Arrangements for money to follow pupils who have been permanently excluded from school
Introduction
172. This guidance explains the revised legal and administrative
arrangements to ensure that funding promptly follows a permanently excluded
pupil from the excluding school to the new school. These arrangements apply to
pupils permanently excluded on or after 1 September 2007. This guidance
also applies to pupils who have been permanently excluded and where the
independent appeal panel has decided that because of exceptional circumstances
or other reasons it is not practical to give a direction requiring
reinstatement, but that it would otherwise have been appropriate to have given
such a direction. They do not apply in cases of exclusions for a fixed
period. We have changed the 'relevant date' to provide local
authorities with funding so that they can arrange education for permanently
excluded pupils from the sixth school day following the head teacher's
decision to permanently exclude the pupil (for more detail see paragraph
49).
Types of school covered by this part of the
guidance
173. 'Schools' referred to in this guidance include maintained
Community, Foundation, Voluntary, Community Special and Foundation Special
schools. Academies and City Technology Colleges are not covered by this
guidance. In all cases, the amount is transferred via the local authority
(LA).
174. For an exclusion from a Special School, the amount should be the same as that for a pupil of the same age and characteristics as an excluded pupil in a mainstream secondary or primary school.
Mechanism for deducting and allocating
money
175. The LA should ensure that the correct funding moves with the
pupil. There are different processes depending on whether the pupil attends
school in the LA where they live or attend school in another LA. These
processes are:
a) Determination and redetermination of schools' budget share:
The LA is responsible for reducing the budget share of any excluding school it maintains. The amount to be reduced is the appropriate proportion of the school's funding for that pupil. The new school will receive the amount deducted from the excluding school or a proportion of that amount if the LA makes educational provision out of school;
b) Inter-LA recoupment:
For transfers between LAs, where a pupil lives in one area but attends a school maintained by another LA, the funding formula of the LA where the excluding school is situated determines the amount. Where this is subsequently passed to a different LA and on to a school in that or a third LA's area, neither of these LAs' funding schemes impact on the calculation.
Amount of funding attributed to the pupil (see
Annex)
176. The amount is determined by the funding formula used by the LA
for maintained primary or secondary (not special) schools for the financial
year in which the relevant date falls, taking account of the pupil's age
and characteristics. 'Characteristics' is a catch-all term for any
pupil-specific factor used in the LA funding formula, such as free school meal
entitlement. This allows the LA, if they wish, to deduct more than just
the age weighted pupil unit (AWPU). The LA may decide that to recalculate
the budget share on this basis is inefficient and opt to deduct just the
AWPU.
Date from which excluding school loses money
177. The excluding school loses funding from the 'relevant
date' of exclusion. The allocation to the new school is made from the
date of entry to the new school. The LA keeps the difference between these two
amounts to contribute towards any time the pupil is educated out of
school. If no school place is found, the home LA keeps the entire amount
deducted for education out of school.
178. When a permanently excluded pupil starts at a new school before the relevant date (e.g. the parent does not appeal but immediately arranges entry to a new school) funding cannot be transferred until the day after the relevant date.
The relevant date
179. From 1 September 2007, the relevant date is the sixth school day
following the head teacher's decision to exclude the pupil permanently.
Prior to 1 September 2007 the relevant date was the date on which an
independent appeal panel decided not to direct reinstatement, or, if there was
no appeal, on the day after the last date on which an appeal might have been
made or on the day (if earlier) that the relevant person notified the LA that
they did not intend to appeal. We have changed the relevant date to provide LAs
with funding so that they can arrange education for permanently excluded pupils
from the sixth school day following exclusion (for more detail see paragraph 49 and the specific guidance on day 6 provision which is available on
TeacherNet).
180. For transfers between LAs, the relevant date for allocating funds to the intermediate or new LA is the date on which the new LA provides education for that pupil. The relevant date is the same whether this is provided at a school maintained by that LA or out of school.
