LACSEG 2012/13 - Schools

Multi-page article: Updated: 18 January 2013

Academy funding: LACSEG 2012/13

The Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant (LACSEG) is paid to academies in recognition of the fact that as independent schools they no longer receive a number of services from local authorities (LAs) and must make appropriate provision for themselves. This is calculated by taking relevant central expenditure data from Table 1 of local authorities’ Section 251 statements, in both the Schools Budget and the LA Budget, and dividing it by the relevant number of pupils to obtain a per-pupil figure.

This page provides LACSEG resources including guidance notes, LACSEG calculators and unit values.

From 2013/14, LACSEG will be replaced by new funding arrangements for academies. Please see the 2013/14 LACSEG page for more information.

LACSEG in 2012/13

The Department published on 3 February 2012 the Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant (LACSEG) unit rates for the 2012/13 academic year and online calculators to enable academies, prospective converters and Free Schools to work out what they are, or would be, entitled to.

The overarching principle of academy funding is that academies should be funded on the same basis as local maintained schools. LACSEG is paid to academies to cover the costs of services that the local authority provides to maintained schools because academies are expected to secure these services independently.

The LACSEG rates vary from area to area. This is because the rates are calculated for each local authority based on how much they planned to spend on the same services for the schools they maintain. In order to limit significant year-on-year fluctuations in academies' LACSEG allocations, and to better reflect the transfer of responsibilities from local authorities to academies, the Department has made some key changes in the way that the per pupil LACSEG rates for academies in each local authority is calculated:

We recognise that not all of the local authority’s responsibilities can be delegated to schools and so, following a consultation with local authorities, we have reduced the proportion of local authority spend which is used to calculate LACSEG in some areas (Education Welfare Services, Asset Management and Statutory and Regulatory Duties). We have also reduced by 3.3 per cent the proportion of spend that we take on all local authority block LACSEG lines to reflect the reduction in the local authority Formula Grant between 2011-12 and 2012-13.
In calculating the LACSEG rates, we have included the money that local authorities keep for school-specific contingencies. Under arrangements for 2011/12, academies did not receive a share of contingencies in LACSEG; nor did they have any entitlement to access this funding, although we are aware that some authorities did make this available to academies as well as maintained schools. We have also included funding for support to underperforming ethnic minority groups and bilingual learners.
In order to minimise the negative impact of big year-on-year reductions in the amount of LACSEG paid to academies, we will top up the local authority LACSEG rate so that it does not fall below £100 per pupil in any local authority. We will also ensure that no academy receives more than a 10 per cent reduction in the total per pupil LACSEG allocation that they received, or would have received, last year.

New funding arrangements for academies opening from 1 April 2013 to 31 August 2013

For mainstream academies that opened before 1 April 2013, the existing funding arrangements will continue to apply until the end of the 2012/13 academic year. This will also apply to special units attached to mainstream academies. From 1 September 2013 new arrangements will apply. More information about the new arrangements is set out in the 2013/14 LACSEG page.

For academies opening from 1 April 2013 onwards, new funding arrangements will apply.

From April 2013, LAs will be required to delegate the maximum amount of the Dedicated Schools Grant through revised local funding formulae. This means that Schools Block LACSEG for academies will be replaced by additional money in the school budget share. Schools Block LACSEG will be included when the EFA calculate Minimum Funding Guarantee (MFG) protections of -1.5% per pupil in 2013/14. Academies opening from 1 April 2013 will be funded using the new local authority formula. This means that a separate Schools Block LACSEG calculation will not be required.

Academies opening from 1 April 2013 will continue to receive LA Block LACSEG calculated on the basis of the 2012/13 LA Block LACSEG rate for the relevant local authority. This will also apply to special units attached to mainstream academies.

A calculator is available to allow schools to calculate their annual LACSEG.

Special and Alternative Provision Academies

From 1 April 2013 all special and alternative provision (AP) academies will be funded through two main funding streams: base funding of £10,000 per place for special Academies and £8,000 per place for AP academies, from the Education Funding Agency (EFA); and top-up funding relating to each pupil on roll from the relevant local authority or (in the case of AP) school/academy placing the pupil in the provision.

For the same reasons as given above, special and AP academies will receive LA Block LACSEG only from 1 April 2012, calculated on the basis of the 2012/13 LA Block LACSEG rate for the relevant local authority. For those academies open before 1 April 2013, LA Block LACSEG will be calculated using agreed 2012/13 place numbers. For academies opening after 1 April, LA Block LACSEG will be calculated using the place numbers, pre- and post-16, which the EFA has agreed to fund at £10,000 or £8,000 per place. In both cases the LA Block LACSEG rate will be multiplied by a factor of 4.25 for special academies and 3.75 for AP academies.

Hospital education places, in special or AP academies (which may be known as hospital schools), will be funded by the EFA on the basis of the full cost per place from 1 April 2013. LA Block LACSEG will be paid, as above, on the basis of the number of places.
The LACSEG calculator is being developed to take these changes into account and will be available shortly.