What is the Dedicated Schools Grant?

The definition

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is the ring-fenced revenue grant the DfE pays English councils to fund schools, early years and high-needs SEND. It is paid in four blocks; in 2025-26 the high needs block was £11.9bn. The grant is governed by the DfE’s annual conditions of grant, which set out the four blocks and the rules on how the money may be used.

The four blocks

The DSG is split into the schools block, the high needs block, the early years block and the central school services block. In 2025-26 the schools block was £48.7bn, the high needs block £11.9bn (a 9% cash increase), and the early years block over £8bn, with overall core schools funding of £63.9bn.

The qualifier officers actually need

Most definitions list the blocks correctly but stop there. Three points matter when you are managing the budget. First, the DSG is ring-fenced: it cannot be moved into the council’s general fund and spent on non-schools services. Second, the high needs block is the block under acute pressure, and it is the source of the high needs block deficit now reported across the large majority of authorities. The high needs block funds complex SEND and alternative provision and is allocated through a national funding formula that reflects historic spend and proxy measures of need such as disadvantage, prior attainment and health.

Third, two live settlement facts shape what those deficits mean on your balance sheet. The DSG statutory override has been extended to the end of 2027-28 (March 2028), keeping high needs deficits off councils’ main accounts until then rather than the earlier March 2026 sunset. And the government has confirmed a High Needs Stability Grant covering 90% of eligible DSG deficits recognised in the unusable reserve as at 31 March 2026, with authorities responsible for the remaining 10%.

• See also what the high needs block is and how the statutory override works.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.