Correspondence

DfE Update academies: 4 June 2025

Published 4 June 2025

Applies to England

1. Action: Primary PE and sport premium 2024 to 2025 digital expenditure reporting return

The digital primary PE and sport premium expenditure reporting return will open on Monday 9 June at 9am and close on Thursday 31 July at 5pm.

To support mandatory completion, the guidance will be updated on Monday 9 June.

2. Action: Budget Forecast Return 2025 is now live

The academies budget and forecast return (BFR) form is live.

The deadline for your academy trust to complete your BFR is 11.59pm on 28 August 2025.

If you are new to the BFR, you will need a DSI account to access the BFR. To create a new DSI, see the guidance on DfE Sign-in. 

This year’s live Power Hour session will be held on Thursday 12 June 2025, from 10am to 11am.

The session is an introduction for users completing the BFR for the first time, and a refresher for those who have completed the BFR previously.

To find out more, visit our BFR guidance page.

This includes comprehensive details about the form, the chart of accounts mapping, and how to get support during the collection period.

3. Information: Capital funding 2025 to 2026 

We have published final school condition allocations (SCA) and devolved formula capital (DFC) for financial year 2025 to 2026.

This is part of £2.1 billion committed for 2025 to 2026 for improving the condition of the school estate.

We published the provisional SCA for local authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided (VA) school bodies at the end of March 2025.

We have updated final allocations, considering changes in the status of schools, such as movements between responsible bodies, closures, and mergers.

DFC allocations for individual schools were also updated.

Final allocation amounts and the condition funding methodology and spend guidance are available in the School capital funding guidance on GOV.UK.

4. Information: Moving to a termly early years census from 2026 to 2027

We are changing the early years census from an annual to a termly census from financial year 2026 to 2027.

We currently fund the new working parents’ early years entitlements on termly headcounts, but the established entitlements are on an annual headcount.

To further improve the accuracy of our funding allocations, and to better align our funding pattern with those of local authorities, from financial year 2026 to 2027 we will be funding all the early years entitlements on termly headcounts.

We are also revising the allocation profile for the established entitlements (as we currently do for the new working parents’ entitlements) to better match local authorities delivery profile for each term.

As part of this change, we will increase the frequency of the early years census from an annual spring collection to a termly collection, beginning in May 2026, following the usual January 2026 early years census.

The routine termly school census will be used to collect data for school-based childcare settings.

Further details on the allocation methodology will be shared in the autumn, alongside the 2026 to 2027 funding rates.

5. Information: Maths and English progress measures

In November 2024 we made an announcement in the maths and English condition of funding guidance, that we intended to return to producing the maths and English progress measures as soon as possible.

We can now confirm that the maths and English progress measures are returning as part of data for the 2024 to 2025 academic year, reflecting the outcomes of students completing 16 to 18 study in the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

These measures show, for students that did not achieve a grade 4 or above in maths or English GCSE at KS4, the grade improvement students made from their GCSE result at KS4 (or at a previous provider if they have moved during 16 to 18 study).

We have updated the maths and English condition of funding guidance to reflect this.

6. Reminder: Year-end funding claim for 2024 to 2025

The year-end funding claim window will open at 9am on Monday 9 June 2025. 

Please submit your year-end funding claim by 5pm on Thursday 12 June 2025.

The claim form will be available on submit learner data.

The funding claims user guide is available to help you complete the form.   

You will need to submit a claim if you receive funds through these contracts: 

• grant funded – DfE-funded adult skills fund (ASF) (adult skills, tailored learning, funding for innovative provision, and level 3 free courses for jobs offer)

• grant funded – advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB)  

For 16 to 19 delivery, you do not need to take any action for the year-end (R10) funding claim. The 16 to 19 delivery section of the funding claim only needs to be signed off for your final (R14) funding claim.  

We will review claims to ensure they are substantiated by the data you have submitted in your ILR and present value for money.  

Once you have submitted your year-end funding claim on submit learner data, you will also be able to view it on Manage your education and skills funding.

If you have any queries, contact us through the Customer Help Portal.

7. Your feedback: Tell us about your experience of our funding service

If you receive education and skills funding, we want to hear about your experience.

Please complete this short survey by Wednesday 2 July 2025, it should take you 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

We aspire to run an excellent education and skills funding service that gives providers as much certainty as possible.

The survey, run twice a year, asks whether we deliver:

• certainty on what we pay you and when
• clarity on how to comply with funding rules
• services that are accessible and easy to use
• answers when you have funding-related queries

We will keep your personal data confidential, and your feedback will help us to improve the service.

8. Webinar: DfE Energy for schools: simplified buying of gas and electricity

Wednesday 11 June 2025, 9:30am to 10am. Register online.

9. Webinar: Hiring supply teachers and agency workers for your school webinar

Thursday 12 June 2025, 9:30am to 10am. Register online.

10. Webinar: Academy finance professionals June power hour: Budget Forecast Return

Thursday 12 June 2025 10am to 11am. Register on Eventbrite.

11. Webinar: RPA Members only - Employment Law workshop:

Thursday 12 June, 10am to midday. Register online.

12. Webinar: Buying catering services for your school

Thursday 12 June, 2pm to 2:30pm. Register online.

13. Webinar: RPA Members only - Employment Law workshop:

Wednesday 18 June 2025, 10am to midday. Register online.

14. Webinar: Webinar: Q&A drop-in sessions: Academies chart of accounts and automation:

Wednesday 25 June 2025, midday to 12:30pm. Register on Eventbrite.