Section 251: 2026 to 2027
Information for local authorities, schools and the general public about local authority education funding and expenditure plans for 2026 to 2027.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Section 251 is part of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009.
Local authorities submit statements of planned and actual expenditure on education and children’s social care.
We use the data for:
- publishing statistics
- constructing benchmarking tables
- answering parliamentary questions
- responding to other data requests
Comparing information is important for schools forums and others in discussions about budget levels and use of funds.
The document ‘Budget return: section 251 XML generator for 2026 to 2027’ is not accessible because it uses merged cells and the colour contrast of some text. This means it does not meet Web Content Accessibility Guidelines success criteria:
- 1.3.2: meaningful sequence
- 1.4.3: contrast
We are working to fix it by 25 March 2027.
Section 251 budget data files
The budget data files show the data submitted by local authorities during the section 251 budget 2026 to 2027 collection.
They are the primary source of information about local authorities’ spending plans for the 2026 to 2027 financial year for education, children’s services, high needs and early years.
‘Budget data: high needs places and funding by maintained school 2026 to 2027’ (MS Excel spreadsheet) shows local authorities’ planned expenditure on high needs places in maintained schools.
‘Budget data: local authority planned expenditure on early years budgets 2026 to 2027’ (MS Excel spreadsheet) shows local authorities’ planned expenditure on early years provision.
‘Budget data: local authority planned expenditure on education and children’s services for financial year 2015 to 2016 to financial year 2026 to 2027’ (MS Excel spreadsheet) shows a time series of local authorities’ planned expenditure against the reporting lines described in the budget guidance.