Guidance

Inclusive mainstream fund for schools: methodology 2026 to 2027

Published 25 March 2026

Applies to England

Grant purpose

Introduction

This document sets out the methodology for the inclusive mainstream fund funding 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. It also sets out information on the purpose of the grant, effective expenditure and accountability. Details of funding for later years will be published in due course. Details on funding for 16-19 institutions are set out in a separate methodology.

We have announced the inclusive mainstream fund is worth over £500 million per year. Of this, £400 million per year is for schools. The funding is for the duration of the three-year spending period. It will support schools to move towards practices that are inclusive by design, providing early support directly to children without the need for diagnosis or statutory process.

Schools will be required to publish an inclusion strategy. An inclusion strategy is a report of their activity and approaches to identify and meet commonly occurring and predictable needs within their cohort and embed inclusive practice. This activity will be funded by the school’s core funding allocations, including their notional special educational needs (SEN) budget calculated and communicated by their local authority, as well as the inclusive mainstream fund. The inclusive mainstream fund should not be considered the only source of funding to deliver this activity.

This funding will be allocated through a separate grant to local authorities (for maintained schools) and directly to academy trusts.

Information on the inclusive mainstream fund for 16 to 19 institutions and early years settings can be found at:

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

Purpose

Alongside schools’ core funding allocations, including their notional SEN budget, the inclusive mainstream fund supports the transition towards a reformed education system that is inclusive by design, in line with SEND reform: putting children and young people first (HTML version).

The inclusive mainstream fund will help equip schools to improve the inclusivity of their universal practice, providing them with more resource to meaningfully embed inclusion and remove commonly occurring and predictable barriers to learning. This includes:

• investing in high quality, adaptive teaching
• inclusive pedagogy and decision-making
• creating safe, calm and accessible learning environments

Schools will also be able to spend this funding on developing more targeted evidence-based support, such as specific group interventions for those that need them.

There is a clear overarching aim through this funding to improve outcomes across children’s attainment and wellbeing, whilst increasing parental trust and confidence in the education system. We recommend that schools allocate funding across 7 themes of activity to help deliver evidence-informed inclusive practice to children and young people, explained in the permitted use of funding section.

Schools will be required to explain their plans to use their overall funding allocation to embed inclusive practice through a published inclusion strategy. The Department for Education (DfE) will provide further guidance on inclusion strategies in due course. More information on reporting expectations is available in the accountability section.

Distribution methodology

Eligibility for the grant

The inclusive mainstream fund will fund the following mainstream school providers, for the 5 to 16-year-old age range: 

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

Paying the grant

We will confirm final school-level allocations in May. 

We will pay the grant: 

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

Schools will receive one payment to cover the 2026 to 2027 financial year. New and growing schools will receive their inclusive mainstream fund later in the financial year as explained in the new and growing schools section. 

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 academy trusts 

The funding for mainstream schools will not initially be incorporated into core budget allocations. We will consider opportunities to roll this grant into the schools national funding formula (NFF) in future years. As funding is rolled in the schools NFF, we will pay mainstream academy trusts an additional allocation to cover April to August, because their funding cycle follows the academic year. This will represent five-twelfths of an academy’s annual allocation.

In SEND reform: putting children and young people first (HTML version) we stated we will, in coming years, streamline the current school funding landscape by clearly identifying each school’s share of their core funding for inclusion. This is part of the wider drive towards simpler, and more consistent funding as we move to a direct NFF. A funding share for inclusion will include the funding schools already receive for SEN within their current core allocations (replacing the current ‘notional SEN’ in core budgets) and including the new funding that we are first allocating through the inclusive mainstream fund. 

Funding rates

Mainstream schools 

Funding rates for the inclusive mainstream fund for schools, are based on factors used in the schools NFF: 

• a lump sum paid to all schools, regardless of pupil numbers 
• a basic per-pupil rate (with different rates for primary and secondary schools)
• a per-pupil rate for pupils who are recorded as having low prior attainment (LPA) (with different rates for primary and secondary schools)

We apply an area cost adjustment (ACA) to reflect geographical variation in labour costs.

We have used the same ACA as the schools’ NFF for 2026 to 2027 as published in the area cost adjustment for national funding formula: technical note. We will multiply the base funding rates by the relevant ACA to calculate the school level allocations. 

Base funding rates 

The base funding rates for the 2026 to 2027 financial year are: 

• a lump sum of £3,000 per school
• for primary school pupils, a rate of £16 for all pupils (including pupils in reception) and an LPA per-pupil rate of £79 per eligible pupil
• for secondary school pupils, a rate of £14 for all pupils up to the age of 16, and an LPA per-pupil rate of £88 per eligible pupil
• pupils in middle school or all-through schools will be funded at the appropriate rate according to their age

We set the proportion of funding to be allocated through the basic per pupil and LPA factors for each phase, and the per pupil funding rates reflect this split.

