Guidance

Dedicated schools grant (DSG) management plan

Template and guidance for local authorities for the Department of Education (DfE) DSG management plan.

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View more information on local special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) reform plans in ‘Section 33: SEND reforms’ of the schools operational guide 2026 to 2027.

Applies to England

Documents

Details

LocalThe authoritiesdedicated areschools nogrant longer(DSG): requiredconditions of grant 2025 to maintain2026 a(paragraph dedicated5.2), schoolsrequire grantthat (any local authority with an overall deficit on its DSG) managementaccount plan.at Instead,the allend localof authoritiesthe must2024 develop,to maintain,2025 andfinancial implementyear, anor iterativewhose localDSG SENDsurplus reformhas substantially reduced during the year, must be able to present a plan into partnershipthe withDepartment localfor areaEducation partners.(DfE) for managing their future DSG spend.

DSG management plan template

PlansYou shouldcan setnow outview howand localdownload areathe partnershipsnew willversion strengthenof localthe arrangementstemplate throughdirectly improvedfrom inclusion,this earlyGOV.UK interventionpage, andwithout the conditionsneed neededto access Document exchange.

We have worked with local authorities to supportdevelop effectivea long-termsupportive outcomes.standard DSG management plan template. Please read the accompanying guidance, when completing it.

AsWe parthave designed the template to help local authorities manage their DSG and form evidence-based and strategic future plans for the provision of implementationchildren and monitoring,young people with special education needs and disabilities.

We encourage all local authorities to use the template as a planning tool. It will be requireduseful towhen submitdiscussing quarterlyproposals dataand returnssharing complex funding information in a simple way with internal and external bodies, parent and carer forums and elected members. We expect the plan to DfEbe and,updated whereand requested,presented submitat furtherschools iterationsforum ofmeetings theirand plans.any high needs sub-groups regularly, and at least on a termly basis.

Local SENDauthorities reformshould plansaim to present an up to date version of the plan to the schools forum in time for budget planning discussions and before the deadline for block movement requests, if they are issuedsubmitting asone. anThe annualtemplate commissionshould -be updated regularly throughout the nextyear commissionto willreflect the most recent forecast position and be inviewed springas 2027.an on-going live document.

DSG management plan: guidance for local authorities

YouThis canguidance readdocument moreis informationa aboutstep-by-step theguide to help local SENDauthorities reformcomplete the DSG management plan intemplate.

Further ‘Sectioninformation

Relevant 33:departmental SENDadvice reforms’and statutory guidance

DSG: conditions of thegrant 2025 to 2026

High needs funding arrangements: 2025 to 2026

Pre-16 schools operationalfunding: guidelocal authority guidance for 2025 to 2026

section 251 budget and outturn returns for 2024 to 20272025 .

section 251 budget and outturn returns for 2023 to 2024

section 251 budget and outturn returns for 2022 to 2023

Other departmental resources

High needs benchmarking tool

The School and Early Years Finance (England) Regulations 2025

Updates to this page

Published 16 September 2020
Last updated 826 SeptemberMarch 20262025 href="#full-history">+ Showshow all updates
  1. Updated to show local authorities are no longer required to maintain a dedicated schools grant (DSG) management plan.

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