Submit your section 151 officer return and schools financial value standard assurance statement
Guidance for local authorities on how to complete the section 151 officer return and the schools financial value standard assurance statement for the 2023 to 2024 financial year.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Purpose of the assurance return
The purpose of the return is for the section 151 (S151) officer to provide assurances to the Education and Skills Funding Agency and the Department for Education that pre-16 and post-16 funding has been used for the intended purposes, in line with the terms and conditions of the grants and the funding rules, and that the S151 officer is not aware of any errors, exceptions or fraud for the financial year 2023 to 2024.
Where grants are for an academic year and, therefore, span 2 financial years, we are seeking assurance for the 2023 to 2024 financial year funding only.
The return also includes the schools financial value standard (SFVS) assurance statement. This statement is for S151 officers to provide assurance about the financial controls they have in place for the schools that they maintain.
S151 officer return : guidance for completing the digital form
Explains how to complete the digital form.
Schools financial value standard assurance: guidance for local authorities for 2023 to 2024
Provides further information about the SFVS assurance section of the return.
What you must report
You must report against each of the funding lines included in the schedule below (if applicable):
Pre-16
- additional support for schools in financial difficulty
- cadet expansion school staff instructor grant
- early career framework backfill payments for time off timetable for mentor training
- early years supplementary grant
- early years teachers’ pay additional grant
- funding for time off timetable for early career teachers and mentors
- homes for Ukraine education and childcare funding
- mainstream schools additional grant
- national professional qualification targeted support funding
- national tutoring programme grant
- PE and sport premium grant
- pupil premium grant
- recovery premium grant
- senior mental health lead training grant
- teachers’ pay additional grant
- teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (pre-16)
- universal infant free school meals grant
Post-16
- 16 to 19 bursary fund
- 16 to 19 tuition fund
- adult education budget (AEB) and advanced learner loan bursary
- apprenticeships
- core funding (16 to 19)
- high needs (post-16)
- teachers’ pension employer contribution grant (post-16)
SFVS assurance statement
- the number of eligible schools in the local authority, broken down by school type
- the number of eligible schools that have completed the SFVS, broken down by school type
- the number of eligible schools that did not complete the SFVS, both with and without exemptions, broken down by school type
- the number of eligible schools against each exemption reason
- the name and URN of each school that did not complete the SFVS without an exemption
- the number of related party transactions entered into by schools with a value greater than £20,000
The deadline for the submission of all forms and the S151 officer statement declaration is 5pm on 24 May 2024.
If there are any queries about your return, please contact: la.assurance@education.gov.uk.