Reinstatement of excluded pupils
181. Where a pupil has been reinstated by the governing body of a
school or by an independent appeal panel, a proportion of the funding deducted
from the school's budget in respect of that pupil will have to be
reallocated to the school. In such circumstances the school's budget share
will have to be increased in accordance with Calculation 3 as set out in the
Annex.
The need for prompt payments
182. Transfers between LAs must be completed within three months
of the relevant date.
Complete weeks (see Annex)
183. The formulae use complete weeks as the basis of the
calculation. This represents the proportion of the whole financial year
the pupil spent in the school. The number of complete calendar weeks is
calculated out of 52, i.e. including school holidays, banks holidays and
weekends. Complete weeks are counted from the relevant date to the last
day of the financial year, i.e. to 31 March.
Exception
184. If the excluded pupil is in a transfer year and the relevant date
falls between 1 April and the beginning of the new school year, then funding is
removed until the end of the school year rather than the end of the financial
year:
-
a transfer year is the school year before a pupil starts at secondary or middle school, generally Year 6. The last year of compulsory schooling (i.e. Year 11) does not count as a transfer year. This means that if a child is excluded in their last term of school, money for the entire financial year is removed from the school's budget;
-
the end of the school year is the last calendar day before the first term after July, so for example if the new school year begins on 1 September, the end of the school year will be 31 August.
Pupil numbers for the next year's
funding
185. The LA may adjust actual pupil numbers to reflect exclusions
taking place after a pupil count date that determines funding. This
includes numbers due to permanent exclusions or increasing numbers due to the
admission of a pupil permanently excluded from another school. This is
most likely to arise if a pupil is excluded between the schools' census
date in January and 31 March. LAs may adjust actual and estimated pupil numbers
when determining schools' initial budget shares for the following financial
year, as well as an in-year re-determinations of budget shares.
Related documents
The School Finance (England) Regulations 20061
amended by the The School Finance (Amendment)(England) Regulations
2007
The Education (Amount To Follow The Permanently Excluded Pupil) Regulations 1999
Sections 494 and 569(4) of the Education Act 1996
ANNEX: How to work out how much
money should follow the pupil
LA re-determining the budget share of one of its own maintained schools
Deduction from the excluding school
Calculation 1
A x (B / 52)
A is the amount attributable for the full financial year to a registered pupil of the same age and characteristics as the pupil in question. If the registered pupil is a pupil in respect of whom grant is payable to the authority by the LSC the amount attributable to that pupil must be £3,131 for 2007-08.2
B is the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year calculated from the relevant date (EXCEPT that where the permanent exclusion takes effect on or after 1 April in a school year at the end of which pupils of the same age or age group as the pupil in question normally leave that school prior to being admitted to another school with a different pupil age range, B is the number of complete weeks remaining in that school year calculated from the relevant date).
Allocation to the admitting school
Calculation 2
D x (E / F)
D is the amount by which the LA reduces the budget share of the school from which the pupil was permanently excluded or would have been reduced had that school been maintained by the LA.
E is the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year during which the pupil is a registered pupil at the admitting school.
F is the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year calculated from the relevant date.
Where the pupil is reinstated by the governing body or the LA
Calculation 3
G x (H / I)
GI1 is the amount by which the authority has reduced the budget share of the excluding school.
H is the number of complete weeks remaining in the funding period during which the pupil is reinstated.
I is the number of complete weeks remaining in the funding period calculated from the relevant date.
Inter-LEA transfers — maximum 3 LAs
Deduction and allocation
Calculation 4
(J + K) x L / 52
J is the amount by which the authority has reduced the budget share of the excluding school.
K is the amount from the excluding LA's local schools budget attributable to that pupil but not delegated to the individual school (the amount held by the LA).
L is the number of complete weeks remaining in the financial year calculated from the relevant date.
1. These regulations are generally made annually. Authorities and schools must refer to the most up to date regulations which specify the calculations shown in the Annex.
2. The amount specified for post 16 pupils is defined in the Schools Finance Regulations for the relevant year.
