Department For Education
Overview
The Department for Education (DfE) allocates funding each year to help maintain and improve the condition of school buildings and grounds.
For the 2024 to 2025 financial year, eligible schools can access funding through either:
- school condition allocations (SCA), with funds paid to eligible bodies responsible for maintaining school buildings
- the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) a bidding round with funds paid directly to single academy trusts, small multi-academy trusts (MATs), small voluntary aided (VA) bodies and sixth-form colleges
In addition, devolved formula capital (DFC) is allocated for individual schools and other eligible institutions to spend on capital projects.
Who the funding is for
School condition funding includes capital allocations for:
- local authorities and local-authority-maintained schools, including maintained nursery schools
- local voluntary-aided bodies and voluntary-aided schools
- academies and large multi-academy trusts (MATs)
- sixth-form colleges
- non-maintained special schools
- special post-16 institutions with eligible students
Eligibility for SCA for the 2025 to 2026 financial year
Schools are either part of bodies eligible forSCAor are eligible forCIFdepending on their size and type.
Local authorities, larger MATs and larger VA school bodies receive direct SCA to invest in priorities across the schools for which they are responsible. Schools in smaller academy trusts, smaller VA bodies and sixth-form colleges are instead able to bid into the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
Schools with an academy order at the start of September 2024 that we expected to convert into a CIF eligible trust by 1April 2025 have also been invited to apply.
CIF eligible schools have been invited to bid into the fund for 2025 to 2026. If a school has been invited to bid for CIF in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, their responsible body will not receive any SCA funding on their behalf. Schools invited to CIF should therefore submit a bid if they have condition investment requirements.
To receive direct SCA, multi-academy trusts and VA bodies must have met both eligibility criteria:
- the trust or VA body must have had 5 or more open schools at the start of September 2024
- those open schools (or their predecessor schools) must have had at least 3,000 pupils counted in the spring 2024 census or the 2023 to 2024 individualised learner record (ILR)
For special and alternative-provision schools (including pupil referral units), we multiply the pupil count by 4.5 for the purposes of SCA eligibility for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. For example, we would count a MAT with 1,000 pupils in special schools as having 4,500 pupils. This reflects the fact that these schools tend to have lower pupil numbers for their size and more complex facilities.
For eligibility, we count all pupils that are sole, dual-main, or dual-subsidiary enrolled. If pupils are registered at more than one institution, we divide the count by the number of institutions that the pupil is registered at. For example, pupils dual registered at a mainstream school and a pupil referral unit (PRU) would have their count divided by 2 at both institutions.
For nursery schools and sixth forms, we use the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) pupils, rather than headcount.
We notify academy trusts andVAschool bodies that are eligible forSCAeach autumn. Eligibility should not be assumed unless it has been confirmed.
Funding allocations for the 2024 to 2025 financial year
Capital funding is based on financial years. For the final school condition allocation and devolved formula capital (DFC) funding amounts for the 2024 to 2025 financial year, see:
How the funding is calculated and what it can be spent on
The condition funding methodology and spend guidance sets out information on eligibility and how the funding is calculated. It also provides guidance on the purpose of the funding, what it can be spent on and over what time period.
See for information on eligibility and how the funding was calculated for 2024 to 2025.
Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)
DfE is providing support for schools and colleges with confirmed RAAC. This includes funding refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to permanently remove RAAC. This targeted support is in addition to any SCA or funding through CIF for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. See Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in education settings for further information on RAAC.
Previous years funding
See theNational Archives websiteforSCAandDFCallocations for previous years.
The Healthy Pupils capital fund was a one-year fund for the 2018 to 2019 financial year only.
In the 2018 budget, the government announced an extra 400 million of capital funding for schools in England for the 2018 to 2019 financial year. See theadditional capital funding page on the National Archivesfor more information.
In 2020, the Prime Minister announced an additional 560 million for repairs and upgrades to school buildings, on top of funding already allocated for the 2020 to 2021 financial year.
In the 2022 to 2023 financial year, 500 million of additional capital funding was awarded to schools and colleges to improve buildings and facilities, prioritising energy efficiency.
Good estate management
We expect bodies responsible for schools to manage their