Dear Accounting Officer

The government has just released their Dear Accounting Officer letter, which can be located here:  Letter to accounting officers: 19 March 2025 - GOV.UK

The key topic of the letter is the closure of the ESFA and its functions transferring to the DfE; and therefore what this means for you as Accounting Officers.

Please share this with your trustees and governors and ensure it is discussed at the next trustees meeting, and actions taken if necessary, as required by the Academies Trust Handbook.

New grant

The DfE have also announced they will be providing additional funding to support the increase to employer National Insurance contributions in the 2025-26 financial year. The allocation is based on pupil numbers from the October 2024 Census.

Use the following link to confirm your expected grant:  National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant and early years National Insurance contributions (EY NICs) grant for 2025 to 2026 - GOV.UK

For any 16 to 19 academies, the allocation information is expected to be available in May 2025.

The receipt for both grants is expected in September 25. In terms of accounting, you will need to accrue for five months of the expected income.

They are also making arrangements to ensure support is provided for the period April to August 2026. Therefore it is reasonable to assume that your budget forecast return will reflect a full 12 months of this grant to 31 August 2026 year end.

There is no mention of funding support beyond this date.