣ Accident and public liability insurance
➣ Staff insurance cover (See E10 and E11)
for persons not employed directly by the
school 
➣ School trip insurance
❖ Further information:
Other insurance can only be zero if it is bought centrally by your LA at no cost to the school.
Please use the tick box provided if this is true.
Where a general policy includes staff related insurances, please ask your insurer to identify
the premiums separately.
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School Finance Pack 49
Reference: E24
Description: Special facilities
Includes
Excludes
➣ Community Education
➣ Staff costs associated with managing
and supporting the special facility
➣ Swimming pools and sports centres
(See E03, E04, E05, E06, E07)
➣ Boarding provision
➣ Staff teaching in the special facility
➣ Rural studies and farm units beacon
(See E01, E02)
schools to others to promote release for
training
➣ School trips (see E19)
➣ Pupil inter-site travel e.g. moving
➣ Residential special schools (costs
allocated to specific E heading)
between sites
➣ Expenses relating to before and after
school clubs
➣ Delegated home to school transport
➣ Indirect employee expenses and agency
staff expenses relating to a special
facility
➣ Purchase of trading items for re-sale e.g.
school uniforms, books, stationery etc.
➣ Charitable donations
❖ Further information:
Attribute costs for special facilities, excluding staff costs. You should mention in the text
fields on the CFR collection or third party software what special facilities are provided at
the school.
Please note that prior to 2006–07 financial year all community extended school costs were
captured in E24 – added 2006–07.
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50 School Finance Pack
Reference: E25
Description: Catering supplies
Includes
Excludes
➣ This category is a specific service
➣ Cost of staff where they are directly
grouping, covering:
employed by the school (See E06)
– non-capital catering equipment
➣ Cost of any kitchen or catering
equipment above the de minimis level
– provisions
(See CE03)
– other supplies used in catering, e.g.
cleaning materials, protective clothing
– purchase, rent, lease or hire of vending
machines
– full cost of service contract
– related professional and technical
services
– repairs and maintenance of kitchen
equipment, including safety checks
➣ Cost of providing free school meals and
milk
❖ Further information:
If the school has a contract for catering, all costs, including supply of labour, food and
beverages are to be included in this specific grouping.
If the school directly employs catering staff, the cost of supplies should be included in this
specific service grouping and staff costs shown in E06.
Reference: E26
Description: Agency supply staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Cost paid to an agency for teaching staff ➣ Supply teachers employed directly by
that have been brought in to cover
the school (See E02)
teacher absence. Includes cover of any
period and for all reasons, including
illness, absence for training, and any
leave
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School Finance Pack 51
Reference: E27
Description: Bought in professional services – curriculum
Includes
Excludes
➣ Professional services, consultancy and
➣ Cost of staff where they are directly
advice purchased from the LA or third
employed by the school (See E01 – E03)
party in support of the curriculum
➣ Cost of agency supply staff (See E26)
➣ ICT consultancy services for the
➣ Consultancy and advice for
curriculum
administration (See E28)
➣ Payments to any visiting
lecturers/speakers (but not classroom
teachers)
➣ Courses purchased for students from
external providers, e.g. colleges of
Further Education or other schools
➣ Music teachers who are self employed
➣ Peripatetic music teachers employed by
the LA
Reference: E28
Description: Bought in professional services – other
Includes
Excludes
➣ Professional services, consultancy and
➣ Cost of staff where they are directly
employed by the school (See E04 – E07)
advice to staff and governors purchased
from the LA or an external party relating
➣ Consultancy and advice for curriculum
to:
(See E27)
– management
– finance
– legal
– personnel
– premises
➣ Clerking service, if a clerk is not directly
employed by the school
➣ Management fee on PFI contracts
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52 School Finance Pack
Reference: E29
Description: Loan interest
Includes
Excludes
➣ Interest received (See I08)
➣ Interest paid on overdrafts and other
liabilities
Reference: E30
Description: Direct revenue financing (revenue contributions to capital)
Includes
Excludes
➣ All amounts transferred to CI04 to be
➣ Funds specifically provided for capital
accumulated to fund capital works. This
purposes (See CI01 – CI03)
will match exactly the figure at CI04
➣ Receipts from insurance claims for
capital losses received into income
under I11
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School Finance Pack 53
Reference: E31 – added 2006–07
Description: Community focussed extended school staff
Includes
Excludes
➣ Cost of all staff employed directly by the ➣ Any extended school staff costs that can
school for extended community
be funded through the delegated
activities that cannot be funded from
budget (See E01 – E07)
the delegated budget
➣ Adult education tutors, where the school
manages an Adult Education
Programme
❖ Further information:
A school would only incur costs in E31 where the extended facility is facilitated by a school
employee or if the school directly contracted a 3rd party to run the activity. In both cases the
school would be seen to be providing a “service”.
