Correspondence

DfE Update academies: 17 December 2025

Published 17 December 2025

Applies to England

1. Information: Schools, high needs, central school services and early years funding 2026 to 2027

Today, we announced the schools, high needs, central school services and early years funding for 2026 to 2027. 

We have published: 

• the dedicated schools grant (DSG) funding allocations for the 2026 to 2027 financial year. 
• the pupil premium funding rates for the 2026 to 2027 financial year 

We expect to issue academies general annual grant allocations for 2026 to 2027 to our usual timetable.

2. Information: 16 to 19 funding arrangements for high value courses premium for academic year 2026 to 2027

We have previously published details on how the high value courses premium (HVCP) will work for academic year 2026 to 2027. 

This explained that for academic year 2026 to 2027, there will be both a HVCP and a HVCP for construction.  The HVCP guidance explains how HVCP will apply to qualifications in SSA5.2 building and construction in academic year 2026 to 2027.

We have published the list of qualifications attracting high value courses premium for the 2026 to 2027 allocations.

There are 2 lists of qualifications in the workbook that attract HVCP funding:

• HVCP
• HVCP for building and construction

We have removed any construction qualifications in SSA 5.2 that attract HVCP from that list and created a separate list called ‘building and construction’ for level 2 and level 3 construction qualifications.   

If you have any questions after reading our guidance, contact our customer help portal.

3. Information: 2025 to 2026 funding claims guidance

We have published the 2025 to 2026 funding claims guidance.

We have removed the requirement to sign the final funding claim in the Manage your education and skills funding service.

This change applies to all providers and means that 16 to 19 funding is no longer included in the funding claims process. Providers delivering grant-funded adult provision must still submit mid-year, year-end, and final claims through the Submit Learner Data (SLD) portal by the deadlines in the published guidance. 

The guidance also sets out changes to the exceptional adjustments process and the deadlines for submitting claims.

4. Information: 16 to 19 maths and English condition of funding 2026 to 2027

We have published our maths and English condition of funding guidance for academic year 2026 to 2027 to help you plan your maths and English delivery.

We will update the funding calculation and interactive tool sections when we publish details on 16 to 19 funding for 2026 to 2027.

Key points:

No substantial policy changes, the core requirements introduced last year remain:

• minimum teaching hours for English and maths
• 2.5% tolerance unchanged

Updates focus on clarity and usability, including:

• terminology update: ‘stepping stone qualifications’ replaced with ‘level 1 and entry level’ qualifications to avoid confusion with the new level 1 progression-to-GCSE qualifications, that we committed to developing in the white paper
• clarification for excluded students: students excluded under the tolerance must still include literacy and numeracy in their study programmes, in line with 16 to 19 study programme guidance and Ofsted’s inclusion pillar
• improved layout: reorganised guidance for easier navigation based on sector feedback

5. Information: 2026 to 2027 high needs place change process – updated student numbers for 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 academic year

We have updated the high needs student and pupil numbers for the 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 academic years.

This data now includes 2024 to 2025 Individualised Learner Record (ILR) R14 data and place numbers for the 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 academic years, for further education providers, 16 to 19 academies and free schools and independent learning providers.

This workbook also includes data for special post-16 institutions for information. The ILR R14 data for SPIs is not used to determine place numbers.

This data will be used to determine the outcomes of ‘not agreed’ cases submitted by local authorities, as part of the 2026 to 2027 place change process, in line with the published guidance. The outcomes will be published in February 2026.

You can also use this to inform local discussions about commissioning arrangements for the 2026 to 2027 academic year.

6. Webinar: Academies chart of accounts and automation question and answer drop-in session

Tuesday 6 January 2026, at 10:30am-11am. Register on Eventbrite

7. Webinar: Automating your accounts return

Wednesday 7 January 2026, at 11am to midday. Register on Eventbrite

8. Webinar: Automating your accounts return

Tuesday 13 January 2026, at 1pm to 2pm. Register on Eventbrite

9. Webinar: Risk protection arrangement members only: Contract works workshop

Thursday 15 January 2026, at 10am to midday. Register online

10. Webinar: Academies chart of accounts and automation question and answer drop-in session

Thursday 22 January 2026, at 1:30pm-2pm. Register on Eventbrite