Allocations 

A calculator tool has been provided so that schools can see an estimate of their total funding allocation for planning purposes.

For confidentiality purposes, we will not share the pupil-level data that underpins estimated or final allocations, except with the school concerned, if requested. Schools will be able to reassure themselves of a fair funding allocation by:

• referring to the per-pupil and per-LPA pupil funding rates above
• multiplying respective rates by pupil numbers available on Get Information About Pupil
• adding on the lump sum amount found above

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

We will calculate the final allocations by multiplying the relevant funding rates by the pupil count. We will use pupil counts from the October 2025 census and LPA proportions from the 2025 to 2026 authority proforma tool (APT) and then add on the lump sum for every school and multiplying by the relevant ACA. Estimated funding allocations are subject to change.

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

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. 

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 academy trusts in March 2027. 

For new schools, we will calculate the funding allocation using the base funding rates above. 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 above to calculate the allocations.

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 academy trusts in March 2027. 

Permitted use of funding

The inclusive mainstream fund should be used to equip schools to plan, prepare and embed evidence-informed approaches and activities to build an inclusive core offer for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This should be used to identify and meet commonly occurring, predictable needs within their cohorts and take meaningful steps to become inclusive by design.

We recommend that schools allocate funding across the following 7 themes of activity to help deliver evidence-informed inclusive practice to children and young people. The 7 areas are:

• ambitious leadership and governance that embeds inclusion in planning – this includes a continuous consideration of learning and development needs within schools’ cohorts, data collection and peer review to deliver high standards for all children and young people
• evidence-based support prioritising early intervention, so children and young people with SEND can access effective targeted provision at the right time
• high-quality teaching with curriculum designed for all learners, with teaching and support staff trained, supported and effectively deployed to address a diverse range of needs
• accessible and enriching provision beyond the classroom which provides all children with opportunities to support their personal development, build their independence and prepare for adulthood
• a safe and respectful culture fostering belonging and attendance – approaches may include practice and policies supporting attendance or behaviour ambitions and upskilling of staff by alternative provision specialists
• strong partnerships with families and wider services to support children and young people, particularly through transitions – activities may include sharing expertise and resource across settings, extra staff time to aid transitions, and outward engagement with families to support wellbeing and attendance
• inclusive environments with continued improvements to accessibility, creating more supportive learning experiences – classrooms should be designed to support learning, minimise distraction, and meet a range of sensory and regulatory needs

How schools invest their funding will vary based on the needs of their cohort and what is required to embed inclusion and remove commonly occurring, predictable barriers to learning.

Alongside schools’ core funding allocations, the inclusive mainstream fund supports the transition towards a reformed SEND system, in line with the proposals set out in SEND reform: putting children and young people first (HTML version). The inclusive mainstream fund for schools is not a personal budget for individual pupils. It is for schools to decide how to allocate their total school funding allocation, after assessing the needs of their overall cohort and the evidence-based activities and approaches that will be effective in their context.

Accountability

Schools must develop and publish an inclusion strategy. An inclusion strategy is a plan to use their overall school funding allocation to identify and meet the needs of their cohort and make meaningful steps to embed inclusive practice.

This activity is funded by their core funding allocations, including their notional SEN budget calculated and communicated by their local authority, as well as the inclusive mainstream fund for schools.

Schools must publish their inclusion strategy statement by 31 December 2026. This timing will enable schools to take the needs of their new intake into account. We intend that the requirement to publish an annual inclusion strategy will continue beyond the 2026 to 2027 financial year. Schools may wish to develop a multi-year inclusion strategy. DfE will set out clear guidance and expectations to support schools to produce their inclusion strategy and embed inclusive practice, including providing a template.

An effective inclusion strategy will:

• present the school’s strategy for ensuring high quality ordinarily available provision which meets children’s needs and fulfils the conditions of grant
• be published as a statement on the school website each academic year, readily available and accessible to parents
• be available to Ofsted inspectors to consider when evaluating inclusion
• be refined through scrutiny by governors and trustees

The inclusion strategy should report on:

• the commonly occurring, predictable needs within a school’s cohort and the barriers to learning pupils with additional needs face
• how funding is already spent on inclusion and their planned strategy for further investment, based on evidence and best practice and in line with the 7 areas of inclusion
• the activities and approaches undertaken to support this strategy and meet the needs of their cohort