School capital funding
An overview of school capital funding, who it’s for, current and past allocations, how it’s calculated and spending guidance.
Applies to England
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 for SCA or are eligible for CIF depending 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 1 April 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 and VA school bodies that are eligible for SCA each 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 the National Archives website for SCA and DFC allocations 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 the additional capital funding page on the National Archives for 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 school estate strategically and maintain their estate in a safe working condition. For academies, this has also been set out in the Academy Trust Handbook. Good estate management for schools (GEMS) includes guidance on developing an estates strategy and asset management plan, and a self-assessment tool to identify estate management priorities. Managing asbestos guidance for schools sets out further advice on asbestos.
Responsible bodies must ensure they secure value for money through appropriate procurement routes. For large projects, the school buildings construction framework is available for use and should be considered part of project development planning.
The Trust Network
The Trust Network (TNN) is a group of academy trusts who are committed to good estate management, and support schools to build their capability and practice. They share best practice, exchange knowledge and, where needed, form a single voice to discuss issues or concerns with DfE and other national agencies and help improve the resources available to support schools. You can join the network for free and find out more about their events through The Trust Network website.
The Trust Network is led by volunteers from a diverse range of MATs and SATs from across England and membership is open to all independently run, state-funded schools. Hundreds of academy trusts are currently registered as members.
Grants to local authorities
The sets out the conditions of grant for payments to local authorities in the 2024 to 2025 financial year. The Secretary of State for Education makes grant determinations under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003.
Updates to this page
Last updated 22 October 2024 + show all updates
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Updated with the school condition allocations (SCA) eligibility for the 2025 to 2026 financial year.
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Added the section 'Eligibility for SCA for the 2025 to 2026 financial year'.
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The final 'funding amounts for school capital allocations for 2024 to 2025' have been added to replace the provisional amounts.
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The following documents have been updated for 2024 to 2025: school capital funding allocations, condition funding grant determination and new combined methodology and spend guidance.
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Updated with information on eligibility for funding in 2024 to 2025 financial year. 'Reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC)' section also updated.
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Added final school capital funding allocations for the 2023 to 2024 financial year.
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The following documents have been updated for 2023 to 2024: school capital funding allocations, the condition funding methodology, the condition funding determination and the condition grants spend guidance. A link to the questionnaire on reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) and a link to guidance on RAAC have also been included.
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'Additional school capital funding for the 2022 to 2023 financial year' section has been added.
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'Eligibility for SCA for the 2023 to 2024 financial year' has been updated.
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School capital funding allocations for 2022 to 2023 updated.
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Updated information to include provisional school condition funding allocations for the 2022-23 financial year, alongside the condition funding methodology, grant spend guidance and the condition funding grant determination for the 2022-23 financial year.
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Updated to provide details of the eligibility criteria to receive School Condition Allocations for the 2022 to 2023 financial year.
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Updated information to include school capital funding allocations for 2021 to 2022, condition funding methodology for 2021 to 2022, the condition funding grant determination and the updated condition grants spend guidance. We have also added links to guidance about good estate management and to The Trust Network.
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Updated the 'Eligibility for SCA and CIF' section for the 2020 to 2021 financial year.
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Added information about 'Additional funding allocations for the 2020 to 2021 financial year'.
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Updated school capital funding allocations for 2020 to 2021.
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Added school capital funding allocations, condition spend guidance and methodology for 2020 to 2021.
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Added information about eligibility for SCA and CIF.
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Added latest versions of documents 'School capital funding allocations for 2019 to 2020'.
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First published.