Maintained schools are funded by a grant from the Department for Education (the Dedicated Schools Grant). Local Authorities are the accountable body for maintained schools and, in line with national frameworks and guidance set by the Department, monitor and intervene in these schools to reduce the risk of financial failure or misuse of funds.

Each local authority has a scheme for financing schools which sets out the financial relationship between it and its maintained schools, and the Department publishes guidance setting out what is required or permitted in schemes.

New financial transparency arrangements have been adapted and implemented across the maintained school sector, in order to improve the transparency of maintained schools.

Under the new arrangements schools must publish:

• How many school employees have a gross annual salary of £100,000 or more in increments of £10,000 – Forest Hill School has one employee in this salary bracket
• A link to the Schools Financial Benchmarking service, where you can compare the schools income and expenditure with similar schools.