Guidance

Schools budget support grant (SBSG) 2025 to 2026: methodology

Published 22 May 2025

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This document sets out the methodology for the schools budget support grant (SBSG). This includes guidance on how we will allocate funding for the 7 month period September 2025 to March 2026. 

We are providing schools (for 5 to 16 provision) and high needs settings with £567 million in financial year 2025 to 2026 to support them with their increased costs. We are also providing £15 million for schools with early years provision and £32 million for post-16 provision in schools and academies and further education colleges. Taken together, this is an increase of £615 million in financial year 2025 to 2026.

This funding is being split between mainstream schools (5 to 16), special schools and alternative provision (AP), local authority centrally employed staff (CES), early years (EY) provision, and post-16 provision. The split reflects pupil and place numbers, and core funding amounts, across these different types of provision. 

This guide explains how we will allocate the funding for mainstream schools (for the 5 to 16-year-old age range) and local authorities for CES in 2025 to 2026.   

In advance of the allocations being published, schools can use a calculator tool to estimate their funding for 5 to 16-year-olds through the SBSG.

Funding for specialist high needs settings, including AP, is being allocated through the core schools budget grant (CSBG) for 2025 to 2026. We have published details on the funding methodology for these settings.

Funding for early years settings is being allocated through the early years NICs and teachers pay grant for 2025 to 2026. We have published details on this grant, including on funding rates and on the methodology used to calculate rates.

Funding in respect of post-16 provision will be incorporated via a rates uplift.

2. Eligibility for the grant

2.1  Mainstream schools (for 5 to 16-year-olds)

The SBSG will provide additional funding in respect of the 5 to 16-year-old age range for the following mainstream school providers: 

• primary and secondary maintained schools 

• primary and secondary academies and free schools 

• all-through maintained schools 

• all-through academies 

• city technology colleges 

2.2 Special education resource provision units

The SBSG will provide additional funding for mainstream schools with special units or resource provision (SURPs). Mainstream schools with SURPs will receive an allocation calculated on the basis of a flat rate per place, on top of the allocation that all mainstream schools receive.

2.3 Centrally employed staff (CES)

The school budgets support grant will provide additional funding in respect of local authority CES.

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

• peripatetic teachers, including 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)

3. Paying the grant

In autumn 2025 we will pay the  SBSG  for the period September 2025 to March 2026. This payment will include the core mainstream schools element and funding for SURPs. Payments for new and growing schools will be made in early 2026, to ensure that the latest pupil data is used – this is covered at section 6 below.

3.1 Mainstream schools (for 5 to 16-year-olds)

We will pay funding: 

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

• directly to mainstream academies at the published rates

We will pay the grant in:

• October for local authorities

• November for academies

These payments will include the main allocation of the mainstream schools element of the grant to cover the 2025 to 2026 financial year. These autumn 2025 allocations will also include the funding for mainstream schools with SURPs.

Beyond 2025 to 2026, the funding for mainstream primary, secondary and all-through schools will be incorporated into core budget allocations by being rolled into the schools block of the schools national funding formula (NFF) for 2026 to 2027.

We will ensure that the usual arrangements are in place for academies, to cover the schools budget support grant for the period April to August 2026, given their funding cycle follows the academic year. This payment will cover the period before we move the grant into academies’ core budget allocations through the NFF.

We will decide in due course how the SURPs element of this funding will continue in 2026 to 2027.

Arrangements in respect of new and growing schools are set out in section 6 below.

3.2 Centrally employed staff

The  SBSG  will provide funding to local authorities in respect of teachers and support staff categorised as centrally employed on the schools workforce census 2024.  

We will pay the grant to local authorities in October.

Local authorities will receive 1 payment to cover the 2025 to 2026 financial year.

Beyond 2025 to 2026, the funding for CES will be incorporated into core budget allocations by being rolled into the central schools services block (CSSB) for 2026 to 2027.

