Guidance

Academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claims

Information for academies about how to claim for national non-domestic rates (NNDR).

From:
Education and Skills Funding Agency
Published
17 June 2014
Last updated
2 April 2024 — See all updates

Applies to England

Introduction

The academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form 2024 to 2025 is now live.

These instructions are to help academies and trusts submit a claim for NNDR from the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA).

NNDR is a tax payable on non-domestic property set by the government and collected by the relevant billing authority. All educational settings under the ‘academy programme’ are entitled to tax relief from the billing authority on a significant portion, currently 80%, of the NNDR. We allow these educational settings to claim funding for the remaining NNDR amount.

Eligibility to claim

New claims for 2024 to 2025

From 1 April 2024, some academies no longer need to claim NNDR as your billing authority will claim on your behalf.

Check whether you still need to submit your own NNDR claim using the schools tab of the national non-domestic rates payment process for billing authorities and schools for 2024 to 2025 spreadsheet.

Adjustments for previous years

All academies and trusts can use this form to adjust previously paid claims for the following financial years:

  • 2023 to 2024
  • 2022 to 2023
  • 2021 to 2022
  • 2020 to 2021
  • 2019 to 2020
  • 2018 to 2019 - please note, this will be the last year that you can claim any adjustments for this financial year

You must submit any claim adjustments by 31 January 2025.

We will consider claims submitted after this date, excluding 2018 to 2019 claims, for payment during the following financial year.

Making a valid claim

We do not provide NNDR funding for periods prior to academy conversion. If your conversion date falls within a financial year, then you will be able to claim from the date of conversion to the end of March of that year and thereafter.

NNDR claims should only be submitted for academy buildings. Only buildings used for educational purposes are eligible for NNDR funding, and these would normally be classed as ‘schools and premises’.

Information on eligible educational providers is available in the change to the business rates payment process for schools: guidance for billing authorities

Rented facilities are not eligible for NNDR funding.

Where a billing authority has issued a separate rates bill for the school premises and the maintained nursery premises, we will only fund the school premises element. This is because maintained nursery schools are not in scope of the NNDR payment process changes.

Car parking spaces and premises which are rated separately from the main school site are not eligible for NNDR funding.

Office and premises which are rated separately from the main school site are not eligible for NNDR funding.

Multi-academy trusts can submit claims on behalf of their constituent academies; however, payments will remain at academy level.

Total bill values with 80% mandatory relief applied are required when submitting a claim. You should enter the total bill amount for the year you are claiming. For instance, if your bill shows the total charge amount of £2,490.88, then £2,490.88 should be entered into the online NNDR claim form. These instructions are the same for each year. Academies with multiple bills and buildings, must combine their bill values and enter these into the form.

To validate your NNDR claim, you may be prompted to upload supporting bill evidence.

Depending on monthly payment deadlines, we will make one payment within 3 months of receiving a claim. Depending on when you submit your claim during a month, we will aim to pay most claims within 2 months of submission.

When to claim

The final deadline for submitting your claim is 11.59pm on 31 January 2025.

Claims can be amended up until the deadline. It will not be possible to grant any extensions to the deadline. If you miss this deadline then you will need to wait until the next financial year.

However, you will not be able to submit an adjustment to the 2018 to 2019 financial year after this deadline.

Accessing the claim form

Use the NNDR claim form to make a claim.

Before you start

Before you start the claims process, you will need to:

  • have read this guidance on how to make a claim
  • have a DfE Sign-in account
  • have the authority to submit a claim on behalf of your setting and you understand that, as a recipient of this funding, your setting is responsible for protecting public money

You might also be asked to upload a digital PDF copy of your NNDR bill. The bill should show a deduction of mandatory relief. If your bill does not show a deduction of mandatory relief, then you must obtain a new bill from the billing authority.

Log in to your DfE Sign-in account

Please try your DfE Sign-in credentials as soon as possible to avoid any issues with submitting your form.

  1. Access the NNDR claim form.

  2. When prompted, sign in to DfE Sign-in using your username and password for authentication.

  3. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form – please note, this is only required if you are linked to several organisations.

