This is a simple yes/no marker: has this council ever had to top up its schools budget with money from its general funds — the budget that pays for everything else it does? It matters because it separates councils whose schools-budget debt is still contained from those where it has already started draining money from other services. A "yes" means the problem has spilled over into the wider council budget; a "no" means it has not, at least not yet.
| name | la_bailout_flag |
|---|---|
| dataset | 05-dsg-send-deficits |
| kind | constructed |
| type | boolean |
| unit | flag |
| grain | local authority |
| role | stratifier |
| source | dsg_la_contribution > 0 in any year |
| period | 2015-16 to 2024-25 |
| missingness | unknown |
| score_note | Simple, legible stratifier, but fully derived from dsg_la_contribution. |
| peer_group | council class (district / county / unitary / metropolitan / London) — not yet scored on the leaderboard |
Whether the council has ever topped up the Schools Budget from its own general funds. A true value marks councils where the DSG deficit has already spilled over into the wider budget rather than sitting purely behind the statutory override.