Guidance

Schools budget support grant 2026: methodology

Published 8 July 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

This publication sets out the methodology for the schools budget support grant 2026 (SBSG 26). This includes guidance on how we will allocate funding for the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

We are providing around £635 million in the financial year 2026 to 2027 through SBSG 26 to support with increased costs for:

• mainstream schools (for reception to key stage 4 provision) including special units and resourced provision (£522 million)
• special, alternative provision (AP) and hospital schools (£98 million)
• local authority centrally employed teachers and support staff (£14 million)

We are also providing:

• £18 million for schools with early years (EY) provision
• around £49 million for post-16 provision in schools and academies

Taken together, this is an increase of £700 million in financial year 2026 to 2027 for schools.

This guide explains how we will allocate the funding through SBSG 26 in financial year 2026 to 2027. In advance of the allocations being published in October, mainstream schools can use a calculator tool to estimate their funding for pupils from reception to key stage 4 through SBSG 26.

Funding for 16 to 19 provision in schools and academies will be delivered via 16 to 19 allocations. Further information can be found on 16 to 19 funding: information for 2026 to 2027.

Funding for EY settings is being allocated through the early years teachers’ pay grant (EYTPG) 2026.

Eligibility for the grant

Mainstream schools (for pupils from reception to key stage 4) 

SBSG 26 will provide additional funding for pupils from reception to key stage 4 (in the 5 to 16 age range) for the following mainstream schools:  

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

Special units and resourced provision

SBSG 26 will provide additional funding for mainstream schools with special units or resource provision (SURPs). Local authorities will receive an allocation that is calculated based on a flat rate per place for their mainstream schools with SURPs. There will be conditions of grant that specify how local authorities must pass that additional funding on to their mainstream schools.

Special and AP schools 

SBSG 26 will provide additional funding for the following schools:  

• maintained special schools  
• special academies and free schools  
• non-maintained special schools
• independent special schools 
• maintained pupil referral units (PRUs)
• AP academies and free schools
• maintained schools, academies and others providing hospital education 

Local authority centrally employed staff

SBSG 26 will provide additional funding for local authority centrally employed staff (CES).

Dependent on local definitions, it may cover the following teachers and support staff:   

• peripatetic teachers and support staff
• music teachers and support staff employed by the local authority that are part of the music hub partnership
• home tutors, and teachers who are employed by education authorities to provide education in institutions other than schools (for example, hospitals, home tuition, assessment centres and pupil referral units)

To ensure equity across the music hub network, matching grant funding will be made available to non-local authority music hubs and partners who employ non-centrally employed staff. Following a data collection exercise, these allocations will be paid to the hub lead organisation in each area. The hub lead organisation will then disburse to the relevant hub partners.

Paying the grant

We will pay SBSG 26 in October 2026 for local authorities and November 2026 for academies for the 2026 to 2027 financial year.

Payments for new and growing schools will be made in early 2027, to ensure that the latest pupil and place data is used - this is covered in the new and growing schools section.

Mainstream schools (for pupils from reception to key stage 4)

We will pay funding:  

• directly to mainstream academies at the published rates
• to local authorities for maintained mainstream schools and for all mainstream schools with SURPs, and they will be required to pay it to their individual schools at the published rates  

We will pay the grant in:  

• October 2026 for local authorities  
• November 2026 for academies   

These payments will include the allocation of the mainstream schools element of the grant for the 2026 to 2027 financial year. The October allocations to local authorities will also include the funding for mainstream schools with SURPs.

Beyond 2026 to 2027, the funding for mainstream primary, secondary and all-through schools will be incorporated into core budget allocations by being rolled into the schools national funding formula (NFF) for 2027 to 2028.  

We will ensure that the usual arrangements are in place for academies, to cover SBSG 26 funding for the period April to August 2027, given their funding cycle follows the academic year. This payment will cover the period before we roll the funding into academies’ core budget allocations issued through the general annual grant (GAG).

The SURPs element of this funding for all maintained schools and academies will continue from April 2027 through local authorities’ dedicated schools grant (DSG) high needs block allocations. 

Arrangements for new and growing schools are set out in the new and growing schools section.

