Guidance

Schools supplementary grant 2022 to 2023: conditions of grant for local authorities

Updated 26 April 2023

Applies to England

1. Introduction

The Secretary of State for Education is providing £1.2 billion of funding to mainstream schools, maintained nursery schools, and 16 to 19 schools, in England through the schools supplementary grant (SSG).

SSG is intended to support schools to meet the costs of the Health and Social Care Levy and, for primary and secondary school age provision, wider costs in 2022 to 2023.

Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will pay the SSG funds to local authorities on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education on 31 May 2022. A second payment for 2022 to 2023 will be made to local authorities in October 2022. In addition, ESFA will pay SSG to academies directly – the first payment will be made in June 2022, with the second payment in November 2022.

The following terms and conditions apply to the SSG for the financial year beginning 1 April 2022.

The SSG rates and eligibility for 2022 to 2023 are published in the methodology document.

SSG funding will be incorporated into core budget allocations for 2023 to 2024 where possible. So, for primary, secondary and all-through schools, this will mean the funding being rolled into the schools national funding formula (NFF) for 2023 to 2024.

2. Allocation and payment to mainstream schools

Local authorities must pay to each:

• maintained nursery school
• maintained primary and secondary school
• all through maintained school
• 16 to 19 maintained school

which they are responsible for maintaining, the allocation amounts shown in 2022 to 2023 schools supplementary grant school level allocations. The figure set out in the “first payment” column and then the subsequent “second payment” when this is published.

Local authorities must comply with the condition above irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share.

SSG is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual schools’ budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee.

3. Permitted use of SSG funds

Local authorities must ensure that their maintained schools only spend SSG funds in the following ways:

• for the purposes of the school; or
• for the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools, pupil referral units or hospital schools

SSG funds do not have to be spent by maintained schools or academies in the financial year beginning 1 April 2022. Maintained schools and academies may carry some or all of the SSG funds forward to future financial years.

4. Certification

Each local authority will be required to certify to ESFA that they have complied with these terms and conditions.

ESFA will set out the arrangements for certification in spring 2023.

5. Variation

The basis for allocation of this grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from those set out above.

6. Overpayments

Any overpayment of SSG by ESFA to a local authority shall be repaid by the local authority upon on such terms and conditions as ESFA or the Secretary of State for Education shall determine.

7. Further information

Books and other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts shall be open to inspection by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Comptroller and Auditor General may, under Section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983, carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the recipient has used its resources in discharging its grant-aided activities.

Schools and local authorities shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether they have complied with these conditions.