The Budget announced an additional £2.3 billion for mainstream schools and young people with high needs in 2025 to 2026. This means that core school funding will total almost £63.9 billion next financial year.

The department is now in the process of calculating the schools and high needs national funding formula (NFF) for 2025 to 2026, to inform local authorities and schools of the funding they can expect to receive next year. We expect to publish the final NFF allocations and full schools operational guide by the end of November.

We have published an NFF policy note to support the sector with their planning ahead of the final NFF allocations. This document includes indicative schools NFF factor values, alongside information on the mainstream schools, high needs, and central school services funding for 2025 to 2026. It also includes details on the grants being rolled into the schools NFF from 2025 to 2026.