Buildings

 

The governors of Voluntary Aided (VA) schools and academy trusts, for academy schools, have a duty to repair and maintain the fabric of their school’s estate. 

The Board of Education assists schools’ governing bodies in maintaining, managing and improving their school buildings via separate funds received annually from the Department for Education (DfE):

  • Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). ESFA controlled grant that smaller academy trusts and standalone academies can bid for. Controlled by the ESFA.
  • Devolved Formula Capital (DFC). Payment is made annually to all schools and funding controlled by the school.
  • School Condition Allocation (SCA). This is paid annually to larger multi academy trusts and is controlled by the trust.
  • Voluntary Aided School Condition Allocation (VA-SCA). This is for VA schools only and controlled by the Board. Schools may bid for funding annually and an SDBE committee prioritises bids according to DfE guidelines.

For Voluntary Aided schools, both DFC & VA-SCA grant is paid in 90% terms. The school, through its own funding methods and through subscribing to our External Priority Maintenance Scheme, must contribute the remaining 10%. Click here to download a copy of the Board’s scheme guidance.