Guidance

Academy conversion: surplus and deficit balance transfer process

Guidance for schools and local authorities on what happens if a school has a budget surplus or deficit when it converts to academy status.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 19 May 2014
• Last updated: 9 November 2023
  Show all updates

  1. 9 November 2023

     Updated section 5 to clarify wording in the 'Treatment of surplus and deficit balances when maintained schools become academies' document.

  2. 22 March 2018

     Updated section 1 and 5 following changes to legislation and guidance about the definition of a sponsored academy and section 8.1 about the treatment of local authority loan schemes.

  3. 25 March 2015

     Updated document to clarify the definition of converter and sponsored academies; expand advice on the management of deficit costs; add information on schools with loans.

  4. 19 May 2014

     First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Treatment of surplus and deficit balances when maintained schools become academies

PDF, 162 KB, 9 pages

Details

This guidance is for:

• local authorities
• school leaders
• school staff
• governing bodies

It explains what happens if a school has a budget surplus or deficit when it becomes an academy and is no longer maintained by the local authority.

This guidance relates to the Academies Act 2010 and the Academy Conversions (Transfer of School Surpluses) Regulations 2013.

Read more guidance for schools on converting to academy status.