16 to 19 funding allocations

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16 to 19 funding allocations

We calculate funding for institutions using the 16 to 19 funding formula.

Funding allocations are calculated using lagged student volumes and the funding formula that includes factors that reflect student retention, higher cost subjects, disadvantaged students and area costs. Our main collection page includes further information about each element within the 16 to 19 funding formula.

We supplement the funding calculated using the 16 to 19 funding formula with additional funding for high needs students and funding that provides financial support to students to help with their education costs.

Information for academic year 2026 to 2027

We’ve published details on the key changes to funding for 2026 to 2027.

Our pages on funding allocation statement guides and allocation calculation toolkits will help you to understand how we’ve calculated your funding.

Allocations timeline

We will publish updates to the timeline as we deliver funding allocations. The latest news column on the timeline shows updates.

Month	Activity	Latest news
December 2025	4 December 2025 is the individualised learner record (ILR) R04 deadline. This is the first 16 to 19 data return for 2025 to 2026.	The R04 data return is now closed.
February 2026	Publication of outcomes of the high needs place change process for 2026 to 2027.	Read the high needs place change data outcomes: 2026 to 2027 spreadsheet.
February 2026	5 February 2026 is the ILR R06 deadline.	The R06 data return is now closed.
March 2026	We will upload allocation calculation toolkits files to Document exchange containing funding factors to institutions and publish guidance on GOV.UK. We will begin to upload allocation statements to Document exchange to all institutions and publish guidance on GOV.UK. We aim to issue the majority of the allocations by the end of the month.	No news
April and May 2026	We will upload the remaining allocations to Document exchange in April. This year, we will only accept business cases affecting academic year 2026 to 2027. We no longer accept business cases affecting previous years. Submit your business case within 20 working days of receiving your allocation statement. Non-term time does not count as working days, so the working day count will pause during these periods. We will not accept late business cases, so plan ahead to ensure your submission is on time. We will review and process business cases and aim to complete these over the summer. This excludes institutions in scope of the high needs place change process because the enquiry window closed on 27 February 2026.	No news
July and August 2026	We will issue funding agreements and contracts to institutions either directly or through the lead contact. Agreements and contracts are then signed and returned by the funded organisation.	No news
August and September 2026	We will make the first payment to local authorities (in respect of schools with sixth forms) and directly to academies, colleges and other institutions.	No news

Business cases for major data errors

When you should submit a business case

You should only submit a business case if you have made a significant error in your 16 to 19 school census or ILR data. Submit a business case only after you have received your funding allocation statement for academic year 2026 to 2027.

We will only accept business cases that affect your allocation for academic year 2026 to 2027. We will not accept business cases for previous years.

Deadlines

Submit your business case within 20 working days of receiving your allocation statement. Non-term time does not count as working days, so the working day count will pause during these periods. We will not accept late business cases, so plan ahead to ensure your submission is on time.

How to submit a business case

Use the customer help portal to submit your case. Select Funding and payments, then Allocations and business cases. Do not upload business cases to Document exchange until you have completed this step because we will not see them.

If appropriate, we will send you a pre-populated template so you can provide the evidence we need.

Your head of institution must authorise the business case or the case must include evidence of delegated authority.

When not to submit a business case

We will not accept:

extracts from allocation calculation toolkits with corrections
templates from previous years
cases submitted after the deadline

We will not accept business cases relating to any academic year before 2026 to 2027.

This process does not cover business cases for institutions that are within scope of the high needs place change notification process.

For institutions returning the ILR, we will not accept business cases where an error in the 2024 to 2025 R04 (or R46) has reduced the ratio for the 2026 to 2027 allocation. This is because any such error will have also resulted in an increase in the 2025 to 2026 allocation.

Where we accepted a business case for academic year 2025 to 2026, we will not accept a case for the same funding element again for academic year 2026 to 2027.

Examples

If we accepted a maths and English condition of funding correction for 2025 to 2026 (using 2023 to 2024 data), and a data error is made that impacts on maths and English condition of funding again for 2026 to 2027 (using 2024 to 2025 data), we will not accept the case. This is because the institution is not fixing their data errors. This approach applies every year.

Where a business case covers multiple funding elements in either or both consecutive years, we will exclude the elements from the 2026 to 2027 case that were present in the 2025 to 2026 case and only assess the elements of the 2026 to 2027 case that are new. Table 1 shows this example.

Table 1

2025 to 2026 business case elements	2026 to 2027 business case elements	Elements considered in 2026 to 2027 business case
maths and English condition of funding	maths and English condition of funding	NO
high value courses premium	high value courses premium	NO
-	maths and English funding	YES
programme cost weighting	high value courses premium	YES

We will calculate whether or not the case passes the materiality threshold after we have removed the elements present in both years business cases from the 2026 to 2027 business case.

Decision timelines

If you submit a straightforward case with complete information by the deadline, we aim to give you a decision by the end of June 2026. However, resources to correct provider errors are limited and it may take longer to complete all cases.

More complex cases, or cases missing information, will take longer. We will action any late adjustments through a contract variation.

We will set deadlines when we request more information. If you miss these deadlines and you do not tell us about delays, we will close your case.

Thresholds for business cases

We apply standard minimum thresholds to decide whether we will consider a case.

For cases affecting your total programme funding, including your T Level allocation, there must be an overall impact of 5% on total programme funding or £100,000, whichever is lower. This threshold remains the same as last academic year.

