Local Financial Return (LFR) 2020-2021: guidance

6. LFR 01: Education

All expenditure and income relating to the education service, regardless of which department provides the service, should be recorded in LFR 01. Exceptions are:

• Social Work component of local authority residential schools – these should be recorded in LFR 03;
• School Crossing Patrols – these should be recorded in LFR 05.

6.1 Service Analysis

For Education, SeRCoP divisions of service are requested in two different formats:

1. by school type (Columns C to K) – see Table 2;

2. by devolved and centrally managed (Columns P to R) – see Table 3.

Tables 2 and 3 detail how the SeRCoP divisions of service relate to the subservices used within LFR 01.

Pre-Primary Education (Column C): In line with the SeRCoP guidance, this column should include all traditional education activity, including nursery schools, but should not include childcare services.

Please note, where pre-primary education settings fall under a budget devolved to a primary school head teacher, the amounts relating to the pre-primary setting should be allocated to Pre-Primary Education, rather than Primary Education. This is to ensure consistent recording of Pre-Primary Education expenditure and income across local authorities with different school set-ups and budgets.

Special Education (Column F): Please note that references within the SeRCoP guidance to Special Education Needs (SEN) should be considered to cover all Additional Support for Learning (ASL) needs. The latter term is concurrent with language used in the Additional Support for Learning (Scotland) Act 2009.

In line with the SeRCoP guidance, please ensure that all ASL provision funded from a centrally held education authority budget is included in the Special Education column, irrespective of where it is delivered. Any ASL provision that is funded by an individual schools' budget should be included under the relevant school type.

For example, an ASL unit attached to a primary school that is funded by the Education Authority would be included in the Special Education column. However, if the ASL unit was funded from the primary school's own budget it would be included within the Primary column.

Table 2: SeRCoP Divisions of Service by school type

Service	SeRCoP Divisions of Service	Pre-Primary Education	Primary Education	Secondary Education	Special Education	Community Learning	Other Non-school Funding
Individual School Budgets	Budgets devolved to the head teacher of pre-primary schools	X
	Budgets devolved to the primary school head teacher		X
	Budgets devolved to the secondary school head teacher			X
	Budgets devolved to the special school head teacher				X
	Schools without devolved budgets	Apportioned appropriately
Education Authority Centrally Held School Budgets	Schools strategic management	Apportioned appropriately
	Non-devolved school grants	Apportioned appropriately
	Pre-primary education	X
	Facilitating school improvement	Apportioned appropriately
	Supporting Special Education Needs (SEN), irrespective of where delivered				X
	School and pupil support	Apportioned appropriately
Non-school Funding	Strategic management of non-school services						X
	Support for students						X
	Home to college transport (16-18 years)						X
	Community learning					X

Table 3: SeRCoP Divisions of Service by devolved and centrally managed

Service	SeRCoP Divisions of Service	Devolved	Centrally Managed
Individual School Budgets	Budgets devolved to the head teacher of pre-primary schools	X
	Budgets devolved to the primary school head teacher	X
	Budgets devolved to the secondary school head teacher	X
	Budgets devolved to the special school head teacher	X
	Schools without devolved budgets		X
Education Authority Centrally Held School Budgets	Schools strategic management		X
	Non-devolved school grants		X
	Pre-primary education		X
	Facilitating school improvement		X
	Supporting Special Education Needs (SEN), irrespective of where delivered		X
	School and pupil support		X
Non-school Funding	Strategic management of non-school services	Not included
	Support for students	Not included
	Home to college transport (16-18 years)	Not included
	Community learning	Not included

6.2 Additional Information

Note that double counting between rows is permitted within the additional information for LFR 01. For example, Other Employee Costs associated with Additional Support for Learning should be counted in both the 'Employee Costs – All Other Employees' and 'Additional Support for Learning' lines. Double counting is not permitted between columns or in the core LFR 01 table.

Revenue Contributions to Capital (RCC) (Row 36): Record here any RCC relating to Pre-Primary Education (Column C); Primary Education (Column D); and Secondary Education (Column E) only. This information collected specifically for use in the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) and so is only required for subservices which are reflected in LGBF finance indicators.

Employee Costs - All other employees (Row 40): Record here gross expenditure on employees other than teachers. This includes, but is not limited to, classroom auxiliaries, laboratory technicians, school librarians, school bursars, school welfare officers, receptionists, clerks, janitors, cleaners, welfare attendants, nurses, therapists, other medical staff and educational psychologists.

School Transport incurred under Section 50-51 (Row 41): Record here gross expenditure on taxis, buses and any other transport costs arising from the transport of children from home to school incurred under Section 50-51 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980. Non-statutory transport costs, such as transport to sporting events, should not be included.

School Meals Expenditure (Rows 42 to 44): Data is now being collected on different categories of school meals to help improve understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of home delivery of meals, such as how this impacts the costs of delivery, and allowing further analysis of how take-up is affected. Where an estimate has had to be provided for any of these rows, please advise this in the comments box at the bottom of LFR 01, along with any comments on accuracy.

School Meals – Schools open (Row 42): Record here gross expenditure relating to the provision of school meals whilst schools were open and pupils were in attendance. This should include any general fixed costs associated with provision of school meals.