Illustrative example:
If the school directly employs or contracts a pottery teacher to run a class for pensioners the
income would be shown in I17 - Community focussed extended school income, and the
expenditure in E31/E32 – Community focussed extended school staff/costs. However if a
pottery teacher came to the school and asked if they could run a pottery class for pensioners
independently of the school, the school could agree to let out its art room to the individual in
the same way it could let out any part of its premises i.e. for a wedding reception, and the
income would be recorded in I08. The school would need to ensure that the letting rate
covered all of its occupation costs (including utilities and insurance) and would code these as
normal under E01 – E30.
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54 School Finance Pack
Reference: E32 – added 2006–07
Description: Community focussed extended school costs
Includes
Excludes
➣ All running costs associated with an
➣ Any extended school costs that can be
extended school activity which cannot
funded through the delegated budget
be funded from the delegated budget
(See E01 – E30)
➣ Recruitment costs, materials, etc.
➣ Any community focussed running costs
that are incurred as a result of a 3rd party
delivering the activity who has not been
directly employed or contracted by the
school - these need to be recorded
under E01 – E30
❖ Further information:
If the school lets out its premises to a 3rd party regardless of the activity, the running costs
associated with this event should be recorded as normal under E01 – E30.
5.3.
Capital Income
All categories of capital income cannot be negative and should be either zero or a
positive figure.
Reference: CI01
Description: Capital income
Includes
Excludes
➣ E-learning credits (Standards Fund)
➣ Voluntary income (See CI03)
➣ Capital funding from public sources
➣ Direct revenue financing (See CI04)
managed by the governing body,
including that provided by the
Standards Fund
➣ Proceeds from the sale of fixed assets
➣ ICT in schools income (Standards Fund)
❖ Further information:
All VA school capital income must be recorded here.
E-Learning Credits is a capital grant and must also be recorded here.
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School Finance Pack 55
Reference: CI02 – no longer collected
Description: Loans
❖ Please note:
If a school does receive a loan this should be treated as advanced income using CI01.
The school should record the expenditure in the appropriate capital expenditure - CE code
as normal. Through the consultation on the removal of CI02, it was clear that this is how
the majority of schools and LAs treat loans. 
A loan over and above normal capital allocations:
If a school is receiving a loan over and above their normal capital allocation, then they
should not be recording either the loan income or the loan repayment in CFR, only the
original expenditure should be shown in the appropriate CE code. This is to avoid double
counting of expenditure against repayments for that loan. 
Revenue loans to schools are only allowed with expressed agreement from the Secretary
of State for Education and Skills.
Reference: CI03
Description: Voluntary or Private income
Includes
Excludes
➣ Voluntary or Private income including
➣ Voluntary or Private income that will be
donations dedicated for use as capital
used to fund day-to-day operations of
funds
the school (See I13)
❖ Further information:
Voluntary or Private income for capital purposes is the amount that is raised by the school,
or donated to the school, for the sole intention of using the funds for capital projects that
have an educational benefit for the pupils at the school.
Reference: CI04
Description: Direct revenue financing
Includes
Excludes
➣ The amount from revenue expenditure
➣ Revenue balances not set aside for a
applied to capital financing. This is an
capital project
exact match to E30
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56 School Finance Pack
5.4.
Capital Expenditure
Reference: CE01
Description: Acquisition of land and existing buildings
Includes
Excludes
➣ Cost of land acquisition including fees
➣ Construction of new buildings
and charges related to the acquisition
(See CE02)
➣ Cost of acquiring existing buildings,
including fees and charges related to the
acquisition
Reference: CE02
Description: New construction conversion and renovation
Includes
Excludes
➣ Cost of new construction, including fees
➣ Cost of land and existing buildings 
(See CE01)
➣ Cost of conversions and renovations
forming a new structure
➣ Costs for conversion and renovation
under the school’s de minimis threshold
➣ Costs of extension to existing premises
– this is revenue spending (See E12)
❖ Further information:
Expenditure from this heading can be benchmarked alongside E12 and E13 to provide an
overall picture of expenditure on buildings and grounds at the school.
