Guidance

Local authority disapplication request: using the digital form

Published 30 September 2026

Applies to England

Introduction

A local authority must submit a disapplication request to the Department for Education (DfE) if its local approach to school funding would not usually be allowed under the schools and early years finance regulations and dedicated schools grant (DSG): conditions of grant.

If this happens, local authorities can use the disapplication request service to make an exceptional request to the Secretary of State for Education to disregard specific requirements in the regulations and DSG conditions of grant.

When to complete your submission 

Ahead of publication of the schools operational guide 2027 to 2028, refer to section 45 (timetable) of the schools operational guide 2026 to 2027. We expect local authorities to work to similar timeframes.

The deadline for all disapplication requests relating to the 2027 to 2028 financial year is 16 November 2026.

For requests received by this date, we aim to communicate decisions in time for local authorities to submit the authority proforma tool (APT) and provide maintained schools with their budget shares.

Before you start  

Make sure you have:

• read this guidance
• a DfE Sign-in account
• an explanation of why you are requesting to disapply the regulations
• information about any transitional measures you plan to implement
• details of all options you have considered
• financial impact assessment information, including any modelling that has been carried out
• read the pre-16 schools funding schools operational guide 2026 to 2027
• read the early years entitlements: local authority funding operational guide 2026 to 2027, if relevant to your request
• read the high needs funding 2026 to 2027 operational guide, if relevant to your request
• reviewed annex 1 of the high needs funding 2026 to 2027 operational guide, if your request relates to high needs funding
• information about the financial health of the local authority and any affected schools using schools financial benchmarking service to help you

Accessing the form 

Use the local authority disapplication request form to complete your return. 

You must submit all relevant sub-forms before your return can be considered complete.

For general disapplications, high needs requests and early years requests (except early years pass-through requests), you must submit 5 sub-forms.

For school block movement requests and early years pass-through requests, you must submit 6 sub-forms.

After signing in, you will see a task list showing all the sub-forms you need to complete. All sub-forms are mandatory. Your submission is not complete until all required sub-forms have been submitted.

Each sub-form will show one of the following statuses:

• Not Yet Started – you have not opened the form
• In Progress – you have started the form but not submitted it
• Complete – you have submitted the form successfully

You can complete the sub-forms in any order.

Your submission will only be considered complete when all required sub-forms show a status of ‘Complete’.

If you have questions or experience problems using the form, contact us using the customer help portal.

DfE Sign-in

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

To access your DfE Sign-in account:

1. Open the online form and select ‘Start now’. When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in email address and password.
2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled select ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.
3. On the ‘Enter code’ page, enter the verification code from the email and select ‘Verify’.
4. If your DfE Sign-in account is linked to more than one organisation, select the organisation for which you are completing the form.
5. We will display the information we hold for the selected organisation, including its name, address and unique identifier, as well as your name and email address.
6. If the information is correct, select ‘Continue’.
7. If any information is incorrect, contact us using the customer help portal. You can still continue with your submission while we investigate.

Your account must be connected to the local authority for which you are completing the form. You do not need to add any services in DfE Sign-in, as it is only used for authentication.

Create a DfE Sign-in account 

To create a DfE Sign-in account: 

1. Go to the 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 includes your name. We are unable to accept generic email addresses, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’, or a personal email address.
3. We will send a verification code to your email address. Enter the code on the verification page. 
4. Create a memorable password with at least 8 characters. It must contain 3 of the following:

• lowercase characters
• uppercase characters
• numbers
• symbols

5. Enter your first name and last name.

6. Sign in using your email address and password.

7. If prompted, select ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page. Enter the verification code from the email and select ‘Verify’.

8. Follow the instructions in the ‘Add an organisation’ section of this guidance.

Add an organisation

To add an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account:

1. Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account.
2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.
3. Under ‘Related actions’ on the right-hand side of the page, select ‘Request access to an organisation’.
4. Enter the UK provider reference number (UKPRN) for the organisation you would like to add.
5. Select the organisation from search results.
6. Select ‘Confirm’.

You may see the term ‘approver’ when setting up your account. An approver is someone in your organisation who manages access to DfE Sign-in and its services. This is usually an administrator or senior manager. 

For security reasons, you must have approval from one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

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

Once your request has been approved, follow the steps in ‘Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account’ section and complete the form.

Get help with DfE Sign-in

If you have problems using DfE Sign-in, contact the DfE Sign-in help service. When submitting a support request, select ‘Other.’

If you have problems accessing the form, contact us using the customer help portal.

Completing the form 

Access the online form and select ‘Start now’. After signing in with DfE Sign-in, you will see a task list showing all the sub-forms you need to complete and submit.

Select ‘Save and continue’ on each page to move to the next step.  If you sign out or leave the form open for an extended period, you can return to your submission when you sign back in.

After you submit a sub-form, you will see information about the next steps. You will also receive a confirmation email containing a link to download a PDF copy of your submitted sub-form.

The download link will expire 6 months after the date of submission. We recommend downloading a copy of the PDF as soon as possible.

You can edit and resubmit a sub-form until the submission deadline.

Your details 

We will show the information we hold about the local authority when you sign into the form. 

Type of requests

You can make a disapplication request for one of the following 5 request types:

General (schools and central school services)

Use a general disapplication request if local circumstances mean that standard schools funding regulations or conditions of grant cannot adequately address your situation.

