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How maintained schools are funded: 2026-27

Get to grips with how maintained mainstream schools are funded. Find out about the national funding formula (NFF), as well as the other streams of funding that feed into your school's budget.

Last reviewed on 17 April 2026See updates
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 11017
Contents
  1. National funding formula (NFF)
  2. New streams of funding for 2026-27
  3. Other streams of funding

This article focuses on funding for mainstream maintained schools. If this isn’t for you, find out how funding works in: 

National funding formula (NFF)

The DfE uses the national funding formula (NFF) to work out your school’s 'notional' core funding allocation. It then passes this funding to your LA.

Your LA then applies its own local funding formula to allocate your school's budget. 

Read more detail about how your NFF allocation is calculated in our article on the NFF.

Transition to the direct NFF

The direct NFF will mean your school's budget will be allocated directly by central government based on a single national formula, instead of using a local funding formula.

Use only NFF factors (and all of them) in their local funding formulas  Adjust their local funding formula to bring