Special and AP schools

We will pay funding:  

• to local authorities to pass on, in accordance with the conditions of grant, to:   
  • their maintained special schools and PRUs
  • the special and AP academies they previously maintained
  • the special and AP free schools in their area
  • their maintained schools, academies and others providing hospital education
  • independent special schools, supporting any increase in the fees charged for their placements in those schools
• directly to non-maintained special schools at the published rates

Beyond 2026 to 2027, the funding for special and AP schools will be incorporated into the:

• high needs block of local authorities’ DSG for 2027 to 2028
• legacy (staff costs) high needs funding stream for non-maintained special schools

Arrangements for new special and AP schools are set out in new and growing schools. 

Local authority centrally employed teachers and support staff

SBSG 26 will provide funding to local authorities for teachers and support staff categorised as centrally employed by authorities on the schools workforce census (SWC) 2025.   

We will pay the grant to local authorities in October 2026.  

Local authorities will receive 1 payment to cover the 2026 to 2027 financial year. 

Beyond the 2026 to 2027 financial year, the funding for CES will be incorporated into core budget allocations, by being rolled into the central schools services block (CSSB) of the DSG for 2027 to 2028.  

Funding rates 

Mainstream schools (for pupils from reception to key stage 4) 

We have based SBSG 26 funding rates on factors used in previous pay and pensions grants, a:  

• basic per-pupil rate with different rates for primary, key stage 3, and key stage 4   
• lump sum paid to all schools, regardless of pupil numbers  
• per-pupil rate for pupils who are recorded as having been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years (FSM6), with different rates for primary and secondary pupils  

In addition, there is a flat rate per place for places in mainstream school SURPs allocated by local authorities. 

We apply an area cost adjustment (ACA) to the funding rates because of geographical variation in labour costs. We have used the same ACAs 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.  

Funding rates for 2026 to 2027

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

• basic per-pupil rate of:
  • £42 for primary pupils, including pupils in reception  
  • £59 for key stage 3 pupils  
  • £67 for key stage 4 pupils  
• lump sum of £1,600
• FSM6 per-pupil rate of:
  • £35 per eligible primary pupil  
  • £55 per eligible secondary pupil  

The 2026 to 2027 financial year funding rate for mainstream schools with eligible SURPs is £196 per place.

For budget planning purposes the 12 month equivalent of the SURPs funding rate is £270. The other annualised funding rates for mainstream schools are covered in the academy rates section.

Academy rates April to August 2027 and full year equivalent rates

The funding allocated through SBSG 26 will be rolled into the schools NFF from 2027 to 2028. This will come into force from:

• 1 April 2027 for maintained schools
• 1 September 2027 for academies

To ensure academies do not lose out on the funding in April to August 2027, they will receive an additional SBSG 26 payment for that period.

The funding rates for academies for April to August 2027 are:  

• basic per-pupil rate of:
  • £24 for primary pupils, including pupils in reception  
  • £34 for key stage 3 pupils  
  • £38 for key stage 4 pupils  
• lump sum of £917 
• FSM6 per-pupil rate of:
  • £21 per eligible primary pupil  
  • £31 per eligible secondary pupil  

The rates that we roll into the NFF will be the full-year equivalent rates. These are a:

• basic per-pupil rate of:
  • £58 for primary pupils, including pupils in reception  
  • £81 for key stage 3 pupils  
  • £91 for key stage 4 pupils  
• lump sum of £2,200 
• FSM6 per-pupil rate of:
  • £50 per eligible primary pupil  
  • £75 per eligible secondary pupil  

The base funding rates for 2026 to 2027 provide support for pay rises covering:

• April 2026 to March 2027 for support staff
• September 2026 to March 2027 for teachers

The full year equivalent rates have been calculated such that it funds the equivalent amount for both support staff and teachers for a full year.

Special and AP schools

SBSG 26 funding rates for the 2026 to 2027 financial year are £371 per place for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and AP places in:

• maintained and non-maintained special schools
• PRUs
• special and AP academies and free schools
• independent special schools (using local authority placement data)

For budget planning purposes the 12-month equivalent of this 7-month rate is £511 per place.

We apply an ACA to the funding rate because of geographical variation in labour costs. We will use the ACAs as updated for 2026 to 2027. We will publish them alongside the SBSG 26 allocations.

