School-based Nursery Capital Grant 2025 to 2026
Information for eligible schools about the School-based Nursery (SBN) Capital Grant for 2025 to 2026.
Applies to England
Grant applications
Applications for the School-based Nursery (SBN) Capital Grant for 2025 to 2026 have now closed.
If you applied, you can sign into the online application service and:
- check the status of your application
- download a copy of your application and any supporting documents
Use the same sign-in details you used to submit your application.
Registration of interest
The registration of interest has also now closed.
If you registered your interest, we may contact you to discuss support options. If we contact your school, it won’t affect the outcome of any future grant application.
Any information you submitted will help develop the programme. We may share it with local authorities.
About the grant
The SBN Capital Grant for 2025 to 2026 was available for eligible state-funded primary-phase schools and maintained nursery schools to apply for up to £150,000 of capital funding to create or expand a school-based nursery.
This is phase 2 of the school-based nurseries programme. It builds on the foundations of phase 1 (the SBN Capital Grant for 2024 to 2025) and has an increased focus on supporting disadvantaged families to access early years provision.
For more information, read the guidance.
What happens next
By April 2026, we aim to email all applicants with the outcome of their application. We will also publish outcomes on GOV.UK.
If your application is successful, we will:
- send you a grant funding agreement to sign before we release any funds
- give you more details about the payment process, reporting requirements and timelines before you sign it
The agreement is legally binding and outlines:
- your roles and responsibilities
- the terms and conditions you must follow to receive the funding
If your application is unsuccessful, you may be eligible to work with your local authority as part of phase 3. More information is available in the guidance.
Contact us
We encourage all applicants to sign up to receive emails about updates to this page. If you have a query about the school-based nurseries programme, use the customer help portal to contact us.
Updates to this page
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Updated to reflect that the application and registration of interest processes have closed and to set out next steps.
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Updated the ‘School-based Nursery Capital Grant guidance’ to include details on application sharing in ‘Role of local authorities’, information on the School Rebuilding Programme in ‘Other key considerations’, our scoring approach if funding remains available in ‘How we will assess your application’, and revised wording on articulating project risk in ‘Project Overview’. These updates are for clarification only. The application process has not changed.
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Updated the School-based Nursery Capital Grant guidance to include information about webinars and how schools can withdraw an application.
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First published.