Guidance

Inclusive mainstream fund for schools: conditions of grant 2026 to 2027

Updated 25 June 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

Legislation

The inclusive mainstream fund will be paid by the Secretary of State for Education as a grant under section 14 of the Education Act 2002. In accordance with section 16 of that Act, the Secretary of State attaches the following terms to the grant payable. 

Where this document uses ‘must’, the associated instruction is a condition of the grant. Otherwise, this is supporting guidance to help administer the grant in accordance with its objectives.

Purpose 

The inclusive mainstream fund (IMF) provides additional funding to support schools to become more inclusive. Schools must use their IMF allocation alongside their core funding allocations, including their notional special educational needs (SEN) budget, to strengthen their inclusive offer and remove commonly occurring barriers to learning and participation for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This should include taking meaningful steps to:

• plan and implement inclusive universal provision
• support the delivery of early, evidence-based targeted support for pupils with additional needs and SEND

Further information on the purpose of the IMF can be found in the Department for Education guidance for Developing an inclusion strategy using the inclusive mainstream fund. The funding distribution methodology should be read in conjunction with the conditions of grant.

Period 

These conditions of grant cover the financial year 2026 to 2027. 

Eligibility 

Types of settings

 
The IMF will fund the following mainstream school providers, for the 5 to 16-year-old age range, including reception year groups: 

• primary, secondary, middle and all-through maintained schools 
• primary, secondary, middle and all-through academies and free schools 
• city technology colleges 

Criteria

We have published a funding distribution methodology for the IMF for mainstream state-funded schools in England.

This document explains how we will allocate funding for primary and secondary provision in schools in the financial year 2026 to 2027, the first year of this grant.

There are no pupil-level criteria for the IMF, as the grant is not for individual pupils. It is allocated at setting-level and is for settings to decide how to allocate the funding after assessing the needs of their cohort and reviewing evidence about which universal approaches and targeted interventions are likely to effectively remove barriers to learning and participation.

Payments 

Calculation

We will calculate the final funding allocations by multiplying the relevant funding rates by the pupil count. We will use pupil counts from the October 2025 census and low prior attainment (LPA) proportions from the 2025 to 2026 authority proforma tool (APT) and then add on the lump sum for every school and multiply by the relevant area cost adjustment (ACA).

We will use different pupil data for new and growing mainstream schools as explained in the new and growing schools section of the methodology document.

We will pro rate allocations for schools which are closing in the 2026 to 2027 financial year for the proportion of the remainder of the year that they are open.

Payment timetable 

We will pay the grant: 

• at the end of June for local authorities 
• in early July for academies

We will pay funding: 

• for maintained mainstream schools to local authorities, who will be required to pay it to individual schools at the published rates 
• at the published rates directly to mainstream academies

Schools will receive one payment to cover the 2026 to 2027 financial year. New and growing schools will receive their IMF allocation later in the financial year as explained in the methodology document. 

Closures

If a school closes during the financial year, the local authority (for maintained schools) should allocate the grant for the proportion of the financial year the setting is open.

Academy conversions

Local authorities should pay the IMF allocations to any and all schools listed as maintained schools in the local authority area on the relevant allocation spreadsheet.

In a small number of cases, schools that convert to academy status on 1 June 2026 will still be listed as local authority-maintained schools on the allocations spreadsheet. In such cases, the Department for Education (DfE) will pay the funding listed on the spreadsheet directly to the successor academy.

The grant allocation is intended for the school and it will be assumed the local authority passed on the entire grant funding to the school immediately upon receipt from DfE. In addition, any unspent grant funding should remain with the school after it converts. 

In respect of calculating a school’s final accounts, any pro-rated amount up to the point of conversion is included in the balance calculation for the school. The remaining amount which relates for the period after the school has converted should be accounted for by the academy.

New and growing schools

Mainstream schools opening in September 2026

For mainstream schools that opened in September 2026, we will confirm funding allocations in February 2027, with payments to local authorities and academies in March 2027. 

For new schools, we will calculate the funding allocation using the base funding rates as set out in the methodology document. We will fund these schools based on pupil numbers in the October 2026 census (using the average LPA proportion of pupils in the local authority area data from the APT). The funding will be pro-rated according to how long the school is open in the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

Mainstream schools that have opened in the past 7 years and are still adding year groups in the 2026 to 2027 academic year 

For new and growing schools, we have used the same base funding rates as set out in the methodology document.

We will fund these schools based on pupil numbers in the October 2026 census (using LPA data from the APT data 2025 to 2026). We will confirm funding allocations in February 2027, with payments to local authorities and academies in April 2027. 

Additional local authority duty 

Local authorities will be required to certify that they have passed on the correct amount of funding to schools. DfE will issue a certification form in spring 2027. Local authorities must pass funding on to their maintained schools in a timely manner in line with their scheme for financing schools. 

