Guidance

Residential Support Scheme data return, 2025 to 2026: guidance for completing the digital form

Updated 1 October 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

This guidance sets out how to complete the digital form for the Residential Support Scheme (RSS).

Use this form to report how you used your RSS allocation provided by the Department for Education (DfE) in the 2025 to 2026 academic year, from 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026. 

Institutions administering RSS funding are required to complete and submit an annual return to provide us with data on expenditure against allocation and to confirm the number of supported students. This requirement forms part of our contractual terms and conditions for RSS.

This data return will be analysed and used to reconcile RSS funding. We will recover any unspent funds, as you are unable to carry these forward to future years.

You can view more detailed information in the Residential Support Scheme: guidance for the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

Who this guidance is for

This guidance is for further education and sixth-form colleges designated to deliver specialist provision that have received RSS funding in the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

When to complete your submission

The deadline to complete and submit your return is 23 October 2026 at 5pm.

You can amend your submissions up until the deadline.

We do not grant any extensions to the deadline. If you make multiple submissions, we will take account of your latest submission and disregard any previous submissions. You will get a new unique reference for each submission.

Accessing the form

Access the RSS digital form to complete your return.

Before you start

Before you start the submission process, ensure you have:

• read this guidance
• a DfE Sign-in account
• the total RSS you have spent
• the total number of students you have supported with RSS
• reasons for any overspend or underspend

DfE Sign-in

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

Follow these steps to access your DfE Sign-in account:

1. Access the RSS data collection digital form and select ‘Start now’. When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your account email address and password) for authentication.

2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you’ll need to enter a verification code to sign in. To send the verification email with code you need to click on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.

3. After clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ you’ll progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.

4. Choose the organisation you are completing the form for – this is only required if your account is linked to several organisations.

5. The next page will display the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and unique identifier of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the form.

6. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page.

To complete the form, your DfE Sign-in account must be connected to the organisation you are completing the form for.

You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in. It is used only for authentication.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by completing the following steps:

1. Access DfE Sign-in page and select ‘create a DfE Sign-in account’.

2. Enter your email address. You must use a valid business email address that contains your name – we are unable to accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’. You cannot use a personal email address.

3. We will send you an email to verify your email address. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

4. Create a memorable password of 8 characters that contains 3 characters out of: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname.

5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your MFA verification email by clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the Verify your identity page.

6. We will send you an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

7. Follow the next step instructions outlined in the next section, ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’.

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account.

2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the right-hand side of the page.

4. Enter the name of the organisation you wish to add.

5. Select the organisation.

6. Select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to the approvers of your organisation. If you do not already have an approver, your request will be actioned by the DfE Sign-in support team.

Once your request to access an organisation has been approved, you can follow the steps outlined under Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account to complete the form.

You may have noticed the term ‘approver’ when setting up your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as a manager.

For security reasons, you will need authorisation from one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

If you need assistance

For problems using the DfE Sign-in service, use our DfE Sign-in help service to request assistance. When raising a support request, select ‘Other’.

If you are having problems accessing the form collection, you can contact us through our Customer Help Portal.

Completing the form

Access the Residential Support Scheme digital form and click ‘Start now’. 

When you navigate through the form, you will find a ‘Save and continue’ button that will take you through each page. If you sign out of the form, or leave it open for an extended period before submitting it, you can resume your submission when you sign back in.

Once you have submitted your form, you will be advised of the next steps and will receive an email confirmation of your submission with a link to download a PDF copy of your submission. This link will expire after 6 months, so we recommend you download a copy as soon as possible.

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline.

 Your details 

We will show details of the information we hold about the organisation you selected when you sign in to your DfE Sign-in account.

Your RSS funding for the 2025 to 2026 academic year

We will confirm the funding details that we hold about your organisation. The page will show:

• the amount of RSS funding allocated to you in the 2025 to 2026 academic year
• the number of students that we expected to receive RSS funding

This is based on information submitted by your organisation as part of the RSS application process. 

These figures are displayed to remind you of the funding and expected student numbers for the 2025 to 2026 academic year, before you return your actual numbers delivered.

Total RSS you have spent

If any pupils were supported, you are then asked to confirm how many pupils and how much you spent on RSS in the 2025 to 2026 academic year. 

You will not see this page if you chose to submit a nil return.

Total number of students you have supported with RSS

Where you have spent your RSS funding, we ask how many students you supported in the 2025 to 2026 academic year.

You will not see this page if you chose to submit a nil return.

Reasons for any overspend or underspend

We will ask for a short explanation of why your actual spend, or actual number of students supported, is different from the funding details provided for the academic year.

Declarations page

Once you have completed all relevant data entries you must agree to all mandatory declarations before you can submit your form.

You will not be able to submit your form without completing the mandatory declarations. You will need to tick each statement box to confirm your agreement.

Submission summary

The summary page allows you to check your answers before submitting the form. You can change your answers using the ‘Change’ link that appears next to each data entry.

You can also save this summary by selecting ‘Save summary as PDF’ before you submit.

We cannot accept a PDF summary of your answers as proof of submission.

You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of this page and you will receive a unique reference number for your submission to be processed.

Confirmation

The final page confirms your form has been successfully submitted. You will receive a unique reference number. It also provides a link back to the start page for you to review or update your submission.

You will also receive an email confirming successful submission of your claim. This email contains a link to download a PDF of your submission, which is valid for 6 months from the date of your submission.

Make a note of your unique reference number, as we will not include this information in your confirmation email.    

You will also find your unique reference number in the PDF of your submission.

Amending your submission

You can make changes to the form and resubmit until the deadline.

To do this, you will need to sign back in to access your form, make your amends and resubmit it.

We cannot grant any extensions to the deadline.

If you make any subsequent submissions, we will use the details provided on your most recently submitted form and disregard all previous versions.

You will receive a new unique submission reference number for an amended submission.

Enquiries

If you have read this guidance and have any questions, contact us via the Customer Help Portal.

Feedback

We are committed to enhancing our user experience and improving our digital forms.

We welcome and encourage user feedback.