Correspondence

DfE Update local authorities: 15 April 2026

Published 15 April 2026

Applies to England

1. Information: Pupil premium guidance, conditions of grant technical note and indicative allocations for 2026 to 2027

We have published the pupil premium conditions of grant for the new financial year 2026 to 2027 and all settings and local authorities should review these conditions. 

We also encourage you to review the following recently updated and published guidance and accompanying technical note which includes:

• the updated pupil premium technical note which includes the new per pupil rates for financial year 2026 to 2027
• the updated guidance for school leaders on using pupil premium which includes some updated information and links to relevant resources

We have also published indicative allocations for 2026 to 2027.

Updated allocations will be published in June 2026, September 2026, December 2026 and March 2027.

You can find further information in our pupil premium allocations help centre article which has been designed to answer common questions from trusts.

2. Information: Schemes for financing schools updated for 2026 to 2027

We have published the updated statutory guidance on schemes for financing schools for financial year 2026 to 2027.

Local authorities are required to publish a scheme for financing schools which sets out how they manage their financial relationship with the schools they maintain.

This guidance explains the provisions a scheme must include. It supports you to make sure your scheme is clear, consistent and aligned with current financial requirements.

You should review the guidance and update your scheme at the start of financial year 2026 to 2027 to ensure it meets all statutory duties.

3. Information: 16 to 19 in-year growth funding academic year 2025 to 2026 

There has been another large increase in 16 to 19 funded students this year. This growth is positive for the many young people who have been able to take up opportunities for 16 to 19 education and represents a strong response by the sector. 

However, because of the size and distribution of this growth in student numbers, it again creates funding pressure above the budget we have available. We are changing our funding methodology for this year’s in-year growth to provide you with the highest possible funding within budget.   

We will provide approximately three-quarters of the funding expected based on arrangements published in August 2025.  

This change applies to the exceptional in-year growth for student numbers only. We are not changing the methodology for: 

• high needs in-year growth in special post-16 institutions or centrally funded exceptions
• bursary and free meals in-year growth

We have always stated that our method depends on affordability. If you have concerns regarding the impact of this change and need to discuss this, please contact your place-based team or contact our customer help centre. 

If you qualified for in-year growth based on the rules from August 2025, you will receive a growth payment at the lower level. Providers will start to receive growth payments from July 2026. Eligible schools and colleges will receive a single payment in July.  Academies will receive eleven-twelfths in July and one-twelfth in August.

4. Information: Funding rules for 16 to 19 provision 2026 to 2027  

The funding rules for 16 to 19 provision 2026 to 2027 cover the period Saturday 1 August 2026 to Saturday 31 July 2027 for all types of institutions (except for academies whose funded year is Tuesday 1 September 2026 to Tuesday 31 August 2027). This is our current advice for the funding year. 

We have made the following additions and updates: 

• added an exception in paragraphs 14 and 41 allowing institutions to contact the department about complex individual residency or immigration cases, rather than just groups
• clarified in paragraph 89 that funding cannot be claimed for students retaking a passed qualification solely to improve their grade
• specified in paragraph 98 that if an activity ceases early, such as passing English or maths in November resits, institutions must replace the remaining planned hours with other meaningful activity
• redefined the actual end date in paragraph 123 as the student’s final learning, exam, or assessment date, whichever is later - institutions cannot claim planned hours after this date

5. Information: Experts At Hand and Local Authority SEND Transformation Fund – funding for local authorities 2026 to 2027

In the Schools White Paper, Every child achieving and thriving, and the SEND reform: putting children and young people first consultation, we announced a £1.8 billion investment on “Experts at Hand”. The overall grant provides £1.8 billion in Experts at Hand funding and an additional £200 million in transformation funding over the course of the 3-year spending review period.

This grant is for local authorities, working in partnership with integrated care boards and other local system partners, to provide an offer of advice and direct support to early years education settings, mainstream schools and further education colleges. This funding is for investment in services such as specialist health and education support, to improve the quality of inclusive education for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).

We have published information on the grant methodology and provisional allocations.

• the methodology explains how we will distribute funding to local authorities through the Experts at Hand and Local Authority SEND Transformation fund
• the provisional allocations spreadsheet shows how we have calculated provisional allocations so that local authorities can plan for 2026 to 2027

We will confirm full funding allocations and publish further guidance later in spring.

6. Information: Positive progress in latest apprenticeship qualification achievement rate results

The latest apprenticeship qualification achievement rate (QAR) has been released with positive results once again. The QAR for academic year 2024 to 2025 is 65.4%, a rise of 4.9 percentage points on last year. Total achievement volumes have also increased by 11.3% to 198,330, more than 20,000 higher than the previous year. View the full report.

Thank you to all providers, employers and apprentices for your continued hard work and commitment to improving achievement rates. This strong progress reflects your effort and focus.

Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, has written an apprenticeship standards achievement rates letter to the sector to set out his commitment to high quality across the skills system and to thank providers and employers for their ongoing support.

7. Reminders: Deadline for school rebuilding programme nominations

In February we launched a new nomination round for the school rebuilding programme. We will select 250 school and sixth form college projects by early 2027.

The nominate a school for the school rebuilding programme guidance sets out the type of projects we are looking for and information on how to navigate the online nomination portal. Responsible bodies should read the guidance carefully before submitting a nomination.

Responsible bodies must submit nominations before midday Thursday 23 April 2026. We will not consider late submissions.

If you have questions about the programme or the nomination process, email School.rebuilding@education.gov.uk.

8. Reminders: Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL) regional in-person training

Working in conjunction with the Institute of School Business Leadership (ISBL), we are offering fully funded sessions for school business professionals (SBPs) in local authority-maintained schools, academies and trusts across all 9 DfE regions.

Additionally, we are offering closed sessions to academy trusts, groups of schools or networks. You request the topic, provide the venue and the SBPs, and ISBL will deliver the bespoke session, all fully funded by the DfE.

These sessions provide practical and professional development across a wide range of topics, including:

• integrated curriculum and financial planning
• financial planning and budgeting assumptions (for local authority-maintained schools and trusts)
• procurement
• strategic planning and operational leadership
• Human Resources and flexible working
• leadership and leading Change
• professional development

Visit ISBL regional in-person training sessions to find out more information and to book sessions on a first come, first served basis.

9. Events and webinars: Risk protection arrangement members only – school security and lockdown including crime resilience

Thursday 23 April 2026 from 10am to midday.  Register through Microsoft Teams.

Wednesday 29 April 2026 from 10am to midday. Register through Microsoft Teams.

10. Events and webinars: Power hour– Net capacity assessment programme

Thursday 30 April 2026 from 3pm to 4pm. Register through Eventbrite.