Local authorities will also receive an allocation equivalent to 1.16% of the annual funding for hospital education included in the 2025 to 2026 high needs national funding formula (NFF) allocations, adjusted by any changes made for the final 2025 to 2026 DSG allocations.

For budget planning purposes the 12-month equivalent of the 1.16% 7-month rate is 1.57%.

Local authority centrally employed staff

Local authorities will receive funding for CES based on the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers and support staff categorised as centrally employed on the SWC 2025.

SBSG 26 funding rates for the 2026 to 2027 financial year are:

• £655 per centrally employed teacher FTE (7-month rate)
• £882 per centrally employed support staff FTE (12-month rate)

We will apply an ACA to the funding rate because of geographical variation in labour costs. We will use the same ACAs as for the CSSB for 2026 to 2027 as published in the Area cost adjustment for national funding formula 2026 to 2027 - technical note.

Teachers are funded on a financial year basis, while support staff are funded on an academic year basis. When incorporated into the CSSB, we will use the 12-month equivalent rate for teachers, while the rate for support staff will remain unchanged.

Allocations

Mainstream schools (for pupils from reception to key stage 4) 

We will publish school level allocations showing the total funding allocated for the 2026 to 2027 financial year in October.

We will calculate allocations by multiplying the relevant funding rates by the pupil count, and FSM6 pupil count, using data from the October 2025 census. This will be added to the lump sum amount.  

The allocations published in October will include the funding allocated to local authorities for their mainstream schools with eligible SURPs. These allocations will use 2026 to 2027 academic year place numbers multiplied by the per place funding rate as above. 

The place numbers for maintained schools will be taken from the 2026 to 2027 financial year section 251 budget returns from local authorities, which are due to be published in September 2026. Local authorities should therefore include the correct place number for each school for the period September 2026 to March 2027 in their section 251 return. Very exceptionally, if the place number for the next academic year is not confirmed until after the return has been submitted, the local authority can ask us to correct the number for a school, so long as the correction is submitted by the end of July 2026.

The place numbers for academies will be the equivalent 2026 to 2027 academic year numbers, published in High needs: allocated place numbers, and due to be updated in July 2026.

We will calculate the allocations based on the school estate in September 2026. We will use different pupil data for new and growing mainstream schools as explained in new and growing schools.  

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

Special and AP schools

The SBSG 26 allocations published in October will use 2026 to 2027 academic year place numbers multiplied by the per place funding rate. 

The place numbers for:

• maintained schools will be taken from the 2026 to 2027 financial year section 251 budget returns from local authorities, which are due to be published in September 2026
• academies will be the equivalent 2026 to 2027 academic year numbers, published in High needs: allocated place numbers, and due to be updated in July 2026
• non-maintained special schools will be based on the 2026 to 2027 academic year numbers, included in the July 2026 update of High needs: allocated place numbers

The independent school numbers will be based on the AP census information provided by local authorities in the January 2026 census collection, showing the number of SEND placements made by each local authority in those schools

These allocations will be paid:

• to local authorities for:
  • their maintained schools, academies previously maintained by them and free schools in their area
  • independent schools in which they have made placements
• directly to non-maintained special schools

The allocations will be paid by local authorities to schools in accordance with the SBSG 26 conditions of grant.

Local authority centrally employed staff 

We expect to publish local authority allocations for their CES for the 2026 to 2027 financial year in October. 

New and growing schools 

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

We will fund these schools based on their pupil numbers in the October 2026 census. We will confirm allocations in February 2027.  

To help these schools with budget planning, we will publish indicative school level allocations in October 2026 (alongside the actual allocations for other mainstream schools), using pupil data from their local authority’s 2026 to 2027 authority proforma tool (APT). The actual February 2027 allocations for these schools will be different because they will use more recent pupil data.  

Mainstream schools opening in September 2026 

For mainstream schools that open in September 2026, we will confirm SBSG 26 allocations in February 2027. We will calculate their allocations using:

• pupil number data from the October 2026 census
• pro rata funding rates

We will not publish indicative funding allocations for these schools. School leaders can estimate their funding levels using the published per pupil funding rates.

Special and AP free schools opening between September 2026 and January 2027

For special and AP schools that open from September 2026 to January 2027, we will confirm additional SBSG 26 allocations in February 2027. We will calculate their allocations using the place number data used for their allocations of place funding.  

Contact us 

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