School Meals – Remote learning (Row 43): Record here gross expenditure relating to the provision of meal alternatives whilst schools were closed and pupils were studying remotely, including direct payments, vouchers, food parcels or food collection. Hardship grants paid to children in receipt of free school meals should not be included here, even if the grant may have been used to pay for meals.

School Meals – During school holidays (Row 44): Record here gross expenditure relating to the provision of meal alternatives to pupils living in low-income families during school holiday periods, including direct payments, vouchers, food parcels or food collection. Hardship grants paid to children in receipt of free school meals should not be included here, even if the grant may have been used to pay for meals.

School holiday meals are an ongoing commitment for the Scottish Government, and so it is important to understand the number and cost of holiday meals delivered separately from meals delivered to pupils learning remotely during term-time.

Additional Support for Learning (ASL) (Row 45): Following an amendment in 2009 to The Education (Additional Support for Learning) (Scotland) Act 2004, Scottish Ministers have a duty to collect and publish a range of information from Education Authorities on additional support needs, including cost of provision.

This line collects the cost of provision of additional support needs. These costs should be allocated to columns as per the relevant SeRCoP and LFR guidance, i.e. Pre-Primary, Primary and Secondary Education columns should only contain the costs for ASL provision that is funded by the schools' devolved budget and all centrally funded ASL provision should be included in the Special Education column.

Cost of provision of Additional Support Needs should include the following:

• Establishments: The cost of running ASL establishments, for example, special schools or units making provision for:
  • Moderate or complex learning difficulties;
  • Autism;
  • Physical impairment;
  • Emotional and behavioural needs;
  • Sensory impairments (Hearing and Visual Impairments);
  • Other additional support needs.
• Services: The cost of running centralised services which support the provision of additional support for learning but which may be local authority wide, such as:
  • Assessment centres;
  • Dyslexia services;
  • Bilingual services;
  • EAL services;
  • Sensory Impairment Teams;
  • Audiology services;
  • Any other services.
• Psychological Services: The cost of running a psychological service to support identification and provision for additional support for learning:
  • Educational psychologists – salary plus on costs;
  • Educational psychology service, including mainstream schools.
• Transport: The cost of providing transport for pupils with additional support needs. This includes buses and any associated contracts; taxis and any associated contracts; and any other costs of transport.
• Placements: The cost of purchased placements for pupils with additional support needs. This includes placements in another authority area that are wholly funded by education authorities, and placements where funding is shared by the education authorities and other services (whole costs where possible).
• Staffing: Cost of ASL teachers and support staff in both ASL and mainstream establishments, such as Pupil Support Assistants and Support for Learning teachers. This should include the cost of absence cover.

Youth Work (Row 47) and Adult Learning (Row 48): Data from these lines will be used by Scottish Government Community Learning & Development policy to:

• understand the investment being made in these areas at local authority level;
• support the commitment to deliver the Community Learning & Development Regulations;
• feed in to the National Youth Work and National Adult Learning Strategy when these are published.

These lines should reflect youth work / community-based adult learning services and provision linked to the Community Learning and Development Plan. Further details of specific expenditure to be recorded against each row is provided below.

Where an estimate has had to be provided for any of these rows, please advise this in the comments box at the bottom of LFR 01, along with any comments on the accuracy of the estimates. Further, if elements of these services are provided by an ALEO, please also note this in the comments box for information.

Please note that these lines are distinct categories. The validation check at Cells M47:M48 will fail if the sum of Cells H47 & H48 is greater than the total gross expenditure for Community Learning shown in Cell H13.

Youth Work (Row 47): Record here gross expenditure relating to youth work. Specifically, expenditure relating to:

• measures to provide education for citizenship through youth work;
• youth information services;
• direct provision of youth activities and facilities; and
• educational support for individuals and groups by youth workers or youth work services.

Adult Learning (Row 48): Record here gross expenditure related to the delivery of community-based adult learning and adult literacy and numeracy. Specifically, expenditure relating to:

• provision of adult literacies services;
• provision of English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) services;
• provision of generic community-based adult learning services.

School Meals - Customer and Client Receipts only (Row 51): Record here all customer and client receipt income generated from school meals. This should be in line with School Meals income provided in prior years.

Covid-19 Specific Grants (Row 52): Record here the amount of Covid-19 specific grants that have been applied to each subservice. A full list of Covid-19 Specific grants is provided in Annex B.

Number of Free School Meals - Schools open (Row 58): Record here the actual, unrounded number of free school meals provided whilst schools were open and pupils were in attendance. Do not provide this figure in thousands.

Number of paid for School Meals - Schools open (Row 59): Record here the actual, unrounded number of paid for school meals provided whilst schools were open and pupils were in attendance. Do not provide this figure in thousands.

Number of School Meals - Remote learning delivered (Row 62): Record here the actual, unrounded unit number of meal alternatives provided whilst schools were closed and pupils were studying remotely, including direct payments, vouchers, food parcels or food collection. Where more than one days' meal alternatives was provided in a single package, for example a food parcel, payment or voucher to cover a week or more, please provide the number of days per individual pupil these packages were intended to cover.

Number of School Meals - During school holidays delivered (Row 64): Record here the actual, unrounded unit number of meal alternatives provided to pupils living in low-income families during school holiday periods, including direct payments, vouchers, food parcels or food collection. Where more than one days' meal alternatives was provided in a single package, for example a food parcel, payment or voucher to cover a week or more, please provide the number of days per individual pupil these packages were intended to cover.