4. Funding rates

4.1  Mainstream schools (for 5 to 16-year-olds)

We have based the  SBSG  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  

• a lump sum paid to all schools, regardless of pupil numbers 

• a 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 rate for places in mainstream school SURPs.

We apply an area cost adjustment (ACA) to the funding rates in table 1 because of geographical variation in labour costs. We have used the same ACAs as the schools NFF for 2025 to 2026 as published in the area cost adjustment for national funding formula: technical note.

We will multiply the base funding rates in table 1 by the relevant ACA to calculate the school level allocations.

4.2 Table 1

The base funding rates for 2025 to 2026 financial year are: 

• a basic per pupil rate of £37 for primary pupils, including pupils in reception

• a basic per pupil rate of £53 for key stage 3 pupils 

• a basic per pupil rate of £60 for key stage 4 pupils 

• a lump sum of £1,400

• a FSM6 per pupil rate of £35 per eligible primary pupil 

• a FSM6 per pupil rate of £50 per eligible secondary pupil

For academies, we will ensure that the usual arrangements are in place to cover the school budgets support grant for the period April to August 2026.

The 2025 to 2026 financial year funding rate for mainstream schools with eligible SURPs is £172 per place.

4.3 Centrally employed teachers and support staff

Teachers and support staff categorised as centrally employed on the schools workforce census 2024 will be funded on a per staff basis. There will be 2 rates, one for centrally employed teachers and another for centrally employed support staff.

We will calculate allocations for local authority CES by taking the number of teachers categorised as centrally employed on the schools workforce census 2024, and divide the total quanta assigned to fund teachers and support staff proportionally. This will lead to the 2 rates.

We do not yet have access to the schools workforce census data for 2024. This is due to be published in summer 2025, following which, we will confirm the ‘per staff’ funding rate for both centrally employed teachers and support staff.

We 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 2025 to 2026 as published in the area cost adjustment for national funding formula: technical note.

5. Allocations

5.1 Mainstream schools (for 5 to 16-year-olds)

We expect to publish the conditions of grant and school level allocations showing the total funding allocated for 2025 to 2026 financial year in the autumn.

We will calculate allocations by multiplying the relevant funding rates by the pupil count, and FSM6 pupil count, using data from the October 2024 census, and adding the lump sum amount.

The allocations published in the autumn will include the funding for mainstream schools with eligible SURPs. These allocations will use 2025 to 2026 academic year place numbers multiplied by the per place funding rate as above. 

The place numbers for maintained schools will be taken from the 2025 to 2026 financial year section 251 budget returns from local authorities, which are due to be published in September 2025. The place numbers for academies will be the equivalent 2025 to 2026 academic year numbers, to be published in July 2025.

We will calculate the allocations based on the school estate in May 2025. We will use different pupil data for new and growing mainstream schools as explained in the new and growing schools section. 

We will pro rata allocations for schools which are closing in the 2025 to 2026 financial year for the proportion of the remainder of the year that they are open. 

5.2 Centrally employed staff (CES)

We expect to publish the local authority allocations for 2025 to 2026 for  their CES in autumn 2025, following the publication of the most recent schools workforce census.

6. New and growing schools

6.1  Mainstream schools that have opened in the past 7 years and are still adding year groups in the 2025 to 2026 academic year

We will fund these schools based on their pupil numbers in the October 2025 census and so will confirm allocations in February 2026.

To help these schools with budget planning, we will publish indicative school level allocations in autumn (alongside the actual allocations for other mainstream schools), using pupil data from their local authority’s 2025 to 2026 authority proforma tool (APT). The actual February 2026 allocations for these schools will be different because they will use more recent pupil data.

6.2 Mainstream schools opening in September 2025

For mainstream schools that open in September 2025, we will confirm  SBSG allocations in February 2026. We will calculate their allocations using pupil number data from the October 2025 census and 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.

7. Contact us

If you have any questions after reading this guidance, please contact us via our  Customer Help Portal