Guidance

16 to 19 free school revenue funding

How we calculate and allocate revenue funding for 16 to 19 free schools in the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

• From: Department for Education
• Published: 29 November 2013
• Last updated: 7 September 2026
  Show all updates

  1. 7 September 2026

     Updated for 2026 to 2027.

  2. 8 October 2025

     Updated for 2025 to 2026.

  3. 18 November 2024

     Updated for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

  4. 15 September 2023

     Updated the 2023 to 2024 funding rates in the national 16 to 19 formula funding section.

  5. 15 June 2023

     Added 'A guide to new 16 to 19 free school revenue funding: 2023 to 2024'.

  6. 16 June 2022

     Updated guidance for 2022 to 2023 academic year and removed link to financial template.

  7. 2 November 2021

     Document updated: 'Financial statements' section updated and also the date for annual revenue funding for free schools, which will be paid on the eighth working day of the first month a school opens.

  8. 30 June 2021

     Added updated guide to new 16 to 19 free school revenue funding 2021 to 2022.

  9. 15 July 2020

     Updated 'A guide to new 16 to 19 free school revenue funding: 2020 to 2021'.

  10. 6 July 2020

      Updated document for the 2020 to 2021 academic year.

  11. 14 May 2019

      Updated for the 2019 to 2020 academic year.

  12. 11 May 2018

      Updated document for the 2018 to 2019 academic year.

  13. 12 April 2017

      Updated document for the 2017 to 2018 academic year.

  14. 20 April 2016

      Updated document for the 2016 to 2017 academic year.

  15. 3 July 2015

      Document revised to reflect funding for the 2015 to 2016 academic year.

  16. 6 February 2015

      All documents updated in February 2015 to reflect known changes to funding rates. Revised versions including 2015 to 2016 funding rates should be available at the end of March 2015.

  17. 23 September 2014

      Updated 'Financial template for 16 to 19 free schools: 2014 to 2015'.

  18. 28 July 2014

      Updated the guide and financial template to reflect funding rates for the 2014 to 2015 academic year.

  19. 29 November 2013

      First published.

Applies to England

Documents

A guide to new 16 to 19 free school revenue funding: 2026 to 2027

HTML

Details

This guide explains how much revenue funding 16 to 19 free schools will receive.

There is also a financial template to help budget planning for:

• groups proposing to open a mainstream or 16 to 19 free school
• open mainstream and 16 to 19 free schools
• groups proposing to open a mainstream (local authority presumption) school

It gives you an indicative funding allocation based on the size, phase and location of your school.