For all other cases, there must be an overall impact of 5% of the funding related to that element. For example, if the case relates to discretionary bursary funding, the 5% would be in relation to the total discretionary bursary funding.

As advised in the thresholds for business cases section of our academic year 2025 to 2026 guidance, from 2026 to 2027 we have changed how the threshold works. From 2026 to 2027, when we agree a case, we will deduct the threshold and only pay funding above that amount. Institutions will need to fund the first 5% or £100,000 of the error, whichever is lower. We have introduced this step to create fairness within the business case process.

Reviews and appeals

There is no appeals process for business case decisions. We will only review a case if you provide evidence that we did not follow the process in this guidance. You must send this evidence within 20 working days of receiving the decision.

Our funding model uses lagged data to calculate the forthcoming academic year allocations. This provides certainty and allows providers to plan their budgets. It also ensures that DfE can control total allocations in line with budget controls.

There may be times when the lagged model does not reflect a large increase in student numbers. This is why we have an in-year growth process. This provides extra funding, subject to affordability, using the in-year R04 or census data (data from 1 November). This ensures that all increases in funding are considered equitably and institutions are treated fairly across the sector.

Data sources

Data sources for 16 to 19 and post-16 high needs funding for academic year 2026 to 2027

This section sets out the methods we will use to determine the number of students attracting funding in 2026 to 2027. We have set this out by institution type.

Schools, academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges

We base lagged numbers on 2025 to 2026 students in the autumn 2025 census. We fund some academies on estimated numbers where their funding agreement states this.

Further education (FE) colleges and some other FE or higher education institutions

We take the number of eligible students with a reference date of 1 November 2025 based on R04 (2025 to 2026). To count, students must have at least one aim funded under the 16 to 19 funding model that starts on or before this date.

We multiply this by the ratio of 1 November to all-year student numbers based on R04 (2024 to 2025) and the R14 return for that year.

We compare this figure with the student numbers calculated from R06 (2025 to 2026), both the year-to-date (as at 1 February) figure and the number recruited by 1 November (R46) to determine the final student number methodology that we will use: R04 multiplied by the ratio, R46 multiplied by the ratio or R06.

Independent learning providers

You can see the methodology we have used in the ‘total student numbers, student number methodology used’ box on your statement.

Depending on the profile of recruitment for the individual provider, we will either use:

a 12-month rolling figure for February 2025 to January 2026 based on R14 (2024 to 2025) and R06 (2025 to 2026) data
the same approach as set out above for FE colleges
the average of approaches 1 and 2

There may be a delay in issuing allocations for institutions where we use R06 data.

Local authorities and some other FE institutions

If using in-year data is not appropriate, we will use a full-year figure based on R14 (2024 to 2025). We compare this figure with the student numbers calculated from R06 (2025 to 2026), year-to-date (as at 1 February) figure to determine the final student number methodology that we will use: R14 or R06.

Maintained special schools

We allocate post-16 high needs place funding directly to local authorities. Local authorities then determine the post-16 place funding to allocate to individual maintained special schools.

Special academies

We use published 2025 to 2026 academic year high needs place numbers, revised by place changes notified to us by local authorities in November 2025.

Special post-16 institutions (SPIs)

We will allocate programme funding (element 1) and high needs funding (element 2) using counts of valid students from 2025 to 2026 ILR R06 data returns. We will use a reference date of 1 February 2026.

Lagged approach

For those institutions normally subject to funding based on lagged student numbers, the lagged approach does not apply where there is a material change in the volume of provision offered by the institution. In those cases, we remove the institution from the lagged approach and we calculate funded student numbers as set out in the funding rates and formula guidance.

Formula elements

These are the methods we will use to determine the other formula elements for institutions with 16 to 19 funding in 2026 to 2027.

Data sources for formula elements/Institution type	Institutions making ILR return	Institutions making census return	Institutions with no historical data
Retention, size of programme, programme cost weighting, disadvantage block 2 instances, high value courses premium and English and maths funding	R14 2024 to 2025	Autumn census 2025 (end-year 2024 to 2025 data)	National average for institution type
Disadvantage block 1 factor, instances and discretionary bursary instances	R14 2024 to 2025	Autumn census 2025 (end-year 2024 to 2025 data)	Local authority average for institution type
Large programmes	2023 to 2024 young people’s matched admin dataset (YPMAD)	2023 to 2024 YPMAD	Not applicable
T Level funded students and Industry placements	R04 2025 to 2026 and T Level data collection	Autumn census 2025 (2025 to 2026 data) and T Level data collection	T Level data collection
Maths and English condition of funding	R14 2024 to 2025	Autumn census 2025 (end-year 2024 to 2025 data)	Not applicable
Advanced maths premium	2025 to 2026 R04 data with a reference date of 1 November 2025	Autumn census 2025 (2025 to 2026 data)	If institution is open in 2025 to 2026, then ILR or census as appropriate. If not open in 2025 to 2026, then no impact
Core maths premium	2025 to 2026 R04 data with a reference date of 1 November 2025	Autumn census 2025 (2025 to 2026 data)	If institution is open in 2025 to 2026, then ILR or census as appropriate. If not open in 2025 to 2026, then no impact

Contact us

If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.

Published allocations

You can find a list of our previously published allocations transparency data on in the funding allocations section on our collection page.

16 to 19 funding allocations

Applies to England