Reference: CE03
Description: Vehicles, plant, equipment and machinery
Includes
Excludes
➣ Any capitalised expenditure on the
➣ Capital expenditure on ICT equipment
acquisition, renewal or replacement of
(See CE04)
vehicles, equipment or machinery to be
➣ Leased equipment and vehicles
used at the school
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School Finance Pack 57
Reference: CE04
Description: Information and communications technology
Includes
Excludes
➣ E-learning credit expenditure
➣ Where costs of consultancy can be
identified individually, they should be
➣ Purchase of computer hardware and
allocated under the specific expenditure
software where these are to be
groups within expenditure (See E27,
capitalised or are funded from capital
E28)
grant
➣ ICT in schools capital expenditure
➣ Costs of training for staff in the use of
ICT systems (See E09)
5.5.
Balances
There are now six balances in the CFR framework including the new extended
schools balance code B06. 
They provide an overall picture of the resources available to the school from one year
to the next. 
All of the balance codes include the in year balance (income less expenditure) plus
any carry forward from previous years. 
They show the true financial position of the school.
The first two, B01 and B02, relate to revenue balances. These balances arise from
income and expenditure relating to the first two sections of the framework – Income
and Expenditure.
Balances in B03, B04 and B05 are all capital balances that are related to sections
three and four of the framework – Capital Income and Capital Expenditure.
BO6 captures the revenue balance of any extended school activities which
cannot be funded from the delegated budget.
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58 School Finance Pack
Reference: B01
Description: Committed revenue balance 
Includes
Excludes
➣ Committed cumulative balance of
➣ Details of balances available in trust
income less expenditure from revenue
funds or other private or non public
funding sources during the financial year
accounts
and any committed revenue balances
➣ Any amount already spent during this
from previous years
year. All expenditure, regardless of how
it was funded, should be recorded under
➣ Any other specific grant balances plus
any unspent voluntary income brought
the most appropriate expenditure
into the public accounts in that financial
heading in the framework
year
➣ Unspent Standard Fund capital grants
(See B03 and B04)
➣ Any earmarked public funds (in
accordance with the terms of the
➣ Any community focussed extended
authorities scheme)
school balances (See B06)
➣ Unspent amount of current financial
year’s Standards Fund revenue grants
❖ Further information:
Please include details of any items that this balance is earmarked for in the text fields when
submitting your CFR return at the end of the financial year
Reference: B02
Description: Uncommitted revenue balance 
Includes
Excludes
➣ Uncommitted cumulative balance of
➣ Standards Fund revenue balance
income less expenditure from revenue
(See B01)
funding sources during the financial year
➣ Capital Revenue balances (See B03 to
and any uncommitted revenue balances
B05)
from previous years
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School Finance Pack 59
Reference: B03
Description: Devolved formula capital balance 
Includes
Excludes
➣ Funding through the Standards Fund for ➣ Other capital funding through Standards
devolved formula capital (three year
Fund (See B04)
rolling grant programme)
➣ Revenue funding through Standards
Fund (See B01)
➣ Any other capital balances (See B05)
Reference: B04
Description: Other Standards Fund capital balances 
Includes
Excludes
➣ Unspent capital allocations of current
➣ Unspent Standards Fund revenue funds
financial year’s Standards Fund
(See B01)
➣ Broadband connectivity
➣ Unspent devolved formula capital
(See B03)
➣ Any other unspent capital balances
(See B05)
Reference: B05
Description: Other capital balances 
Includes
Excludes
➣ Sum of all other capital balances, not
➣ Balances that appear in the framework
already accounted for
in B01 to B04
Reference: B06
Description: Community focussed extended school revenue balances
Includes
Excludes
➣ Any unspent community focussed
➣ Pupil focussed extended school balances
extended school balances should be
(see B01 or B02)
recorded here
➣ Any carried forward community
focussed extended school balances from
previous years should be shown here
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60 School Finance Pack
6.
Annex A: Use of delegated budgets to support extended school 
activities, and implications for Consistent Financial Reporting 
A school’s delegated budget, or ‘budget share’, is the funding it receives from the local
authority for the ‘purposes of the school’. The meaning of the term, ‘purposes of the school’, is
not spelt out fully in legislation, but is understood to cover all the activities that the school is
required to deliver in respect of the teaching and learning of the pupils registered at the school,
or at other maintained schools (where, for example, schools are working collaboratively).
The legislation does set out certain activities that are not ‘purposes of the school, and which
cannot therefore be funded from a school’s delegated budget, and these include the provision
of community facilities. (At present the only exception to this is for maintained nursery schools,
which may fund community facilities from their delegated budget). It would ultimately be for
the courts to decide; but the Department for Education and Skills’ view is that the term
‘purposes of the school’ may be taken to include all activities that bring an educational benefit
to the pupils registered at the school or at other maintained schools.
