Change of https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academies-funding-claims

Change description : 2026-03-04 10:43:00: Updated to include information about claiming NNDR for 2026 to 2027. [Guidance and regulation]

Showing diff : 2025-06-04 11:33:21.272593423 +00:00..2026-03-04 10:43:42.920555944 +00:00

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 and Department for Education
Published
17 June 2014
Last updated
4 MarchJune 20262025 — See all updates

Applies to England

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to follow this guidance.

Introduction

The academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form for 2025 to 2026 opens on 1 April 2025.

These instructions are to help academies and trusts submit a claim for NNDR to the Department for Education (DfE).

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 20262025 to 20272026

From 1 April 2026,2025, some academies will no longer need to claim NNDR as your billing authority will claim on your behalf.

It is important that you check whether you still need to submit your own NNDR claim by referring to the ‘schools and academies’ tab of the schools and academies - confirmation of your NNDRnational non-domestic rates payment process for 20262025 to 2027 financial year2026 spreadsheet. Column K ‘NNDR claim status for 20262025 to 20272026’ financial year’ on this spreadsheet tab confirms the payment process your billing authority will be implementing as of 1 April 2026.2025.

Schools and academies whose billing authority is implementing the central NNDR payment process

Where your billing authority willis beopted implementingin to the central NNDR payment process asand ofyou 1are Aprilnot 2026,making a claim, DfE will pay your billing authority directly. Your billing authority will send you an invoice - this is for your information only.

You will notalso bereceive requireda toremittance submitadvice from DfE with a claim.balancing credit and debit. On the remittance advice you will be provided with the following information:

  • However,a ifcredit which will be marked as ‘FOR INFOR NNDR GAG adjustment yyyy-yyyy’. This should be matched against the ‘for information only’ invoice you received from your billing authority

  • a isdebit notmarked onas the‘FOR centralINFO NNDR paymentBill processadjustment and,yyyy-yyyy’. therefore,This continuingshould be matched with the amount DfE has paid your billing authority

To summarise, these lines on the remittance advice and the invoice you receive are for your accounting records only, and the funds will pass directly from DfE to your billing authority and bypass your bank account.

Schools and academies whose billing authority is continuing with their existing payment process

If your billing authority is not implementing the central NNDR payment process as of 1 April 2026,2025 and, therefore, continuing with their existing payment process, you will need to submit a claim.

Adjustments for previous years

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

  • 2025 to 2026
  • 2024 to 2025
  • 2023 to 2024
  • 2022 to 2023
  • 2021 to 2022
  • 2020 to 2021
  • 2019 to 2020 - to note, this will be the last year that you can claim any adjustments for this financial year

AcademiesYou undermust billingsubmit authoritiesany thatclaim haveadjustments optedby into5pm theon centralMonday payment2 processFebruary no2026 longer have access to the NNDR academy portal.

The responsibility for submittingpayment historicalwithin claims on behalf of the schoolcurrent willfinancial then fall to the billing authority. This approach is in place to stop duplicate claims.year.

Payments

DependingWe 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 aimconsider to pay most claims withinsubmitted 2after monthsthis ofdate submission.

Eachfor time a payment isduring processed,the youfollowing willfinancial receive a remittance advice from DfE as confirmation of payment.year.

Making a valid claim

When making a claim, it is important to note the following eligibility criteria:

  • we do not allowprovide claimsNNDR 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
  • unoccupied properties aredo not eligiblequalify for NNDR funding
  • to receive NNDR relief from DfE, properties must be occupied and used for educationaleducation, purposes, with pupils attending classroom-based learning
  • NNDR claims should only be submitted for academy buildings
  • buildings used solely for administrative tasks are not eligible for this funding
  • office and premises which are rated separately from the main school site are not eligible for NNDR funding
  • rented facilities are not eligible for NNDR funding
  • maintainedwhere nurserya premisesbilling thatauthority arehas ratedissued separatelya fromseparate therates mainbill for the school arepremises notand eligiblethe maintained nursery premises, we will only fund the school premises element
  • car parking spaces and premises which are rated separately from the main school site are not eligible for NNDR funding

You can read further information on eligible educational providers in ‘section 5: eligible schools’ of the national non-domestic rates payment process for schools: operational guidance for billing authorities on the central payment process.

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

We require total bill values with 80% mandatory relief applied when submitting a claim. You should enter the total bill amount for the year you are claiming.

For example, if your bill shows the total charge amount of £2,490.88, then £2,490.88 should be entered into the online the online NNDR claim claim form. These instructions are the same for each year.

For academies with multiple bills and buildings, you must combine your bill values and enter these into the form.

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

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 academyfinal NNDRdeadline claim form for 2026submitting toyour 2027claim willis open5pm on 1Monday April2 February 2026.

YouClaims mustcan submitbe anyamended claimsup oruntil adjustmentsthis ondeadline. orHowever, before 31it Januarywill 2027not forbe paymentpossible withinto thegrant currentany financialextensions year.

Weto willthe considerdeadline. claimsIf submittedyou aftermiss this datedeadline forthen paymentyou duringwill need to wait until the followingnext financial year, noting that there are restrictions on which years you can claim for each year.

Accessing the claim form

Use the the NNDR claim claim form to 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
  • a DfE Sign-in account
  • 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 mightmay also be asked to upload a digital PDF copy of your your NNDR bill. 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 theyour billing authority.

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

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

Follow steps 1 to 76 below to access your DfE Sign-in account.

