Written question WQ93272

The Welsh Government provides funding to local authorities to support their funding of pre-16 provision in schools in Wales mainly through the local government revenue settlement. The settlement is not ring-fenced; the funding allocated to each authority is available to the authority to spend as it sees fit across the range of services for which it is responsible, including schools. This is in line with the Welsh Government’s policy that local authorities are best placed to judge local needs and circumstances and to fund schools accordingly.

The 2024-25 final settlement was published on 27 February 2024. Local authorities will receive £5.72 billion from the Welsh Government in core revenue funding and non-domestic rates to spend on delivering key services. This is an increase of 3.3% or £184 million on a like-for-like basis compared to 2023-24, and is on top of the consolidated increase of 7.9% provided in 2023-24.

In addition, grant funding that goes to schools has been prioritised. For 2024-25 the amalgamation of pre-16 local authority education grants provides the same level of funding against similar grants provided to local authorities in 2023-24; this is also a 3.2% rise against the 2024-25 indicative budget for those same grants.

£379m will be provided through the Local Authority Education Grant to support our schools and local authorities in 2024-25, the demand-led support is in addition and totals £108m.