Munday + Cramer have once again beaten the odds, securing in excess of £22 million in funding from the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). The Education and Skills Funding Agency recently announced the results of the annual funding round. An unprecedented £1.3 billion was requested across across 3,800 projects! In total 1556 schemes were funded for 1299 academies and sixth-form colleges, amounting to £514 million. Of this, £38 million was funded using the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund (HPCF), designated to help improve children and young people’s physical and mental health. The Condition Improvement Fund is dedicated to supporting academies, free schools and sixth-form colleges […]
Tag Archives: Education and Skills Funding Agency
What is the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA)?
The Education and Skills Funding Agency is essentially an amalgamation of the EFA (Education Funding Agency) and the SFA (Skills Funding Agency). They hold responsibility for £63 billion of funding for the education and training sector. Additionally, the ESFA:
- Provide assurance that public funds are properly spent
- Ensure that schools academies and colleges achieve tax-payer value for money
- Establishes that schools academies and colleges deliver the policies and priorities set out by the Secretary of State.
The agency also intervenes where schools are at risk of failure, and where there’s evidence of mismanagement of public funds.
Academy schools can apply to the agency for additional funding under the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF). Successful bids not only have to demonstrate a genuine need for improvement, but also provide some investment themselves. The academy can either choose to make this investment via capital expenditure, or apply for a Salix loan.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency make an assessment of the most deserving bids once the application deadline has passed, and award the funds accordingly. There is then a process for appeals should an academy wish to press their case further.
Many academies choose to select a consultant to help them with their application. Essex-based architectural and Surveying practice, Munday and Cramer have a high success rate and actually secured 5% of the total national fund last year for their partner academies.
The Education and Skills Funding Agency have this week opened CIF bidding for the 2018/9 round for academies and sixth-form colleges. As with previous years, the bidding window will close in mid-December, this year on the 14th. The now-familiar portal will be central to all CIF bidding activities; and will follow the same format. Whilst the Condition Improvement Fund remains focused on the condition of buildings, there are a number of changes within this round: Healthy Pupils Capital Fund Following an announcement by the ESFA in February; funding from the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (commonly known as the Sugary Drinks […]
Munday + Cramer have achieved further success for Academy clients today within the 2017/8 CIF round. The announcement of the successful CIF appeal applications across the UK increased M+C’s haul by a further six projects. With just 75 successful applicants within the CIF appeal process; this reinforces the high success levels M+C consistently achieves within the Condition Improvement Fund. The successful CIF appeals provide an additional £2.6m of funding, for the six academies located across Essex, Thurrock and Kent. This brings Munday + Cramer’s total haul for Condition Improvement Fund work to £22.6M in 2017/8. This means that M+C secured […]
Works at Green Street Green Primary School in Orpington, Kent recently begun to provide a new swimming pool, library and music room. Funded via the EFA‘s Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), the scheme will provide dedicated, modern facilities in keeping with the rest of the school. The existing swimming pool facilities were in poor condition, not fit for purpose and requiring an urgent upgrade. The adjacent music room and library were housed in a dilapidated demountable building. This scheme will provide a single building, designed to accommodate the split levels posed by the site. A new music room and library will be provided […]