  1. Access the the NNDR claim claim form.
  2. When prompted, signenter inyour to DfE Sign-in using yourcredentials (your username and passwordpassword) for authentication.
  3. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you will need to enter a verification code to login. To send the verification email with the code you need to click on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.
  4. After clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ you will progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.
  5. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the claim form for (this is only required if your account is linked to several organisations).
  6. The next page displayswill display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. Thisin. This will show the name, addressaddress, and unique identifierreference 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 theDfE form.Sign-in.
  7. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to gomove to the next page.
  8. If you believe these details are incorrect,incorrect or you are experiencing issues accessing the form, you can contact us via the the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. However, you can still proceed with your submission.investigate.

To complete the form, 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’ or ‘Request access to a service’ from related links within DfE Sign-in page and request access to to ’NNDR. services’. Instructions for adding both these additional services to your DfE Sign-in account are explained in the sections below.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by following steps 1 to 7 below:

  1. Access Access DfE Sign-in and and select ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’. On the next page, select ‘No account? Create one’.
  2. Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name).name. WeTo cannotnote, we are unable to accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’. You cannot use a personal email address.‘info’).
  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 that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 outof of:the following: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname.
  5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your MFAmulti-factor authentication (MFA) verification email by clicking on ’Email‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.
  6. We will send you an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.
  7. Follow the next‘Next stepstep’ instructions outlined in ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’ below.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under sign in to your DfE sign-in account to complete the form.

You may 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 one of your organisation’s approvers authorisation before you can access the form.

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, follow steps 1 to 6 below:

  1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account.
  2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.
  3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the righthand side of the page.
  4. Enter the URN or UKPRN of the organisation you wish to add.
  5. Select the organisation from search results.
  6. Enter comments for the approver and select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to the approverapprover(s) of thatyour organisation.

Once Ifyour yourequest doto notaccess alreadyan haveorganisation anhas approverbeen yourapproved, requestyou will beneed actionedto bylog theback in to DfE Sign-in supportand team.

Onceadd you have a DfE‘NNDR Sign-inservice’ account linked to your organisation,account, youby willfollowing needthe tosteps selectas ‘Requestoutlined accessin tothe afollowing service’section atbelow.

Adding theNNDR ‘Services’service pageto andyour requestDfE accessSign-in toaccount

To ‘Nationaladd non-domesticthe rates (NNDR) claims’.service Toto requestyour access,account, follow these steps on1 the to 6 below:

  1. Login to your DfE Sign-in help page.

    Youaccount.

  2. Select might‘Services’ havefrom noticed the termtab ‘approver’at whenthe creatingtop yourof account.the Anpage.
  3. Select approver‘Add isservices someoneto atmy youraccount’ organisationfrom responsiblethe for‘Related controllingactions’ whoon hasthe accessrighthand toside DfEof Sign-inthe andpage.
  4. Select the servicesorganisation.
  5. Select within‘National non-domestic rates (NNDR) claims’ from the system.list Itof isservices.
  6. Select usually‘Confirm’.

Once asyour anrequest administratorto oraccess athe seniorNNDR manager.

Forservice securityhas reasons,been approved, you willcan needfollow the authorisationsteps ofoutlined onein sign ofin to your organisation’sDfE approversSign-in account beforeto youcomplete can access the form.claim form.

If you need further assistance

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

If you believe you are eligible to claim but haveare having problems accessing the form, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal.

Completing the form

Access the NNDR claim form and select ‘Start now’. Once you have authenticated through DfE Sign-in and are in the form, you will be able to see the status of previous claims and can make a new claim.  When making a new claim you will find a ‘Save and continue’ button on each page which will take you to the next page.

The form will remember information you have saved if you sign out or if you leave it open for an extended period. 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 to NNDR. All questions are mandatory.

AfterOnce answeringyou allhave theanswered all questions, you will be prompted to complete the required declarations before you can submit your form. OnceAfter yousubmitting haveyour submitted the form, you will be advised of the next steps and will receive an email confirmation.

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline.

Enquiries

If you have any questions about the the NNDR process process or how to complete the online form, you can contact us via the the Customer Help Portal.

What happens next

next 

The claim information you have submitted will be checked and validated.

If there are no issues with your claim, we will process the payment within the expected timescalestimescales, (within 3 months of receiving a claim) and you will receive notifications and payments accordingly.

If we have a query regarding your claim, we will contact you for further information.

Updates to this page

Published 17 June 2014
Last updated 4 MarchJune 20262025 + show all updates

  2. We have updated the instructions in section 'If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account' as users are now required to add multi-factor authentication to verify their identity when creating a DfE Sign-in account.

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Contents

Update history

2026-03-04 10:43
Updated to include information about claiming NNDR for 2026 to 2027.

2025-06-04 12:32
We have updated the instructions in section ‘If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account’ as users are now required to add multi-factor authentication to verify their identity when creating a DfE Sign-in account.

2025-03-20 12:42
We have updated the ‘Academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form guidance’ for 2025 to 2026.

2024-04-02 13:48
We have updated the ‘Academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form guidance’ for 2024 to 2025.

2023-04-17 12:43
We’ve updated the academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claim form guidance for 2023 to 2024.

2022-07-01 11:42
We have updated guidance for unclaimed years policy extension within the ‘Historic NNDR claims for previously unclaimed years’

2022-04-01 11:32
Updated to include information about claiming NNDR for 2022 to 2023.