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Guidance

Post-16 National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant

Guidance for institutions delivering post-16 education on the National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
18 March 2025
Last updated:
9 September 2026
Show all updates

  1. Updated 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant allocations: April 2026 to March 2027'.

  2. Updated 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant: conditions of grant April 2026 to March 2027' and 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant methodology: April 2026 to March 2027' to reflect variations to the grant from 1 August 2026.

  3. Added information about additional funding for the financial year 2026 to 2027.

  4. Added 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant: conditions of grant April 2026 to March 2027' and 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant allocations: April 2026 to March 2027'.

  5. Added 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant methodology: April 2026 to March 2027'.

  6. We have updated the 'Allocations and payment' section on the 'Post-16 National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant' page to make clear payment timings for both local authorities and academies.

  7. We have amended section 5 of the methodology to confirm that the allocations have now been published.

  8. We have now published the conditions of grant for the 2025 to 2026 financial year. We have also published the allocations, we expect to pay the grant in September 2025.

  9. We have published the full methodology for the post-16 National Insurance contributions grant: April 2025 to March 2026. We have removed the attachment we published on 18 March 2025 called Post-16 National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant 2025 to 2026 because all this information is now either in the details section on the main page or in the full methodology.

  10. We have updated this page to clarify that the guidance applies to designated institutions, including the new designated institutions that form part of higher education provider group structures

  11. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant: conditions of grant April 2026 to March 2027

HTML

Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant methodology: April 2026 to March 2027

HTML

Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant allocations: April 2026 to March 2027

MS Excel Spreadsheet, 171 KB

Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant: conditions of grant April 2025 to March 2026

HTML

Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant methodology: April 2025 to March 2026

HTML

Post-16 National Insurance contributions grant allocations: April 2025 to March 2026

ODS, 286 KB

This file is in an OpenDocument format

Details

July 2026 update 

We are announcing an investment of around £120 million for colleges and other further education providers in financial year 2026 to 2027, rising to around £365 million in financial year 2027 to 2028. This funding will address immediate recruitment and retention needs, boosting opportunity for learners and driving skills for growth.

Part of this investment will be delivered by increasing component 2 and component 3 of the Post-16 National Insurance contributions (NICs) grant. We aim to make updated payments from September 2026. These are the elements of the post-16 NICs grant which support:

  • colleges with their non 16 to 19 education delivery
  • local authorities with adult centrally employed teachers

Overall, this investment will drive forward high-quality delivery for 16 to 19 funded students and help support public sector providers with a wider range of post-16 provision.

To reflect the wider coverage of the NICs grant, this will be renamed the post-16 budget support grant (P16BSG) from April 2027.

We have updated the methodology and conditions of grant to provide further details of this increased investment. Updated allocations will be provided by September.

Who should read this guidance

This guidance is for: 

  • maintained school and academy sixth forms 
  • 16 to 19 academies 
  • 16 to 19 schools   
  • sixth-form colleges  
  • general further education colleges  
  • designated institutions – including the new designated institutions that form part of higher education provider group structures  
  • local authorities

Methodology 

This document sets out the methodology for the post-16 NICs grant, including the additional investment delivered by increasing components 2 and 3 of the post-16 NICs grant. It includes guidance on how we will allocate funding for financial year 2026 to 2027 for eligible institutions.

Conditions of grant 

This outlines the terms that apply to the post-16 NICs grant, including the additional investment delivered by increasing components 2 and 3 of the post-16 NICs grant.

Allocations and payment

Payments will be received in September 2026 for:

  • local authorities
  • maintained school sixth forms
  • 16 to 19 schools
  • all colleges and designated institutions

Academy sixth forms and 16 to 19 academies will receive payment in October 2026.

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