On 29 June, the government announced that £560 million of additional condition funding would be made available this year to maintain and improve school estates, on top of the £1.45 billion already provided for school maintenance in 2020-21.
I am delighted that Sanders School and Redden Court School have been successful in receiving this funding and this will allow them to replace their roof and ceiling and replace their windows respectively. The core priority of this funding is to keep eligible school buildings safe and in good working order. Most CIF funding aims to address issues with significant consequences that existing revenue or devolved formula capital funding cannot meet, such as poor building condition, building compliance, energy efficiency and health and safety.
CIF also supports a small proportion of expansion projects for Ofsted-rated good or outstanding academies, sixth form colleges and non-diocesan voluntary aided schools that need to expand their existing facilities and/or floor space to either increase the number of admissions in the main year of entry or address overcrowding.
Although the scheme was heavily oversubscribed, I am grateful to the Education Secretary for this announcement and have written to both Sanders and Redden Court to highlight this welcome cash boost.
Alongside CIF, local authorities, large multi-academy trusts and large voluntary aided school bodies, such as dioceses, instead receive a School Condition Allocation (SCA) to invest in condition priorities across their schools. Thanks to the £560 million boost, a further £374 million will be allocated through SCA for 2020-21. The government will make a proportional addition to those schools that are eligible for SCA for the current financial year.
I am extremely pleased that the government has committed to a new ten-year rebuilding programme for schools, which will see the replacement of poor condition and ageing buildings, with modern, energy efficient designs, transforming education for pupils across the country.
