In 2006-2007 new arrangements for school funding came into being which included the rationalisation of specific grants. The School Development Grant (SDG) was expanded to include a further nine previously separate grants. The Excellence in Cities grant was one of the nine grants.
Part of the School Development Grant is retained by the local authority to be used on any purpose to improve the standards of teaching and learning across schools, and part is devolved to schools.
Local authority retention
The centrally retained part of the School Development Grant, previously part of Local Area Agreements, will be transferred to the new Area Based Grant from 2008-2009. Although the funding has been allocated to local authorities in recognition of their responsibilities for specific areas, the Area Based Grant is not ring-fenced for any particular purpose and can be spent on any local authority service. Local authorities can retain up to the cash amount retained in 2007-2008. This funding does not form part of a schools SDG guaranteed baseline.
In 2007/08 £950,338 was retained by the local authority for Excellence in Cities initiatives. This cash amount is the maximum that can be retained in 2008/09.
Devolved EiC Grant to Schools
In 2007/08 the amount devolved to schools in respect of Excellence in Cities initiatives was £5,009,915. This included £3,328,114 devolved to individual schools. For schools that received this grant, each school will receive at least as much per pupil in 2008/09 as they received in 2007/08.
The remainder of the Excellence in Cities funding is allocated across the three small Education Action Zones, the targeted Behaviour Improvement Programme and a small amount to the Gifted and Talented Summer School programme.
Schools that are part of an Excellence Cluster or EiC Action Zone and receive an allocation from a ‘banker’ school as part of this relationship, are entitled to receive at least as much per pupil in 2008/09 as they received in 2007/08. Each school's individual allocation forms part of their funding guarantee and it is for them to decide whether to continue to pool this funding.
A full breakdown of the allocations is included in the EIC 2007-08 spreadsheet.
The allocation of main School Development Grant to local authorities will be based on the 2007-2008 baseline, and increased by 2.1 % per pupil each year from 2008-2011. The indicative amount available through EiC measures for 2008/09 will therefore increase by £105, 208 (£5,009,915 x 2.1%).