Permitted use of funding 

The IMF must be spent to achieve the purposes set out in the purpose section of these conditions of grant. To this end, schools must spend their allocation on activity in line with the 7 principles of inclusion:

• ambitious leadership and governance that embeds inclusion
• evidence-based support prioritising early intervention
• high-quality adaptive teaching with curriculum designed for all learners
• enriching provision beyond the classroom that all children can access
• a safe and respectful culture fostering belonging and attendance
• strong partnerships with families and wider services
• inclusive environments with continuous improvements to accessibility

To ensure the IMF is used to equip schools to plan, prepare and embed inclusive practice, allocations must only be spent on evidence-informed activities that fall under the 7 principles set out by DfE.

IMF funding allocations must not be spent on:

• general school running costs or operational expenditure
• subsidising spending on pre-existing activity
• time for staff to undertake activities unrelated to inclusion
• capital works
• any activity that does not align with at least one of the 7 principles

It is for schools to decide how to use their IMF allocation in line with the 7 principles of inclusion. Schools do not have to allocate the IMF across every principle of inclusion. You should focus on approaches that best address barriers to learning identified and what will make the biggest difference for your pupils and may wish to focus on a small number of impactful activities initially.

Schools should use their IMF allocation alongside their core budget allocation, including their notional SEND budget, to embed inclusive practice. Additionally, the IMF may be used to complement other grants. This might include covering the costs of staff engagement with the Experts at Hand offer, allowing the translation of expert advice into practicable inclusive action.

Schools can also use their IMF allocation alongside core budget allocations and separate capital investment in the development or expansion of high-quality inclusion bases to ensure these provide evidence-based and effective targeted support.

Schools can also use IMF allocations to provide additional support to activity funded by pupil premium, where that activity is in line with both the 7 principles of inclusion and the menu of approaches outlined in the respective grant conditions. In such cases, schools should address the intended impacts and outcomes in both their inclusion strategy and pupil premium statement to adhere to the reporting requirements of each grant.

We encourage schools to work collaboratively across existing partnerships, clusters, and groups where this will make more effective use of their individual IMF allocations to remove commonly occurring barriers to learning and participation. Multi-academy trusts, maintained school federations, and other school partnerships with suitable financial governance arrangements may wish to pool their IMF allocation and combine allocations to fund joint activity across multiple schools.

The pooling and redistribution of funding is only permitted where there is suitable financial governance to ensure that funding is spent in line with these conditions of grant. If this approach is taken, trusts and partnerships must ensure that they meet additional needs across each school’s cohort and should avoid using funding to support central administrative services rather than on the ground interventions. Each school must still publish an inclusion strategy each year.

Assurance

Carry forward 

Schools are not required to spend all of the IMF allocation they receive in the financial year 2026 to 2027. Some or all of it may be carried forward to future financial years but must be used by 31 March 2028.

Any funding that is carried forward must be used in accordance with the conditions of grant for the IMF allocation for the financial year in which the funding is spent. It must be accounted for in the school’s inclusion strategy statement for the academic year in which it is spent.

Records required

Schools are required to maintain and keep clear records of income and expenditure in relation to this grant including evidence of the use of funds.

Schools are required to publish an updated inclusion strategy statement annually.

Although multi-academy trusts (MATs) can pool resources for use of the IMF across multiple academies, a separate inclusion strategy statement must be published for each academy within a MAT.

All individual schools are required to publish an inclusion strategy statement for the academic year 2026 to 2027 and must do so by 31 December 2026. This must include detail of activities invested in to alleviate barriers to learning and participation and budgeted costs. We have provided an inclusion strategy template to help schools develop their strategy.

DfE will review a sample of schools’ published strategy statements to ensure that the IMF has been spent in line with these conditions of grant.

Given their role in ensuring settings use funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, governors and trustees should scrutinise the schools’ inclusion strategy statements, including their plans for and use of their IMF allocation and the outcomes achieved in the previous academic year.

Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and the IMF is no exception. Inclusion Strategies will be available to Ofsted inspectors to consider when evaluating inclusion.

Further information 

Books, other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts shall be open to inspection by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller and Auditor General. 

The Comptroller and Auditor General may, under section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983, carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the recipient has used its resources. 

Local authorities and settings shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether they have complied with these conditions. 

Variation

The basis for allocation of grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from that set out above, if so requested by the local authority, or setting.

Recovery of funding 

If a local authority or setting fails to comply with the terms and conditions set out in this document, the Secretary of State may recover some or all of the IMF that has been allocated. This will be notified in writing to the school.

Recoveries will be made by invoice or by offsetting the amount against subsequent payments due from DfE. 

The recipient must notify DfE immediately through the customer help portal if it becomes aware of any instance of error, suspected fraud or financial irregularity in the use of the funds. 

Overpayments 

If a setting or local authority identifies that it has been overpaid, it must contact DfE to arrange repayment of the excess. Where DfE identifies an overpayment, it may seek to recover the excess. The local authority or setting will be notified of this in writing. 

Enquiries  

For queries relating to these terms and conditions use the customer help portal.