Inclusion and Capital Funding

I am today announcing:

£860 million of capital funding for the 2026-27 financial year to support the creation of around 11,000 places for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities or who require alternative provision as part of our delivery of 60,000 new specialist places;

Details of over £2.1 billion in capital maintenance funding for the 2026-27 financial year so that buildings at over 22,000 schools and sixth-form colleges in England provide a safe and effective learning environment; and

Details of how the first year of the £1.6 billion investment in mainstream inclusion announced in the schools White Paper will be allocated. From 2026-27 the new inclusive mainstream fund grants will allocate this funding to mainstream schools, 16-19 providers and early years settings to support inclusive practice.

We are allocating £860 million in high needs capital to support all local authorities to create high-quality places that are suitable to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. This is part of the £3.7 billion capital announced to help deliver 60,000 new specialist places.

We want schools to be inclusive by design, with strong mainstream provision and excellent specialist support. This funding will support a transformative expansion of inclusion bases, adapt mainstream settings to improve their accessibility and inclusivity, and create special school or AP places for pupils with the most complex needs.

To support this, local authorities will be asked to sign a memorandum of understanding aligned with these objectives.

I thank local authorities with planned special or AP free schools for confirming to the Department how they would like to proceed. Local authorities opting to create the same number of school places for children with SEND through alternative funding will also receive confirmed allocations today. Where local authorities have indicated that they want to continue with the special or AP free school, we have confirmed this choice and will move forward with delivery of over 5,000 places.

High-quality and inspiring school and college buildings are essential to delivering a world-class education and creating the conditions for all children and young people to achieve and thrive. Evidence suggests that learning in buildings that are in poor condition can have a negative impact on attainment.

This is why I am also announcing the allocation of over £2.1 billion in condition funding for capital maintenance for the financial year 2026-27. This includes: over £1.4 billion in school condition allocations for eligible responsible bodies, including local authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided school bodies, such as dioceses, to decide how to invest across over 18,000 schools; over £450 million available for the condition improvement fund for the almost 4,000 schools in smaller and stand-alone responsible bodies, including sixth-form colleges—with the outcomes of applications to the fund to be announced later this spring; and almost £220 million in devolved formula capital, which is allocated directly for 22,176 schools and sixth-form colleges to spend on their own capital priorities.

This supports the Government’s education estates strategy, published in February 2026, which set out plans for an education estate that supports opportunity for all, backed by a 10-year plan to deliver a decade of renewal to transform schools and colleges.

In addition to the investment in the physical estate, the schools White Paper, “Every Child Achieving and Thriving”, announced £1.6 billion for an inclusive mainstream fund for mainstream schools, 16 to 19 providers and early years settings to deliver improved inclusion practice over the next three years. This investment is about making the changes that put inclusion at the heart of every setting, so that every child and young person can achieve and thrive.

Today I am confirming the details of how over £500 million of this funding will be allocated in the financial year 2026-27. Through separate grants, £47 million will be allocated for early years; £400 million for mainstream schools; and £83 million for 16 to 19 providers. We have published methodology documents to explain how the funding will be allocated, with funding formulae varying between phases, in recognition of the different contexts.

We have published a calculator tool so that schools can see a close estimate of the funding that they will receive through the inclusive mainstream fund in 2026-27. This will support schools’ planning in advance of finalised allocations being paid in June 2026. For early years, we have also published a calculator tool to support local authorities to calculate their total funding allocation and plan for how they will pass on the funding to early years settings in their area.

The IMF is intended to be used alongside core funding allocations to equip settings to plan, prepare and embed evidence-informed approaches and activities to build an inclusive offer for children and young people with SEND. This could include interventions such as staff training to deliver evidence-based interventions; delivering activities and wider opportunities for pupils to build life skills and independence; or creating visual supports, such as timetables and communication aids. Alongside the funding methodologies, the Department has published case studies and examples of inclusive best-practice.

Schools will be required to develop and publish an inclusion strategy, setting out how they will use their resources—including the IMF—to identify and meet need and embed inclusive practice. Colleges will set out their plans within their accountability agreements. Building on existing accountability measures, local authorities will ensure that early years settings are using the IMF appropriately to support inclusion.

Full details of this announcement, including the capital allocations for high needs and condition funding, have been published on the Department for Education section on the gov.uk website:

[HCWS1451]