What capital funding is available for my school, academy or mat?
Read how Aston Manor secured funding to maintain their premises
It is widely known that running and maintaining a school or academy is not an easy, or indeed inexpensive task. With ever increasing capacity needs, technology or industry changes it is also more challenging than ever for schools to find the budgets to not only maintain their premises but ensure that they are able to offer the best learning environment for their pupils and community.
As a result of this need, there are various funding sources and grants made available to schools and academies in the UK. The 6 most well-known funds tally up to circa £2billion worth of capital funding available in any one year. * Surveyors to Education (S2e) are experts in dealing with ESFA and non ESFA educational funding sources and can help you secure the right funding for your upcoming project.
School Condition Allocation (SCA)
This fund is the largest available (£760million available) and applies to Multi Academy Trusts (MATs) with at least 5 academies and more than 3000 students. The fund is automatically awarded by the ESFA and is meant to be used for keeping the learning environment safe and suitable for students. The amount of funding each MAT gets is based on specific methodology set out by the ESFA. Underpinning the level of funding are up to date condition surveys. S2e use qualified and experienced surveyors to carry out condition surveys and provide objective information about the condition of your premises.
Condition Improvement Fund (CIF)
CIF is an annual bidding round for academies and smaller MAT’s that do not qualify for SCA funding. The key priority for the fund is centred around addressing significant condition needs but it can also support a small proportion of expansion projects. The deadline for bids is generally around mid-December with bid outcome being made available around April the following year. In order to support a CIF bid the ESFA has made explicit the need for an up to date Condition Survey.
Basic Needs Fund
This is an ESFA capital fund of circa £243million, allocated to each local authority (LA) yearly to help ensure that there are enough school places for children in their local area. The ESFA use specific methodology formulae and local statistical information to ascertain the level of funding to be given to any one LA.
T Level Funding
To support the launch of a new technical study programme set to follow GCSEs from September 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) has announced a new £38 million funding stream. This funding is to initially be given to select sixth form providers that will be providing these courses from September 2020.
School Nurseries Capital Fund (SNCF)
The aim of the SNCF is to create more school-based nursery places for disadvantaged children. A total of £30million is being made available to schools in the most deprived areas of England to ensure more nursery places are created. In order to qualify, the nursery must be directly linked and governed by the school.
If you have been unsuccessful at securing your CIF bid this year or you are interested in finding out more about how S2e can help you access other funds to help you develop the optimum learning environment for your pupils, you can contact us on 01530 276127 or email enquire@s2e.org.uk.
*Based on figures from 2017/18 funding allocations
