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How maintained schools are funded: 2025-26

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.

Updated
on 23 April 2025See updates
School types: All•School phases: All•Ref: 11017
Contents
  1. National funding formula (NFF)
  2. 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 previous government was taking a gradual approach to introducing the direct NFF model. The current government will continue with this approach.

In 2025/26, LAs will be expected to continue transitioning further towards the direct NFF model.