The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF)

Drees & Sommer UK has successfully secured over £250 million of capital funding for academies in previous funding rounds, helping academies nationwide. Our projects receive twice as much funding compared to the national average and last year we procured a significant proportion of the total funding available.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) announced a further round of the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) for 2020/21 to finance building improvements together with some expansion. If you are interested in making an application for the next anticipated funding round and would like to speak with one of our experts please do not hesitate to contact us.

Our specialist team can assist in preparing your property strategy alongside your condition survey. Having evidence in place to show your ability to meet your goals, will make it much simpler for the ESFA to understand and agree to your plans. This will mean you will be in a prime position to identify potential improvement projects and demonstrate your commitment to the enhancement of your establishment.

Last year we achieved a success rate for CIF funding significantly higher than the national average. Included within this we secured funding for a number of expansion projects and a large number of our clients procured funding for more than one project. We attribute our success to taking the time to understand what schools need and submitting detailed, robust and comprehensive bids that optimally meet the ESFA marking criteria.

Projects that could benefit from CIF include:

• Roofing
• Windows
• Compliance issues - e.g. Fire Protection Systems
• Electrical upgrades
• Boiler and heating upgrades
• Expansion