The short answer
Sometimes, but not usually for extra space. The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is Department for Education capital for eligible academies, small trusts, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools, and it puts compliance, health and safety and condition first. Replacing a failing mobile classroom can be a condition case; a new classroom for more pupils falls under the small expansion strand, open only to high-performing schools. Bids for 2027 to 2028 must be in by midday on 15 December 2026.
Bursars ask this every autumn, usually with a tired mobile classroom in mind. The honest answer depends on two things: whether your school can bid at all, and whether the project is about condition or about space. This guide sets out the 2027 to 2028 round as the DfE published it in October 2026.
Who can bid in the 2027 to 2028 round
CIF is for schools that do not receive a School Condition Allocation of their own. To bid, your school must have been one of these at the start of September 2026:
- a stand-alone academy;
- a school in a multi-academy trust with fewer than five schools or fewer than 3,000 pupils;
- a sixth form college;
- a voluntary aided school in a body or group with fewer than five schools or fewer than 3,000 pupils;
- a school with a signed academy order expected to join an eligible body by 1 April 2027.
Larger trusts and local authority maintained schools get condition funding through their allocation instead, and decide their own priorities.
The dates that matter
| Step | Date |
|---|---|
| Round opened | 21 October 2026 |
| New applicants register on the portal | by 12 noon, 30 November 2026 |
| Applications and all documents in | by 12 noon, 15 December 2026 |
| Outcomes | expected May 2027 |
GOV.UK advises starting the online application at least 14 working days before the deadline. Outcomes in May leave very little time to deliver a building for September, which is why condition bids for buildings usually aim at the following year or a later holiday.
Project limits
The minimum project is £20,000 for primary and special schools and £50,000 for secondary schools, all-through schools and sixth form colleges. The maximum is £4 million. A modular classroom, at a published starting price of £108,000 for a new single before site works, sits comfortably inside both.
Voluntary aided schools must still find at least 10% of the cost themselves and cannot use a CIF loan for it. Loans are available to other applicants at Public Works Loan Board rates over two to ten years, and they are optional.
Condition bids: when a modular building can fit
The fund gives “the highest priority to condition projects that address compliance and health and safety issues”, followed by work such as weather tightness and keeping heating and water running. A modular classroom fits a condition bid when it replaces something failing, for example:
- a mobile classroom with a failed roof, rotten floor or unsafe electrics, where repair is not worth it;
- a block that must come down, where a modular replacement is the best value way to keep the rooms.
Two points from the guidance shape these bids. The DfE normally expects a replacement block to be no larger than the one it replaces, so a condition bid is not a way to add rooms. And the evidence has to show the condition need: surveys, photographs, and costed options showing why replacement beats repair.
What a strong condition case includes
- An independent condition survey that names the defects and their risk.
- Options considered: repair, refurbish, replace, with costs for each.
- Why the chosen option is the best value over its life.
- A realistic programme and a quote or cost plan on the same specification.
Expansion bids: a narrow door
Only a very small share of CIF goes to expansion. It is open to high-performing academies, sixth form colleges and voluntary aided schools with fewer than 2,000 pupils, judged good or outstanding for quality of education and for leadership and management. Fully and partially selective schools that select by general academic ability may also apply for expansion.
Where an expansion project includes a new building, it must meet Building Bulletin 103 or 104, the DfE area guidelines. In practice that means sizing classrooms to BB103, for example 55 to 62 m² for a primary class of 30, rather than to a supplier’s standard unit.
If CIF is not the answer
Most new classrooms for extra pupils are funded in other ways:
- Basic need money held by the local authority for new places, which the council may use to commission rooms at your school.
- Section 106 contributions from nearby housing developments, again through the council.
- Trust capital or the School Condition Allocation, for larger trusts.
- Hire from revenue, where capital is short. A single classroom on hire starts at £275 a week, about £14,300 a year before one-off charges.
How to use this round well
If your school is eligible and you have a building in poor condition, the next six weeks are for evidence: a survey, options and a price. A supplier can give a budget quote for a modular replacement in that time if the brief is clear. Use our cost guide to check the figure is in range before it goes into the bid.
We cannot tell you whether a bid will succeed, and nothing here is funding advice. Read the DfE information for applicants in full before you apply.