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Dec 19, 2023 · Authority proforma tool (APT): purpose and process - instructions for local authorities for 2024 to 2025. Use the purpose and process guidance to understand the content and structure of the...
- Authority proforma tool (APT): purpose and process ... - GOV.UK
The current APT is an updated version of the 2024 to 2025...
- How to complete the authority proforma tool (APT ... - GOV.UK
Several changes have been made for the 2024 to 2025 APT. The...
- Authority proforma tool (APT): purpose and process ... - GOV.UK
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Background and purpose
- 3. 2024 to 2025 changes
- 4. Timeline
- 5. APT structure and key components
- 6. Colour coding of worksheets
- 7. APT worksheets
- 8. Contact information
Every year, local authorities are required to detail their schools block funding (SBF) formulae in accordance with the arrangements set out by the Secretary of State for Education.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has developed the authority proforma tool (APT) to assist local authorities to model and then confirm how they plan to do this for the funding year.
This guidance is designed to be used with ‘How to complete the authority proforma tool’; however, we recommend that you review this guidance first. ‘How to complete the authority proforma tool’ guides you on how to complete the APT, whereas this document contains the theory behind the APT and is designed to aid understanding it.
This guidance covers the APT background and purpose, and the APT structure and key components.
The main purposes of the APT is to:
•allow you to model different options for their SBF formulae and to act as the proforma which is submitted to us in January of each year; it is also the mechanism by which we provide the schools block dataset to you
•capture all of the data we require to calculate academy budgets, including information on the number of occupied high needs places at special units and resourced provision in mainstream academies, to determine the place funding rate
•enable us to check that the formula has been applied reasonably and in compliance with regulations and conditions of grant, and that central budgets are being allocated in line with regulations
•enable us to check that all funding allocated through the schools block element of the dedicated schools grant (DSG) is passed through the funding formula you have set, or allocated to the growth fund or falling rolls fund
•collect data on maintained schools’ schools block budgets for publication
This section addresses any changes to last year’s APT or important factors which you need to consider while completing the APT.
Several changes have been made for the 2024 to 2025 APT. The main points to note are:
•the mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) has been included in the DSG for 2024 to 2025. To ensure schools do not lose funding as a result of this change, additional funding has been added to each school’s MFG baseline. The amount added reflects the number of pupils included in the school’s MFG baseline
•we have added a new worksheet for you to provide detailed eligibility criteria for growth and falling rolls funding
•the requirement to move each mandatory factor 10% closer to the NFF will apply again in 2024 to 2025. The requirement will be extended to cover split sites funding and the London fringe. To assist local authorities affected by the requirement to move the London fringe multiplier closer to the area cost adjustment (ACA) differential the proforma now includes a cell to update the multiplier for all those schools within the fringe area
•split sites funding is now mandatory and is calculated using the same formula as used in the 2024 to 2025 NFF
The December 2023 version of the APT is for you to model your 2024 to 2025 SBF formulae and to return this information to us. The APT is populated with schools block data, primarily drawn from the autumn 2023 schools census.
You must return the completed APT to us by Monday, 22 January 2024.
The following sections provide detailed information about the rationale behind the colour coding of worksheets, cells and details about the content or function of each of these worksheets.
Please note, in each worksheet there are several comments embedded into various cells. These comments provide hints and tips to the you and reminders of what should and should not be entered into that cell or column.
6.1 Yellow - prepopulated (non-editable) data
There are 7 prepopulated worksheets in the APT. These worksheets will also have yellow cells, this is to show that they are prepopulated and non-editable. Please note, yellow (non-editable) cells can appear in other worksheets as well, depending on the purpose of that worksheet. Please do not attempt to unlock and amend the yellow prepopulated cells. If you submit your APT with any of the protections removed, we will ask you to resubmit with the protections restored.
6.2 Blue - requires user input
There are 14 worksheets in the APT that may require some user input. These worksheets will also have blue cells - this shows that they are user editable. These worksheets contain the data required for the APT to automatically calculate school-level budgets for you. Please note, blue (editable) cells can appear in other worksheets as well, depending on the purpose of that worksheet. For the 2024 to 2025 APT new ‘Split sites adjustments’ and ‘Growth and falling rolls’ worksheets have been added.
