In this article we look at the Department for Education’s Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), which helps schools mitigate the most-serious issues affecting their estates, and speak to experts about its impact and how to increase the chances of a successful application

Later this spring the Department for Education (DfE) will announce the recipients of the 2025/26 Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), a multi-million-pound moneypot aimed at addressing the most-serious issues facing the education estate.

For several years CIF has been supporting School Condition Allocations (SCA) as one of the primary funding mechanisms for infrastructure upgrades across schools and sixth-form colleges.

In the last financial year, £450m was awarded to 866 successful CIF projects across 733 academies and sixth-form colleges.

However, these reflect only a quarter of the total number of applications – meaning many schools miss out, with potential estates issues continuing to impact on pupils and staff.

Speaking to Education Property, Robert Gould, partner at property consultancy, Barker Associates, explains: “The CIF process has been going on for a number of years now and in this time the guidance has got increasingly more detailed.

“I think the competition for funding has also increased with, on average, the fund normally around four times oversubscribed.

“That obviously means that not everyone who applies is going to be successful.

“There’s only a set amount of funding available and that has to be allocated based on the criteria set out each year in the guidance documents.”

An early start

Increasingly, schools and colleges are turning to consultants to help with the application process in an effort to increase the chances of success.

And Barker Associates was one of the first companies to offer a no-win, no-fee CIF application support service.

Gould said: “The timescale that the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) has given for submission of CIF bids has been condensed over a period of time. It used to be 12 weeks, it’s now even less than that.

“At the same time, the requirements for information that applicants have to put in have increased, so they’ve got to do more in less time.

“Because of this we advise schools and trusts that are wanting to bid to start early – don’t wait until the guidance comes out, for example, which is typically in October.”

The fund is divided into three sections, with applications needing to demonstrate project need, cost effectiveness, and deliverability.

Gould said: “The highest weighting is on the project need, so that’s the absolute key and the crux to success.

“With an application you can get full marks for the other two sections and still won’t be successful if it’s for a project that fundamentally doesn’t hit the priority in terms of need.

“Those priorities are very clearly set out in terms of what they will prioritise and it’s things like health and safety compliance and urgent condition issues that are going to affect school operations and could lead to closures.

“While projects may be very worthy, if they’re not in that top few per cent, and are not hitting those absolutely-critical factors around project need, the bid is unlikely to be successful.”

Demonstrating need

Successful projects Barker Associates has helped to get CIF funding for have typically involved fire safety issues, asbestos removal, heating upgrades, and significant building fabric problems such as leaking roofs.

Gould said: “Things we often get asked about, but are rarely funded, are things like playground refurbishments and toilet refurbishments – these don’t have the same negative impact on schools operations so tend not to be prioritised. In many of these cases you will only be successful if they are literally unusable and, in the case of toilets, that closures push the number of toilets available per pupil to levels which do not meet regulations.

“For operators it’s having that realistic lens to look at which projects you’re going to go for.”

Many applications also fail because of a lack of supporting documentation.

Barker advises: “It’s about building the best bid you possibly can based on independent evidence from multiple sources, where possible such as independent condition surveys and expert reports. We also encourage applications to include incident logs – hard data, rather than anecdotal evidence or a ‘wish list’ – and photographs showing clear evidence of why something is needed.”

The application can then address the other two priorities – costing and deliverability.

“It’s about showing robust processes around which the applicant is going to deliver the project because the department wants to know it is funding the right projects.

“Has the applicant provided an options appraisal? Has it done feasibility studies? Has it looked at the different ways of solving the problem? And has it chosen the right solution?

Ticking the boxes

“Then it’s the actual delivery phase of a project and if you can cross all of those Ts to tick all the right boxes, you should be in a reasonably good place.”

The last piece of the jigsaw, according to Gould, and a controversial addition to the fund’s criteria over recent years, is match funding.

He said: “There is guidance around how many points an applicant gets for committing a certain amount of their own money towards the project.

“But this makes CIF a challenge for certain schools, especially in the fiscal climate we find ourselves in.”

For those applicants there is a need to find funds through reserves or they can take out a CIF loan whereby they can borrow the money to put down as a contribution.

Gould said: “An example of where an applicant might take this approach is for something like a heating project where they could say if they borrow capital project upfront, it is going to save them money in the long term because it will be more efficient and will save us ‘X’ amount.”

