What's new
Key features
New Budget Forecast Return 2025 template supporting single-school and consolidated BFR exports for academies.
Import actuals from Access Education Finance to populate the Previous Year and Current Year BFR sections.
Mapping tables for one-year and three-year forecast columns based on the DfE Chart of Accounts.
Budget Forecast Return Export
You can run the Budget Forecast Return template for a single school from the Academy Reports tab in the Reporting module or, to run a consolidated version, follow the steps below:
Click Manage Budgets then ensure you've published the relevant scenarios.
Click Consolidated Reporting then click the Academy Reports tab.
Under Academies Budget Forecast, click Export.
The Budget Forecast Return also requires you to submit the forecast for the academic years 2026/27 and 2027/28. The budget values you enter into your scenario populate the Forecast columns on the worksheet for the one-year BFR, and the 2026/27 and 2027/28 columns for the three-year forecast.
This is for all income and expenditure lines including capital. Access Education Budgets only populates data onto the worksheet titled BFR 2025.
Import Actuals to the Budget Forecast Return Template
The import of actuals to populate the Previous Year and Current Year sections of the BFR is based on the DfE Chart of Accounts, and it uses the ledger codes from the trial balance.
If you don't have the DfE Chart of Accounts, you can manually add the Section Code mappings on one of the data tables.
To import actuals to the BFR:
In Access Education Finance, click Reports.
Select Trial Balance Report (Grouped by Ledger Code).
Click Export then export the report for the following periods:
• 2023/24: September '23 – March '24
• 2023/24: September '23 – August '24
• 2024/25: September '24 – March '25
• 2024/25: September '24 – August '25
This should be a forecast to August 2025 so you may need to adjust the trial balance data or overtype the formulas on the BFR 2025 Excel sheet.
In the exported file, select cells A11-G11 down to the bottom totals.
Copy the highlighted data then open the BFR template.
Click the Trial Balance Data tab then paste the data onto the corresponding table.
Click Data then click Refresh All.
Once you've done this, on the BFR 2025 tab, the actuals are summed by formulas in the corresponding cells. If required you can type over the formulas to enter the Forecast for the 2024/25 column.
If you don't have the DfE Chart of Accounts, to enter the Trial Balance data manually, click the TB and BFR tab then enter the section numbers into the DFECOA.BFR/O Row No column against the relevant ledger or nominal code.
For further support, you can watch our webinar on how to complete the BFR report.
Mappings for One-Year Forecast Columns
Access Education Budgets Section | BFR Row No. | Comments |
Income (IL) |
|
|
IL 101 | 101 |
|
IL 102 IL 116 | 102 |
|
IL 103 | 103 |
|
IL 105 | 105 |
|
IL 108 | 108 |
|
IL 132 | 132 |
|
IL 133 IL 134 IL 135 | 135 |
|
IL 136 | 136 |
|
IL 137 | 137 |
|
IL 138 | 138 |
|
IL 131 IL 150 | 150 |
|
IL 200 | 200 |
|
IL 205 | 205 |
|
IL 210 | 210 |
|
IL 211 | 211 |
|
IL 212 | 212 |
|
IL 201 IL 215 | 215 |
|
IL 202 IL 203 IL 204 IL 209 IL 220 | 220 |
|
IL 255 CIL 565 | 255 | CIL 565 added as negative |
Expenditure (EL) |
|
|
Staff Contract Salary EL 300 - Other EXP EL 301 - Other EXP EL 302 - Other EXP EL 303a - Other EXP EL 303b - Other EXP EL 303c - Other EXP EL 303d - Other EXP EL 303e - Other EXP | 310 |
|
Staff Contract NI EL 311 | 311 |
|
Teachers Contract Pension | 320 |
|
Support Staff Contract Pension | 325 |
|
EL 304 EL 305 | 330 |
|
EL 336 | 336 |
|
EL 337 | 337 |
|
EL 338 | 338 |
|
EL 339 | 339 |
|
EL 340 | 340 |
|
EL 341 | 341 |
|
EL 342 | 342 |
|
EL 320 EL 330 EL 331 EL 332 EL 333 EL 334 EL 345 EL 346 EL 347 EL 360 EL 361 EL 362 EL 363 EL 364 EL 370 EL 375 EL 376 EL 377 EL 378 | 378 |
|
Capital Income (CIL) |
|
|
CIL 501 CIL 510 | 510 |
|
CIL 520 | 520 |
|
CIL 503 CIL 530 | 530 |
|
CIL 504 CIL 540 | 540 |
|
CIL 560 | 560 |
|
CIL 570 | 570 |
|
CIL 571 | 571 |
|
CIL 581 CEL 604 | 581 | CEL 604 as negative |
CIL 582 CEL 606 | 582 | CEL 606 as negative |
Capital Expenditure (CEL) |
|
|
CEL 601 CEL 603 | 601 |
|
CEL 605 | 605 |
|
CEL 615 | 615 |
|
CEL 620 | 620 |
|
CEL 621 | 621 |
|
CEL 622 | 622 |
|
CEL 623 | 623 |
|
CEL 624 | 624 |
|
CEL 625 | 625 |
|
CEL 636 | 636 |
|
CEL 607 CEL 630 CEL 637 | 637 |
|
CEL 638 | 638 |
|
CEL 606 | 606 |
|
Mapping for Three-Year Forecast Columns
Access Education Budgets Section | BFR Row No. | Comments |
Income (IL) |
|
|
IL 101 IL 102 IL 103 IL 105 IL 108 IL 116 IL 131 IL 132 IL 133 IL 134 IL 135 IL 136 IL 137 IL 138 IL 150 | 1990 |
|
IL 200 IL 202 IL 203 IL 204 IL 205 IL 209 IL 211 IL 220 | 2500 |
|
IL 201 IL 212 IL 215 | 2530 |
|
IL 255 CIL 565 | 2550 | CIL 565 added as negative |
Expenditure (EL) |
|
|
Staff contract Salary Staff contract NI Teacher contract Pension Support Staff Pension EL 300 EL 301 EL 302 EL 311 EL 303a EL 303b EL 303c EL 303d EL 303e | 3100 |
|
EL 304 EL 305 EL 320 EL 330 EL 331 EL 332 EL 333 EL 334 EL 336 EL 337 EL 338 EL 339 EL 340 EL 341 EL 342 EL 345 EL 346 EL 347 EL 360 EL 361 EL 362 EL 363 EL 364 EL 370 EL 375 EL 376 EL 377 | 3300 |
|
Capital income (CIL) |
|
|
CIL 501 CIL 503 CIL 504 CIL 510 CIL 520 CIL 530 CIL 540 CIL 560 CIL 570 CIL 571 | 5500 |
|
CEL 604 CEL 606 CIL 581 CIL 582 | 5840 | CEL 604, 606 added as negative |
Capital Expenditure (CEL) |
|
|
CEL 601 CEL 603 CEL 605 CEL 607 CEL 615 CEL 620 CEL 621 CEL 622 CEL 623 CEL 624 CEL 625 CEL 630 CEL 636 CEL 637 CEL 638 | 6500 |
|
How this version will be made available
This release will automatically be made available on 23rd June 2025.