A devolved formula capital (DFC) grant is capital funding calculated on a formulaic basis for each school. It gives schools direct funding for the priority capital needs of its buildings and grounds and investment in capital equipment including ICT. The formula used to calculate the grant is based on January census figures.

The grant is allocated by the Department of Education and in general, a school has three years to spend each year's allocation. Read more about school capital funding on GOV.UK. 

The grant is allocated to the school's budget by the County on GL992329 DFCG Allocation. Expenditure should be coded to the relevant DFCG codes using the school's code list  Schools GL code list and unspent grant can be carried forward on GL992432.

What can DFCG be spent on?

Generally, the Devolved Formula Capital Grant is spent on works of a capital nature, mainly the refurbishment or improvement of school buildings & grounds.

Capital Expenditure is defined as items of spending over £2,500. These might be individual items or works completed over £2,500 or can also be a collective purchase of items which individually would be less than this threshold. For example, the purchase of a single chair would be a revenue cost, however, the purchase of several chairs that exceed the £2,500 threshold could be deemed capital expenditure. 

The DCSF has extended the use of the DFCG to other items including the purchase of ICT equipment but not in the respect of lease costs of equipment as this is seen as a revenue expense.

How do schools get approval?

A school should decide on how they intend to use the DFCG allocation and then return a self-help form to selfhelp-schools@buckscc.gov.uk 

If you have any background papers, sketches, or plans, please send these to Anne Curtis.

Schools shouldn't proceed with their project until they have received approval from us to go ahead. Please note that we will endeavour to process an application as soon as possible but at peak times (Summer Term) approvals can take more than 6 weeks to process. Approvals for ICT-related items are much quicker to process.  

DFCG must not be spent on the following:

• General maintenance
• General redecoration that is not part of a major building project
• Day-to-day repairs
• Purchase of books or training materials/services
• Leases for equipment or facilities
• Hire of temporary classrooms (unless linked to a building project)
• Furniture and Equipment (loose)
• Maintenance contracts for ICT