Condition Improvement Fund

Overview

The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is an annual bidding round for eligible academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary aided (VA) schools to apply for capital funding. The priority for the fund is to address significant condition need, keeping education provider buildings safe and in good working order. This includes funding projects to address health and safety issues, building compliance and poor building condition.

CIF also supports a small proportion of expansion projects. These are for academies, sixth-form colleges and VA schools rated good or outstanding by Ofsted that can demonstrate a need to expand.

Applications for 2022 to 2023

The application window has now closed and the outcome for 2022 to 2023 has now been published.

Information for CIF applicants: 2022 to 2023

Condition Improvement Fund 2022 to 2023: information for applicants (PDF, 459 KB, 58 pages) provides details of projects that were appropriate for funding and the assessment criteria for 2022 to 2023.

This year’s criteria again favoured bids from applicants with strong governance and good financial management. We think there is a strong link between trusts with a good grip on finance and governance and effective, value for money capital delivery.

Who can apply

To be eligible to apply for CIF funding, you must have been by the start of September 2021 one of the following:

• stand-alone academy
• school in a multi-academy trust (MAT) with fewer than 5 schools at the start of September 2021, or with 5 or more schools but fewer than 3,000 pupils in those schools (or their predecessors) as counted in the spring 2021 census or 2020/21 individualised learner record (ILR)
• VA school in a VA body or VA group with fewer than 5 schools at the start of September 2021, or with 5 schools but fewer than 3,000 pupils in those schools as counted in the spring 2021 census or 2020/21 ILR
• sixth-form college
• school with a signed academy order as of the start of September 2021 that DfE expects will convert by 1 April 2022

You will receive a school condition allocation (SCA) in 2022 to 2023 if you are a:

• local authority
• MAT with 5 or more schools at the start of September 2021 and at least 3,000 pupils in those schools (or their predecessors) as counted in the spring 2021 census or 2020/21 ILR
• VA body with 5 or more schools at the start of September 2021 and at least 3,000 pupils in those schools (or their predecessors) as counted in the spring 2021 census or 2020/21 ILR
• eligible non-maintained special school (direct allocation in respect of state funded pupils)
• eligible special post-16 institution (direct allocation in respect of state funded pupils)
• MAT chain (a group of more than one trust) if you’ve opted in and the chain meets the school and pupil number thresholds for MATs (this system is being phased out and no new chains can opt in)

If a school is invited to bid for CIF in the 2022 to 2023 financial year, their responsible body will not receive any SCA funding on their behalf. The school should therefore apply for funding from CIF if they have condition requirements.

Pupil count

For special and alternative provision schools (including pupil referral units), we now multiply the pupil count by 4.5 for the purposes of determining either CIF or SCA eligibility. For example, we would now count a MAT with 1,000 pupils in special schools as having 4,500 pupils.

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 would have their count divided by 2 at both institutions.

For nursery schools and sixth-form colleges, we use the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) pupils rather than headcount.

Loans

Academies and sixth-form colleges can take out a loan, for all or part of the project costs in their application, to demonstrate their commitment to the scheme.

Use the Condition Improvement Fund loan: repayment calculator 2021 (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 36.5 KB) to determine the annual and total repayments that will be incurred.

Loans are offered at Public Works Loan Board rates of interest, the same rate that local authorities can access to invest in their schools. You’ll make loan repayments through abatement of revenue funding paid to you and reinvested into future capital budgets.

Urgent Capital Support (UCS)

UCS is specifically for urgent condition issues that threaten immediate school closure.

Who can apply

You can apply if you are an academy, sixth-form college or VA school and you meet these 2 conditions:

• you do not receive school condition allocation (SCA)
• you need funding assistance to address urgent building condition issues that either:
  • put the safety of your pupils or staff at risk
  • threaten the closure of the whole, or a significant part, of your school

Your application will only be considered where there is a genuine and immediate need for urgent support, and you cannot wait until the next round of CIF.

How funding is offered

UCS funding is primarily offered as a loan, subject to an assessment of trust finances. Trusts may also be required to contribute.

Grant funding may only be provided in exceptional circumstances.

Apply for UCS

1. Read Guidance for applicants: UCS (PDF, 295 KB, 18 pages).

2. Fill out the Application Form: UCS (MS Word Document, 221 KB)

3. Fill out the Trust financial template (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 71.2 KB)

4. Email your application form and financial template to academy.questions@education.gov.uk and include ‘Urgent Capital Support application’ and your institution name in the subject line.

Ensure that the size of your email does not exceed 9MB.

Contact

If you need further advice after the publication of the full guidance, contact us using the ESFA enquiry form.