Explanatory note

These Regulations provide for the calculation and manner of payment of grants by the Secretary of State to the governing bodies of grant-maintained schools established under the provisions of the Education Reform Act 1988 (“the Act”). Three types of grant are payable: maintenance grant, paid on an annual basis, which is intended to cover the normal running costs of the school; capital grant, to meet capital expenditure; and special purpose grant, to meet expenditure incurred on particular educational purposes or expenditure which the governing body could not reasonably be expected to meet out of maintenance grant.

Regulation 3 contains transitional provisions relating to the calculation of maintenance grant in respect of financial years before the local education authority by which the grant-maintained school was formerly maintained (“the former maintaining authority”) is required to produce a financial statement under section 2 of the Act relating to schemes for the local management of its county and voluntary schools. The Secretary of State is required to determine an amount which represents relevant expenditure on the school incurred in the last financial year by the former maintaining authority, to which is to be added an amount representing the school’s share of planned expenditure by that authority in respect of centrally provided services for all its maintained primary or secondary schools in the financial year to which the grant relates. Schedules 1 to 3 set out what expenditure is relevant, and what is to be disregarded for these purposes. There is provision for the adjustment of the amount so determined to take account of changed levels of expenditure by the former maintaining authority or changes in the characteristics of the grant-maintained school, and for the Secretary of State to proceed to a determination on the basis of the information available to him on a given date if he has insufficient information to make accurate determinations of relevant expenditure on the school or the school’s share of planned expenditure centrally provided services.

Regulation 4 concerns the determination of maintenance grant for financial years when the former maintaining authority has to prepare a stateent under section 42 of the Act. The Secretary of State is to determine an amount which represents the amount which the school would have received as its budget share for the year under the authority’s approved scheme of financial delegation. To this is to be added a school’s share of planned expenditure by the authority for its schools on excepted items falling outside the delegated budget payable under that scheme.

Regulation 5 deals with the apportionment of maintenance grant for schools which attain grant-maintained status other than at the beginning of a financial year.

The amount of maintenance grant payable in respect of a school may be adjusted if circumstances change subsequently. (Regulation 6).

Regulation 7 and Schedule 4 provide for requirements which may be attached to the payment of maintenance grant.

The Secretary of State may pay capital grant in respect of the types of expenditure set out in Schedule 5. (Regulations 8 and 9).

Regulation 10 provides for the payment of special purpose grant in respect of the types of expenditure set out in Schedule 6; regulation 11 provides for the attachment of requirements, including those set out in Schedule 4.

Regulation 12 provides for the recovery by the Secretary of State from the former maintaining authority of the amount of maintenance grant payable in respect of any grant-maintained school. This amount is subject to adjustment to reflect any excess paid by that authority in previous financial years.