6.3 Purple - automated calculation/output
There are 4 worksheets in the APT that are populated automatically using cell formulae, derived from the data contained in the prepopulated and user-input worksheets. These worksheets contain a degree of automatic calculation, which form the outputs of the APT. These worksheets will also have purple cells to show that they are calculation cells (non-editable). Although the cell formulae cannot be edited, the user can select these cells to view the formula used to populate it. Please note, purple (non-editable calculation) cells can appear in other worksheets as well, depending on the purpose of that worksheet. We have used automatic calculation wherever possible throughout the APT, to avoid you having to do unnecessary additional calculations and to prevent the risk of errors when using the same piece of data in more than one place, in one or more worksheets. For example, the ‘New ISB’ worksheet calculates the funding allocated to each school under each factor, based on the data contained in the prepopulated worksheets, the user input worksheets and the funding formula factors, as specified on the ‘Proforma’ worksheet. This removes the need for the local authorities to carry out the same calculation and then enter the results themselves. Please do not attempt to unlock and amend the purple automatic calculation cells. If you submit your APT with any of the protections removed, we will ask you to resubmit with the protections restored.
7.1 Cover
This worksheet gives information about the APT, with the main table listing each of the other worksheets and providing a brief explanation of them. Throughout the APT, some of the automatic calculations (purple cells) use Microsoft Excel ‘named ranges’ to help simplify the formulae - the ‘Cover’ worksheet contains a table showing these cells and the named ranges these relate to. There is also a table at the top of the worksheet which must be completed before you submit the APT to us. See the guidance ‘How to complete the authority proforma tool’. You are also required to confirm that political ratification has been received. Political ratification is the approval needed under your authority’s internal scheme of delegation, required for you to be able to issue budgets to maintained schools before 29 February 2024. Ratification may be given by your cabinet, cabinet member, mayor or the Director of Children’s Services, but not the schools forum, because that only has a consultative role for the formula. This should be ratified as early as possible, to enable you to meet the requirement to issue budgets to maintained schools before the end of February, and it must be no later than 29 February 2024. A validation error will occur where you enter an invalid date or do not check the box.
7.2 Schools Block Data
This worksheet contains the school level pupil numbers and indicators, for the most part based on the autumn (October) school census returns. The table below summarises the source data for each indicator/factor. A detailed description of all the data items can be found in the schools block dataset technical specification. Note that for the sparsity factor, middle and all-through schools’ sparsity distances are given under the ‘secondary sparsity av. distance to 2nd school’ column in the ‘Schools Block Data’ worksheet. This is a presentational issue only and the rules for pupil numbers and distances are different for middle, all-through and secondary schools. Please also note that this is a locked worksheet, and you cannot make any amendments to it. If you wish to update any of the data shown in the ‘Schools Block Data’ worksheet, you need to update the ‘Inputs & Adjustments’ worksheet.
7.3 23-24 submitted baselines
This worksheet contains the 2023 to 2024 school level baselines that local authorities have submitted to us, covering the maintained schools and academies. This data is used to populate the ‘23-24 final baselines’ worksheet which then calculates the 2023 to 2024 MFG per-pupil school budget share (SBS). A new column has been added to include funding from the MSAG which is now included in the DSG (this replaces the column for including the schools supplementary grant (SSG) in the 2023 to 2024 APT). This amount has been calculated using the baseline NOR to ensure schools receive the correct per-pupil level of protection. Full details of the calculation can be found in Annex E of ‘How to complete the authority proforma tool’. Please note that this is a locked worksheet, and you cannot make any amendments to it. If you wish to update any of the data shown in the ‘23-24 submitted baselines’ worksheet, you need to update the ‘23-24 final baselines’ worksheet.
Any questions or queries about the APT and how it works, or requests for the password to open your APT file should be made to:
APTsubmissions.QUESTIONS@education.gov.uk
Dec 19, 2023 · Several changes have been made for the 2024 to 2025 APT. The main points to note are: the mainstream schools additional grant (MSAG) has been included in the dedicated schools grant (DSG)...
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