The council's savings that are already promised to something specific — pots set aside for particular projects, schools money, and the like — measured at the start and end of the year. They matter because a council can look poor or comfortable depending on whether you count these promised pots alongside its free savings. Healthy, stable pots suggest planning; pots draining away, or a schools pot in the red, are warning signs of hidden pressure.
| name | earmarked-schools-other-reserves |
|---|---|
| dataset | 01-revenue-outturn |
| kind | extracted |
| type | numeric |
| unit | £000 (stock at start/end of year) |
| grain | council-year |
| role | feature |
| source | "data/Revenue_Outturn_time_series_data_v3.2.csv, columns `RS_resoth_start_cy`/`RS_resoth_end_cy`, `RS_ressch_start_cy`/`_end_cy`, `RS_resdsg_start_cy`/`_end_cy`" |
| period | "FY 2017-18 to 2024-25, annual (year_ending 201803-202503)" |
| missingness | "Rows with status other than "submitted" (i.e. "total" aggregates and "not submitted") must be filtered out; a non-submitted council-year is a genuine gap, not zero. 2024-25 covers 410/411 councils. Councils abolished/created in 2017-25 reorganisations appear only for the years they existed." |
| score_note | Distinguishes hidden weakness (DSG deficits) from resilience, but earmarked/DSG accounting is hard for a layperson; overlaps dataset 05. |
| peer_group | council class (district / county / unitary / metropolitan / London) — not yet scored on the leaderboard |
Earmarked, schools and Dedicated Schools Grant reserves at start and end of year, completing the reserves picture beyond the unallocated buffer. Negative or falling DSG reserves flag SEND deficits (see dataset 05). Useful to distinguish councils hiding weakness behind earmarked pots from genuinely resilient ones.