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Guidance

Academies: making significant changes or closure by agreement

Guidance for academy trusts planning to make organisational changes or close an academy by mutual agreement with the Secretary of State.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
4 September 2013
Last updated:
20 October 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated the 'Making significant changes to an academy' guidance with changes to terminology relating to inclusion bases, and revised references to boarding or residential provision and the legal framework for opening new schools.

  2. Updated 'Making significant changes to an academy' to remove the requirement for academy trusts to apply for a significant change to add or expand a nursery and added changing a studio school to a university technical college (UTC) as a tier 3 change. Clarification provided for sixth form closures, Ofsted inspections and satellite site proposals. Updated tier 3 application form and linked to the tier 1 application form, which is published in a new format.

  3. Updated 'Making significant changes to an academy' to clarify Diocesan Board of Education involvement in the significant change process. Also updated the types of SEN provision listed.

  4. Tier 3 application form updated to fix accessibility issue.

  5. Updated 'Making significant changes to an academy' guidance and 'Significant changes: tier 1 application form' to reflect the new combined application process for academies proposing to add or expand a school-based nursery and apply for the school-based nursery capital grant.

  6. Updated guidance and forms to reflect Ofsted's removal of single word judgements.

  7. Updated to reflect that from 1 May 2024, applications submitted using the previous 'full business case application form' and 'fast track application form' will no longer be processed and tier 1 and tier 3 application forms should be used.

  8. Updated the ‘Making significant changes to an academy’ guidance. The guidance clarifies what information will be considered by the department in tier 1 applications and states the existing position on mainstream to special academy conversions. New significant change application forms have been added.

  9. Updated to show that the 2024 version of the ‘Making significant changes to an open academy’ guidance will come into force from 22 April 2024.

  10. Added new 'Making significant changes to an academy' guidance, applicable from April 2024.

  11. Updated 'Closure of an academy by mutual agreement’ to remove outdated references and expand guidance on the closure of special educational provision.

  12. We have made 'Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement' easier to use by putting it into 2 separate documents: 'Closure of an academy by mutual agreement' and 'Making significant changes to an open academy'. 'Making significant changes to an open academy' has been updated for January 2022.

  13. Updated the 'Full business case application form' and the 'Fast track application form'.

  14. Updated 'Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement' document.

  15. Updated page title and summary.

  16. New version of 'Making significant changes to an open academy and closure by mutual agreement' added along with updated fast track and full business case application forms.

  17. Updated information on fast track and business case applications, new school places, and the roles of regional schools commissioners and headteacher boards.

  18. A revised 'Preparing a business case for a significant change at an existing academy' advice document and a business case guide document have been added to this page.

  19. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Making significant changes to an academy

PDF, 750 KB, 44 pages

Closure of an academy by mutual agreement

PDF, 364 KB, 21 pages

Significant changes: tier 1 application form

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/significant-changes-to-an-academy-tier-1-application-form

Significant changes: tier 3 application form

58.3 KB

Details

Academy trusts must use the tier 1 or tier 3 application forms to apply for a significant change. From 1 May 2024, applications submitted using the previous ‘full business case application form’ and ‘fast track application form’ will no longer be processed.

The guidance on making significant changes to an open academy is for academy trusts wishing to make organisational changes to a school. Those include:

  • physical expansion
  • merging with another academy
  • changing the school’s age range
  • changing the school’s faith designation

The guidance sets out the significant change process and explains which application form to complete. It also sets out pupil place planning roles and a framework for collaborative school place planning. This is useful for:

  • local authorities
  • academies
  • schools
  • school governors
  • trustees
  • dioceses

The guidance on closure of an academy by mutual agreement explains when closure might be an appropriate solution to address standards or viability issues. It:

  • sets out the process for closing an academy by mutual agreement with the Secretary of State
  • provides guidance about when academy trusts should talk to other parties

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