DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 28 November 2011 O’Dowd briefs schools on future schools’ budget Education Minister, John O’Dowd, has announced the future funding position for all schools over the next three years. The Minister commented: “The scale of the savings required in education has been clear since the Budget 2011-15 process concluded in March this year. I have however reviewed the budget allocations and two weeks ago I mitigated the impact on the Aggregated Schools Budget by putting £40million from my budget into it over the next three years. Otherwise the decrease next year would have been more than 5%. “I am meeting with the Finance Minister soon to talk in detail about the impact of the Education budget as it currently stands and will also be looking towards the Executive’s Budget Review Group, which is seeking to identify extra sources of funding, in order to reduce the financial impact on schools. “Normally schools get their budget information in January/February but I was keen to get as much information out to schools at the earliest possible date. The harsh reality is that the cuts imposed on this Administration by the British Government have severely impacted upon the future schools’ budget and these reductions will in turn mean that schools will face job losses – both in teaching and non-teaching staff in the future. “My Department issued on Friday 25 November a letter to all schools setting out in detail the future funding position they face. The cash value of the Age Weighted Pupil Unit is estimated to decrease by 5% next year, a further 1% in 2013/014 and a further 5% in 2014/15. It is important that schools and their funding authorities now examine this information and I would ask each school to call an early Board of Governors meeting to analyse their budget in light of this and agree the actions required to ensure that each school lives within its budget for the next three years. “However I am clear that, as Education Minister, I have a duty to inform schools as soon as possible of the budget planning information I have available to ensure they are fully informed when making important future decisions. This is why I have also informed schools and the Education and Library Boards that I have extended the deadline for the viability audit to 16 January 2012 to allow it to be as robust and complete as possible.” The Minister concluded: “Clearly many schools will have difficult choices to make but this early notification of future budgets will allow them to make informed decisions and plan for the future. I will continue to argue the case for further investment in the future to help alleviate pressures on the education budget. I will also continue to explore options for alternative savings.” Notes to editors: 1. The amount available in 2012-13 to schools’ delegated budgets under the Local Management of Schools (LMS) arrangements is £1,093 million compared to £1,126 million in 2011-12. This represents a real terms decrease in funding in 2012-13 of some £60 million when compared to 2011-12. Indicative allocation for schools in 2013-14 and 2014-15 is £1,098 million and £1,064 million respectively. This represents a real terms decrease in

funding in 2014-15 of around £150 million when compared to this year. 2. Pupils at different phases of education give rise to different expenditure requirements e.g. nursery, primary & post primary. Pupil funding is therefore “weighted” to take account of this. Hence the term ‘Age Weighted Pupil Unit’, which represents about c80% of the core funding for all schools. 3. The Budget 2011-15 outcome for education has produced major challenges as the level of funding available over the period 2011-12 to 2014-15 is less than what had previously been in place. The shortfall between the Department’s anticipated spending requirements and the Budget 2011-15 outcome is some £101m / £177m / £214m / £291m across the 4-year Budget period and a Savings Delivery Plan has been developed to address this gap in funding. These savings measures seek to protect spend on Departmental priorities; bear down on unnecessary bureaucracy; and protect, as far as possible, funding for frontline services. 4. Budget allocations to individual schools cannot be determined at this time until the schools census data has been validated by the relevant Funding Authorities. It is anticipated that individual school budget allocations for the 2012/13 financial year, under the Common Funding Formula arrangements, will be notified to schools by the end of January 2012. 5. Watch video from the Department of Education on our YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/thedeptofeducation 6. Media queries, contact the Department of Education’s Communication Team on Tel No: 028 9127 9701. Out of office hours please contact the Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440.