Guidance

Inclusive mainstream fund for 16 to 19 providers: methodology 2026 to 2027

Published 25 March 2026

Applies to England

Grant Purpose

Introduction

This guidance sets out the methodology for how we will allocate 16 to 19 inclusive mainstream fund for schools, colleges and other institutions delivering mainstream 16 to 19 provision for financial year 2026 to 2027.

We have announced the inclusive mainstream fund is worth over £500 million per financial year, of which £83 million per year is additional funding for mainstream settings delivering 16 to 19 provision, to support boosting capacity in mainstream settings to meet a greater proportion of special educational needs and disability (SEND) needs. The funding is for the duration of the three-year spending period. The split between early years, schools and post-16 was calculated on the basis of pupil numbers.

The inclusive mainstream fund is to support mainstream settings to meet SEND needs more flexibly, effectively and earlier, drawing on their core funding.

This document explains how we will allocate funding to institutions in the financial year 2026 to 2027, the first year of this grant. It also sets out information on the purpose of the grant, and accountability.  

Information on the inclusive mainstream fund for early years and 5 to 16 provision can be found at:

• Inclusive early years fund for 2026 to 2027: methodology
• Inclusive mainstream fund for schools: methodology 2026 to 2027

Purpose

Alongside institutions’ core funding, the inclusive mainstream fund supports the transition towards a reformed SEND system, in line with SEND reform: putting children and young people first (HTML version).

This fund will help institutions with the cost of identifying and supporting the needs of children and young people with SEND. This includes:

• high quality, adaptive teaching and pedagogy
• inclusive decision-making and accessible learning environments to improve mainstream settings’ inclusive offer to students
• effective use of evidence-informed approaches and targeted interventions

Institutions will be required to incorporate their plans for this funding within their accountability statements as set out in College and local authority accountability statements.

Distribution Methodology

Eligibility for the grant

The 16 to 19 inclusive mainstream fund for schools and colleges will provide additional funding for all mainstream settings that receive annual funding allocations from the Department for Education (DfE) for the provision of 16 to 19 education.  

Paying the grant

We will pay the grant for the period April 2026 to March 2027. There will be one payment to cover the period and we expect to pay this in July 2026.

We will pay funding: 

• for maintained schools to local authorities, who will be required to pay it to individual schools at the allocated amount 
• at the allocated amount directly to all other settings

Allocation calculation

We will calculate the individual institution grant based on student low prior attainment, using the same methodology that we use for the 16 to 19 disadvantage block 2 (DB2) calculation as we consider this factor to be most appropriate to recognise the distribution of students with special educational needs between providers.

As with the DB2 calculation to recognise the difference in the size of student study programmes or T Levels, there will be different inclusive mainstream fund rates for:

• bands 6 to 9 (T Levels)
• bands 4 and 5
• bands 2 and 3
• band 1 (full time equivalent)

We will use the DB2 instances from the 2025 to 2026 allocation calculation, which is shown in the 16 to 19 revenue funding statement. The instances from each band will be multiplied by the inclusive mainstream fund rates. These rates will be set and communicated through an update to this guidance in May 2026.

The total funding from the above calculation will be multiplied by the institution’s area cost uplift from the 2025 to 2026 allocation.

We expect that the budget share for institutions will be broadly in line with their share of the total DB2 allocation, bearing in mind that the grant will be uplifted by the institution’s area cost uplift and the implementation of the confirmed de-minimis figure, both of which will need to be covered by the £83 million. 

De-minimis

A de-minimis amount of £3,000 shall be applied in cases where the calculated value of the grant falls below this threshold, and the institution does not have a pre-16 inclusive mainstream fund grant.

New institutions from 2026 to 2027 academic year

For an institution opening 16 to 19 provision from the academic year 2026 to 2027, the grant will be allocated at eight twelfths for maintained schools and colleges, and seven twelfths for academies, based on the 2026 to 2027 allocation.  

Funding for institutions or 16 to 19 provisions closing at the end of the 2025 to 2026 academic year

No grant will be allocated for closing institutions and where the 16 to 19 provision is ceasing for either year 12 or 13 at the end of the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

Allocations

Allocations will be confirmed and published in May 2026, showing the total funding allocated for the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

Accountability

Further education institutions will be required to set out how they will use this funding to transition towards the reformed system within their accountability statement, ensuring public accountability. Colleges set out in their accountability statements how they will meet national priorities, which will now include special educational needs (SEN), and respond to local skills needs. Performance is reviewed annually through annual strategic conversations drawing off published data on achievement progression and financial health. If outcomes are weak the DfE can escalate through our College oversight, improvement and intervention processes.

Schools will be required to published standalone plans of how they will use this funding across their age range and their sixth form provision will be included within this. For 16 to 19 academies we expect they will cover SEN within their own strategic plans.