For a school to decide whether a particular extended activity is eligible to be funded from its
delegated budget, the governing body may find it helpful to consider the following questions:
EXTENDED
SCHOOL ACTIVITY
Is the activity for pupils
YES
NO
registered at the school?
YES
YES
Is the activity for pupils
Does it directly support the
registered at another
curriculum (eg study support)?
maintained school?
NO
NO
Will it bring an educational
YES
Is the activity for parents
benefit to pupils?
or carers of pupils?
YES
NO
NO
Activity delivered under
Activity can be funded from
community facilities power,
delegated budget share
so cannot be funded from
delegated budget share
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School Finance Pack 61
Having asked these questions, and considered the particular circumstances, a school might
conclude, for example:
that a parenting class is eligible for funding from the delegated budget because it helps pupils’
parents/carers to support their learning;
but
that an adult fitness class is not eligible for funding from the delegated budget because
although it would improve the health of adults from the local community, and could include
the parents and carers of pupils at the school, it would not bring any educational benefit to
pupils.
The school might also conclude that a breakfast club for pupils held during term time is eligible
for funding from the delegated budget because it helped to ensure that pupils are in class on
time and ready to learn;
but
that a play scheme during school holidays is not eligible for funding from the delegated budget
where its purpose is childcare, and is therefore a community facility.
The distinction between extended activities that are eligible for funding from the delegated
budget, and those that are not, is important because it will govern the way schools report their
spending on various activities under Consistent Financial Reporting.
A school may conclude that a certain activity is eligible to be funded from the delegated
budget, but decide in the particular circumstances to fund the activity from other sources, or to
support it only in part from the delegated budget. In those circumstances, the expenditure
should still be reported as an activity that can be funded from the delegated budget.
Where a Governing Body are unsure about the classification of a particular activity for funding
purposes, they should consult their local authority.
Coding Extended Services Income in CFR
The following flowchart is based on existing legislation. The LMS scheme states that 'Income
from lettings of school premises should not normally be payable into voluntary or private funds
held by the school'. This is because this income covers overheads and other expenditure that
would be paid out of the delegated budget. Consequently these funds should not be used for
community focussed extended school activities.
Income for extended school activities (I17) should only be recorded where there is additional
associated expenditure by the school that would be coded into either E31 or E32.
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62 School Finance Pack
Does the income only cover costs that would be paid out of the delegated budget?
YES
NO
Is there associated expenditure in E31/E32
l08
for community focussed activities?
YES
NO
l17
l08
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School Finance Pack 63
Section C – Useful information
1.
Standards Fund Contact List 
Grant Grant Name
DfES contact
Telephone No.
CFR Code
No
101
School Development Grant
Graeme Roberts
0207 925 6086
I05
Advanced Skills Teachers (ASTs)
Beverley Mayers
0207 925 5757
I05
Excellence in Cities
Joan Heslington
01325 391 053
I05
Targeted Behaviour and 
Victoria Wood
0207 925 5547
I05
Improvement Programme (BIP)
Gifted and Talented
Selina White
0207 925 7391
I05
Enterprise Learning
Patrick Shipp
0207 925 6098
I05
ICT in Schools: Infrastructure
Owen McConnell
0207 273 5524
This grant should
and Support
be mapped to I05
and capitalised as
needed through E30.
Training Schools
Joan Heslington
01325 391 053
I05
Leading Edge
Jan McIntosh
0207 925 7426
I05
Specialist Schools
Christine Crossen
0132 539 1037
I05
102
School Standards Grant
Graeme Roberts
0207 925 6086
I14 Any community
focussed portion of
this should be
allocated to I16
103
Ethnic Minority Achievement 
Paul Agutu
0207 925 6207
I04
(EMAG)
103c National Primary Strategy
Valerie Manning
0207 925 5996
I05
EAL Pilot
104
Targeted Improvement Grant
Anita Bihal
0207 925 5474
I01
105a Targeted School Meals
Sue Holley
0207 925 5825
I05
105b School Meals
Sue Holley
0207 925 5825
I05
106
Extended Schools
Enquiries
0207 273 5044
I15 if pupil focussed 
Susan Shakespeare
0207 273 1178
or I16 if used for
community focussed
activities
107
Targeted Support for Primary 
Jo Denham
0207 925 5600
I05
Strategy
108
Targeted Support for Secondary
Jo Denham
0207 925 5600
I05
Strategy
109
Federations
Jackie Byrne
0207 925 5857
I05
110
Aimhigher (previously 
Elaine Underwood
0114 259 3336
I05
Excellence Challenge)
111
Fresh Start and New Partnerships
Elridge Foster
0207 925 6173
I05
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64 School Finance Pack
Grant Grant Name
DfES contact
Telephone No.