Requests may relate to exceptional cost pressures, changes in pupil numbers, technical adjustments to local funding arrangements, or other circumstances requiring regulatory flexibility.

Schools block movement

You can transfer up to and including 0.5% of the schools block into another funding block with schools forum approval.

If you want to transfer more than 0.5%, or do not have schools forum approval, you must submit a disapplication request to the Secretary of State for Education.

High needs

Use a high needs disapplication request if you want to depart from the high needs funding arrangements set out in the funding regulations or conditions of grant.

Requests may relate to high needs funding variations, post-16 extensions or exclusion from the special school minimum funding guarantee (MFG).

Early years – pass-through only

Use this request type if you want to use a pass-through rate lower than the 97% minimum required by the early years funding regulations.

Early years – all other requests

Use this request type for early years disapplications that are not related to pass-through requirements.

Requests may relate to provider amounts within the early years funding arrangements. After selecting a request type, complete and submit all relevant sub-forms for that request.

Sub-form details

After you sign in and select a request type, you will see a list of the sub-forms to complete.

You must complete and submit all required sub-forms before your submission can be considered complete.

After submitting a sub-form, return to the task list to access and complete the remaining sub-forms. Your request is not complete until you have submitted all required sub-forms.

Standard sub-forms

All request types include the following sub-forms:

• summary
• supporting information
• consultation information
• legal
• equality impact assessment (EIA)

Summary

To complete this section, you will need:

• the reasons for your request
• the year the request relates to
• information about lease quantities and costs, where relevant
• information about any transitional measures you may need to implement

Supporting information

To complete this section, you will need:

• details of any options you have considered
• financial impact assessment information, including any modelling that has been carried out
• to have reviewed  annex 1 of the high needs funding 2026 to 2027 operational guide, if your request relates to high needs funding
• information about the financial health of the local authority and any affected schools, using the schools financial benchmarking service to help you

You can also upload up to 5 supporting documents.

For each document you upload, provide a brief description in the explanation box. Include any relevant page or paragraph numbers to which you are referring.

Consultation information

To complete this section, you will need to:

• confirm which schools are directly affected by the request
• explain how you consulted schools, the schools forum and any interested parties
• provide schools forum minutes showing any consultation and votes that took place

Legal

To complete this section, you will need to:

• confirm your assessment of the risk of legal challenge, including where this is not applicable
• explain how you consulted schools, the schools forum and any interested parties
• provide schools forum minutes showing any consultation and votes that took place

Equality impact assessment

To complete this section, you must upload your EIA.

Your EIA should explain:

• the proposal and why you are seeking a disapplication
• which groups with protected characteristics may be affected
• whether the impact on those groups is likely to be positive, negative or neutral
• whether any group may be affected disproportionately

The assessment should be proportionate to the scale and impact of the request. Requests may be delayed if there is insufficient evidence that equality impacts have been considered.

Additional sub-forms

Some request types also include additional sub-forms:

• school block movement
• early years pass-through only

School block movement

To complete this section, you will need:

• information about how the proposed block transfer fits in with your local special education needs and disabilities (SEND) reform plan
• a cost breakdown of how the transferred funding will be used
• details of the impact of the proposed transfer on individual schools’ budgets
• the forecast net in-year DSG balance for your local authority for the 2026 to 2027 financial year and the 2027 to 2028 financial year

Early years pass-through 97% only

To complete this section, you will need to:

• confirm the type of early years disapplication request
• explain how the request will affect the funding rate for the relevant entitlement stream
• calculate and confirm the lower pass-through rate using the calculator provided in the form
• have reviewed the early years entitlements: local authority funding operational guide 2026 to 2027

Declarations page

After completing each sub-form, you must complete the declaration section.

You cannot submit a sub-form until you have completed the declaration. You must complete the declaration for every sub-form you submit.

Submission summary

Use the summary page to review your answers before submitting the sub-form. To change an answer, select the ‘Change’ link next to the relevant data entry.

You can save a copy of your answers by selecting ‘Save summary as PDF’ before you submit the form.

Saving a PDF does not submit the sub-form. We cannot accept a PDF summary as evidence of submission.

You must select ‘Submit’ at the bottom of the page to submit your form. Once it is submitted, you will receive a unique reference number as confirmation that your submission has been received.

 Confirmation 

The confirmation page shows that your form has been submitted successfully. It includes a unique reference number and information about what happens next.

Each submitted sub-form has its own unique reference number.

You will receive a confirmation email for each submitted sub-form. The email includes a link to download a PDF copy of your submission. The link is valid for 6 months from the submission date.

Make a note of your unique reference number. This number is not included in the confirmation email.

Once you have completed and submitted all required sub-forms for your disapplication request, you will receive an acknowledgement email.

 Amending your submission

You can make changes to a submitted sub-form before the submission deadline.

To do this:

1. Sign back in to the service.
2. Open the main digital form page.
3. Select the relevant sub-form.
4. Make your changes.
5. Resubmit the sub-form.

Each updated version will replace the previous submission for that sub-form.

For more information about submission deadlines, refer to section 45 (timetable) of the schools operational guide: 2026 to 2027.

Enquiries 

If you have any questions about the digital disapplication submission process, contact us using the customer help portal.

Feedback

We welcome feedback on the digital form. Use our feedback form to tell us about your experience.