Schools Minister, Jacqui Smith, announced on 21 July 2005 the Government�s decisions on the new school-funding arrangements to be introduced from April 2006, following consultation earlier this year. The new arrangements are designed to give schools continued stability and greater predictability in their funding, and to help them better align their financial planning with their school improvement planning.

The new arrangements include: multi-year budgets for schools though still aligned to the financial rather than the academic year for the time being, a new ring-fenced grant to local authorities for school funding and streamlined standards-related funding for schools.