CFR Code
No
112
Primary Strategy: 
Jo Denham
0207 925 5600
I05
Central Co-ordination
113
Secondary Strategy: 
Jo Denham
0207 925 5600
I05
Central Co-ordination
114
Secondary Behaviour and 
Jo Denham
0207 925 5600
I05
Attendance: Central Co-ordination
115
School Improvement Partners
Ian Morrison
0207 925 3819
I05
116a Music Services
Barbara Tucker
0207 925 6774
I05
116b Music at Key Stage 2
Barbara Tucker
0207 925 6774
I05
117
Education Health Partnerships
Susan Holley
0207 925 5825
I05
118
Playing for Success
Enquiries
0114 259 3438
I05
Russell Broomhead
0114 259 3438
119
School Travel Advisers
Hugh Jackson
01325 391 249
I05
120
London Challenge
Joanna Mackie
0207 925 3757
I05
Kathrin McAleenan
0207 925 5453
Chartered London Teachers’ funding Janice Robins
0207 925 5623
121
Broadband Connectivity
Susan Fletcher
0207 273 5932
This grant should be
mapped to I05 and
capitalised as 
needed through E30.
121a National Digital Infrastructure
Trevor Spedding
0207 273 4982
CI01
for schools
122
E-Learning Credits
Marcea Delastic
0207 273 6154
CI01
(Curriculum On-Line)
123
Fast Track – no longer paid via SF
Alan Schneiderman
020 7925 5565
124
14–19 Engagement Programme
Paul Denis
0207 925 5252
I05
125
Computers for pupils: Recurrent
Philip Boyle
0207 273 5097
I05
Jeanine Beckford
0207 273 4898
126
Choice Advisers
Nicola Debidin
0207 925 3768
I05
127
Study Support Quality 
Sue White
020 7925 6286
I05
Development Programme
128
School Workforce Data
Ian McVicar
020 7925-3780
I05
Collection Pilot
201
Devolved Formula Capital
Peter Grenville
0207 925 5658
CI01
201c School Travel Plans
Hugh Jackson
01325 391 249
CI01
202a Capital Modernisation: Primary
Peter Grenville
0207 925 5658
CI01
202b Capital Modernisation: Secondary
CI01
203
Targeted Capital Fund (TCF)
TiTi Windapo
0207 925 6746
CI01
204
Building Schools for the Future
Peter Grenville
0207 925 5658
CI01
205a Miscellaneous Capital Grants – LA
CI01
[email address]
205b Miscellaneous Capital Grants – VA
CI01
Titi Windapo
205c Basic Needs Safety Valve
CI01
0207 925 6746
205d Successful and Popular Schools
CI01
206
Specialist Schools Capital
Christine Crossen
0132 539 1037
CI01
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School Finance Pack 65
Grant Grant Name
DfES contact
Telephone No.
CFR Code
No
207
Fresh Start Capital
William Sterling
0207 925 6156
CI01
209
City Learning Centre Capital
Wilf Fleming
01325 391 294
CI01
210
Computers for Pupils: Capital
Phillip Boyle
0207 273 5097
CI01
Jeanine Beckford
0207 273 4898
301
School Intervention Grant
Anita Bihal
0207 925 5474
I05
302
Flexible 14 to 19 Partnerships
Peter Cawthorn
0114 259 4605
I05
Funding
For general Standards Fund queries: [email address]
2
Useful publications and websites 
Audit Commission
Home page: www.audit-commission.gov.uk
To benchmark your school’s data:
www.teachernet.gov.uk/schoolfinance
Getting Better All the Time – making benchmarking work – publication
(available on the internet – type “publications” in the search function)
Office for Standards in Education
Home page: www.ofsted.gov.uk
Department for Education and Skills
Home page: www.dfes.gov.uk
Value for Money Unit
www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm
Best Value:
www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/bvalue.shtml
Consistent Financial Reporting:
www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/cfr1.shtml
Good Practice Guides:
www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/gpg.shtml
Frequently Asked Questions
www.dfes.gov.uk/vfm/FAQ.shtml
Government Talk
To find out more about electronic Government:
www.govtalk.co.uk
Public Service Benchmarking Service
To view other benchmarking examples in the public sector: www.benchmarking.gov.uk
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