  4. The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address, and unique reference number (URN) or UK provider reference number (UKPRN) of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into DfE Sign-in.

  5. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to move to the next page.

  6. If you believe they are incorrect or you are experiencing issues accessing the form, please contact us via the customer help centre and we will investigate.

  7. Complete the form as instructed in the following sections.

Your account must be connected to the organisation you are making a claim for. You will also need to select ‘Add services to my account’ from related links with DfE sign-in page and request access to NNDR.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account

You will need to create one by following steps 1 to 5 below:

  1. Access DfE Sign-in and select the ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’ button.

  2. Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name).

  3. We will send you an email to verify your email address. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

  4. Create a memorable password of 8 characters or more. Your password must include at least 2 uppercase letters, 2 lowercase letters, and 2 numbers.

  5. Sign in using your new credentials, select ‘Organisations’ tab and then ‘Request access to an organisation’, enter the URN or name of your establishment. The request will be sent to the DfE Sign-in approver for the establishment, for approval.

Once you have a DfE Sign-in account you need to select ‘Request access to a service’ at the ‘Services’ page and request access to ‘National non-domestic rates (NNDR) claims’. To request access, follow these steps on the DfE Sign-in help page.

You might have noticed the term ‘approver’ when creating your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as an administrator or a manager.

For security reasons you will need the approval of one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

If you need further assistance

If you need help using the DfE Sign-in service, follow DfE Sign-in help where you will be able to request further assistance. When raising a support request, please select ‘Other’.

If you believe you are eligible to claim but have problems accessing the form, please contact us via the customer help centre.

Completing the form

You will find a ‘Save and continue’ button on each page of the form. If you need to sign out of the form before submitting it, you can resume your submission when you sign back in.

You will be presented with several pages with a series of questions which will ask you to complete information related to NNDR. All questions are mandatory.

After answering all the questions, you will be prompted to complete the required declarations before you can submit your form. Once you have submitted your form, an explanation on what happens next will follow.

Selecting ‘Save and continue’ on each page will take you through the form.

Enquiries

If you’ve read this guidance and have any questions about the NNDR process or how to complete the online form, please contact us via the customer help centre).

When completing the enquiry form, select ‘Other’ as your query type.

What happens next 

The information you have entered will be checked and validated against your funding allocation.

Updates to this page

Published 17 June 2014
Last updated 2 April 2024 + show all updates

  1. We have updated the 'Academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form guidance' for 2024 to 2025.

  2. We've updated the academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form guidance for 2023 to 2024.

  3. We have updated guidance for unclaimed years policy extension within the 'Historic NNDR claims for previously unclaimed years'

  4. Updated to include information about claiming NNDR for 2022 to 2023.

  5. Online form can now be used for 2021 to 2022

  6. The new NNDR form has now been updated

  7. We've added information about the online form which will be closed between 5pm on 13 March and 1 April 2020.

  8. We've updated this page with information for the 2019 to 2020 financial year.

  9. We've added a video showing academies how to use the online form to submit a claim for NNDR funding.

  10. We've updated this page to include information about claiming funding for national non-domestic rates for the 2018 to 2019 financial year.

  11. Updated to explain the decision taken to remove insurance top-up funding from academy funding.

  12. Updated to include details of how to claim for national non-domestic rates in 2017 to 2018.

  13. Updated information on insurance top-up funding for 2016 to 2017.

  14. The new NNDR claims form is now available for the 2016 to 2017 financial year.

  15. Insurance top up information updated.

  16. Date insurance top up claim form available changed from October to December 2015.

  17. Removed information for academic year 2013 to 2014 and information on claim form for 2015 to 2016 added.

  18. This page has been updated because claims for 2015 to 2016 financial year national non-domestic rates can be made from 31 March 2015.

  19. Detail added about eligibility for top-up insurance claims

  20. Updated to change the link to form for 2013 to 2014 claims.

  21. Inserted a date by which to submit NNDR funding claims

  22. Link added to online form for top-up funding for insurance for 2014 to 2015.

  23. Updated to remove the reference to the risk protection arrangement.

  24. Updated with information about insurance top-funding claims for 2014 to 2015.

  25. First published.

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