Expert advice

Offering advice to operators, he added: “Most schools now seek advice from consultants to help them through the CIF application process.

“It makes the process a lot easier because they are getting expertise from people who are doing this sort of thing day in, day out, and we have the technical expertise to know what works and what is required.

“And from the ESFA’s point of view, they generally like to see professional support because they know there is that professional rigour behind the projects in the first place. They are reassured that the project has been progressed to a certain level in terms of feasibility options, appraisals, robust costings, procurement exercises, and that specifications have all been done to a high standard.

“That means that, should funding be granted, there is a low risk of that project going wrong further down the line.”

In the future, Gould predicts there could be a modernising of the CIF process or its replacement with a new model.

He concludes: “Once operators increase in size to over five schools or 3,000 pupils, they are no longer eligible for CIF funding, so the pool of applicants has been reducing over a period of time due to consolidation in the sector and there has been discussion over a number of years about reforming the fund.

“The guidance document does change year to year with minor changes, but fundamentally it hasn’t changed significantly since its launch.

The future

“Dr Jonathan Dewsbury, director for education estates and net zero at the DfE revealed last year that he was considering a review of CIF, but there has not been any further announcement since then.

“There will, however, always be a need for funding so if CIF was stopped it would have to be replaced with something.

“You’re always going to have some disappointed applicants whenever you have got limited grant funding available. But, similarly, you need to have some sort of outlet for schools that aren’t part of a larger trust and need to deal with these large capital projects that are not affordable within the other funding mechanisms they have got.

“The main thing we would ask of the DfE or ESFA is that there is as much warning of any changes as possible to give schools the opportunity to plan for the future.” 

 

About The Condition Improvement Fund

What is CIF?

The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is a capital funding programme managed by the Department for Education (DfE).

It is designed to help with urgent building and infrastructure issues in educational institutions, with a focus on critical repairs and improvements.

These projects typically address building safety matters, fire protection systems, gas safety, electrical safety, or emergency asbestos removal.

CIF also funds a small number of expansion projects where a school needs to expand its existing facilities and/or floor space to either increase admissions or address overcrowding.

All CIF projects, including condition and expansion, must aim to improve a capital asset that is being used to provide educational services to students aged 2-19.

These will be assets held freehold by the school or college; held by the school on a long lease (minimum 25 years) – usually from the relevant local authority; or held by charitable site trustees for the school’s purposes.

Schools cannot use CIF funds to purchase land.

How does it work?

In any given financial year, an eligible school will either attract direct School Condition Allocations (SCA) for its responsible body, or be eligible for CIF, but not both.

SCA is a formulaic allocation paid directly to responsible bodies to invest in their schools according to their own assessment of condition need.

To apply for CIF, schools and trusts must meet specific eligibility criteria.

Eligible institutions include:

• Stand-alone academies
• Schools in a multi-academy trust (MAT) with fewer than five schools or fewer than 3,000 pupils as counted in the Spring 2024 census or 2023/24 Individualised Learner Record (ILR)
• Voluntary Aided (VA) schools in a VA body or VA group with fewer than five schools or fewer than 3,000 pupils as counted in the Spring 2024 census or 2023/24 ILR
• Sixth-form colleges
• Schools with a signed academy order as of 1 September 2024 that the department expects will convert to a CIF-eligible responsible body by 1 April 2025

Allocations

The application process for the 2025/26 fund ended in December and the awards are due to be announced in May.

Last year, funding totalled £450m and covered projects ranging from safeguarding to heating upgrades.

Out of the 3,034 applications, 866 were successful across 733 academies and sixth-form colleges.

Funding requests are evaluated using a points-based system covering:

– Project Need (60 points): This is the most-severely-weighted category. The more pressing the necessity (for example, preventing school closure or addressing health problems), the higher the score

– Project Cost (25 points): Applications with clear financial planning and higher percentage contributions from the school or trust will receive higher scores.

– Project Planning (15 points): Priority is given to projects with clear timeframes and deadlines, particularly those that minimise disruption to school operations and functioning

Successful bids are those which demonstrate a compelling need, providing photographic evidence and supporting documentation together with clear budgets.

The highest-priority works are:

• Health and safety or safeguarding issues
• Emergency asbestos removal
• Fire safety works
• Leaking roofs, cladding, and windows
• Heating and hot water systems
• Replacement oil or coal-fired boilers

Applicants for the next round of CIF will find out in May if they have been successful.