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Guidance

College financial handbook

For college governors, accounting officers, chief financial officers, governance professionals and auditors.

Updates to this page

From:
Department for Education
Published:
25 June 2025
Last updated:
8 July 2026
Show all updates

  1. Added ‘College financial handbook 2026’ and removed ‘College financial handbook 2024’.

  2. Updated the summary table to reflect changes to special severance payments.

  3. Updated information relating to special severance payments following guidance issued by HM Treasury.

  4. We have updated the thresholds for senior pay approvals to match the updated HM Treasury thresholds (paragraphs 2.25 to 2.27).

  5. First published.

Applies to England

Documents

College financial handbook 2026: effective from 1 August 2026

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College financial handbook 2025

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Details

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) closed on 31 March 2025. All activity has moved to the Department for Education (DfE). You should continue to follow this guidance.

Colleges must comply with this handbook as a condition of their accountability agreement.

Read this handbook if you have responsibility for governing, managing or auditing a college or college group.

It is for:

  • college governors
  • accounting officers
  • chief financial officers
  • governance professionals
  • auditors

To provide feedback about this handbook or to contact DfE for guidance, use the customer help portal.

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