For academy trusts, sixth-form colleges and VA schools
Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) 2027-28: How to Write a Bid That Gets Funded
Sviatoslav JerdetchiiCEO & Founder of Craftex. Updated , 8 min read
The short answer
The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is the DfE's bidding fund for urgent condition and health and safety work in eligible academies, sixth-form colleges and VA schools. Bids for 2027-28 close at 12 noon on 15 December 2026.
- Projects from £20,000 (primary and special) or £50,000 (secondary and sixth-form) up to £4,000,000.
- Bids are scored out of 100: project need 55, project planning 20, project cost 25.
- Only around a third of applications succeed each year, so the evidence decides.
The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) is the Department for Education's annual bidding fund for urgent building condition work. It serves eligible academies, sixth-form colleges and voluntary aided schools. Bids for 2027-28 close at 12 noon on 15 December 2026.
This guide is for trust estates leads, school business managers and sixth-form college finance directors who are writing that bid. We are a London contractor, so it covers the DfE's rules and the cost and programme evidence behind them. Our school construction and modular classrooms team starts from your survey. Holding one now? Get a free CIF-ready cost plan.
What the Condition Improvement Fund is
CIF is capital funding for school and college buildings that need work to stay safe and in good working order. Most of it goes to problems that revenue budgets cannot meet: poor building condition, building compliance and health and safety.
The DfE gives the highest priority to compliance and safety work. That means fire protection, gas and electrical safety, emergency asbestos removal and building safety. Weathertight roofs and windows, and continuous heating and water, come next.
Who can bid
To be eligible, you must have been one of the following at the start of September 2026.
- A stand-alone academy.
- A school in a multi-academy trust (MAT) with fewer than five schools or fewer than 3,000 pupils.
- A voluntary aided (VA) school in a VA body or group below the same limits.
- A sixth-form college.
- A school with a signed academy order at 1 September 2026 that the DfE expects to convert to an eligible trust by 1 April 2027.
Larger trusts are outside CIF. MATs and VA bodies with five or more schools and at least 3,000 pupils receive School Condition Allocations, as do local authorities with maintained schools. A school attracts one or the other in a year, never both.
Independent schools are not on the DfE's list, so their building works are paid for by the school.
Condition projects and expansion
CIF's core priority is condition work. It also funds a very small share of expansion projects. These are open to academies, sixth-form colleges and VA schools with fewer than 2,000 pupils that Ofsted rates good or outstanding.
A condition project may replace a block with one up to 10% larger. That is allowed only if the area standards in Building Bulletin 103 or 104 require it. Anything that adds places or new functional areas is an expansion bid, scored on school data.
CIF 2027-28 key dates and thresholds
| Milestone | Date |
|---|---|
| Launch: guidance published and application window opens | 21 October 2026 |
| Deadline for new applicants to register for a CIF portal account | 12 noon, 30 November 2026 |
| Last day to ask the DfE to unsubmit an application you need to correct | 9 December 2026 |
| Deadline to submit applications with all supporting documents | 12 noon, 15 December 2026 |
| Applicants told the outcome | May 2027, subject to change |
| Appeal window opens | June 2027, subject to change |
| Appeal outcomes published | July 2027, subject to change |
| Project type | Minimum | Maximum |
|---|---|---|
| Primary and special schools | £20,000 | £4,000,000 |
| Secondary, all-through schools and sixth-form colleges | £50,000 | £4,000,000 |
The average condition award is about £500,000 across all establishment types. Requests above £1 million in grant may face additional scrutiny.
Two timing rules matter before noon on 15 December. The DfE does not contact applicants about missing documents, and it accepts no changes after the deadline. To correct an error, ask it to unsubmit the application by 9 December. That can take up to three working days.
Work must not start before the DfE approves the project, and projects should not begin before June 2027. Most funding goes to projects that finish by 31 March 2028. All must finish by 31 March 2029.
If your trust is building the cost section now, our school construction and modular classrooms team can price from your survey.
How a CIF bid is scored
Every application is scored out of 100. The weights changed for 2027-28: project need now carries 55 points and project planning 20. Project cost stays at 25.
| Section | Points | What assessors look at |
|---|---|---|
| Project need | 55 of 100 | Type of work and its priority, urgency, strength of evidence, impact on the school, estate management |
| Project planning | 20 of 100 | The costed options appraisal, timescales, delivery plan |
| Project cost | 25 of 100 | Overall cost, cost certainty, funding sources, environmental sustainability |
About a third of applications succeed. The DfE ranks all projects from highest to lowest score and funds down to the limit of the budget.
How the DfE ranks condition work
Project type is the first need test. The DfE says it expects only applications that closely match its priorities to succeed.
| Priority | Examples |
|---|---|
| Highest | Building safety, emergency asbestos removal, gas and electrical safety, water services, fire safety, ventilation and overheating, replacing coal or oil heating where closure is a risk |
| High | Life-expired structure and weather tightness, heating, electrics and utility capacity, where partial or complete closure is a risk |
| Medium | Life-expired building fabric, structural defects, heating and electrics |
| Low | Areas below current standards: teaching spaces, kitchens, toilets, changing, storage |
| Lowest | Accessibility, sports halls and pools, non-teaching plant and fabric |
| Not funded | Weak or no evidence of compliance, safety or condition, such as car park resurfacing |
Urgency scores high when the work must happen over the summer holidays to avoid closure in September 2027. If the work is not needed within two years, the DfE says the bid is unlikely to succeed. Kitchen and toilet refurbishments need third-party evidence of a health and safety issue.
Condition surveys and technical advisers
The DfE expects an up-to-date independent condition survey. Its front page must show the surveyor's name, qualification and the date. Surveys older than 1 October 2023 are discounted.
The survey should grade each defect from A to D for condition and 1 to 4 for priority. The DfE expects D1 to C2 issues. A short CDC2 data-collection report is not enough alone. CDC1 reports and generic letters of support are not accepted.
Why a survey from the contractor does not count
The DfE says a survey is not independent if it comes from a firm that has also quoted or tendered for the work. The same goes for a manufacturer of any proposed solution. That can disqualify the application.
So we do not survey and then quote for the same CIF works. Your independent surveyor surveys. We price from their survey: your costs, scope and dates come from your own evidence, not ours.
Technical advisers
A technical adviser is optional. You remain responsible for the application, and the adviser cannot apply for you. If you appoint one, you must evidence how you procured them, even on a no-win-no-fee basis. The DfE can disqualify a bid that does not.
You must also declare any conflict of interest between the adviser and anyone writing condition reports or tendering for the works.
We recently worked with Sviat and the Craftex team on a complete warehouse refurbishment, and the results have been outstanding. From the very beginning, their team was professional, organized, and attentive to every detail. The project was completed on time and within budget, without disrupting our day-to-day operations.
Cost and programme evidence that scores
Project cost and project planning carry 45 of the 100 points. A contractor's evidence sits in both, so it must match the survey and the form.
What the cost section must show
The DfE wants a cost plan broken down to suit the size of the project, and copies of quotes, estimates or tenders. Cost certainty earns the marks.
Quotes must be consistent: the same scope of works, delivered within the same timeframe, such as 12 months. Excessive or unjustified contingency and provisional sums lose marks. Underestimating is no safer: the DfE adds no funding after approval.
You are responsible for any procurement exercise. Funding sources add up to 6 of the 25 cost points. A contribution or CIF loan of 5% earns one point, rising to six at 30% or more. VA schools must contribute at least 10%, and a loan cannot cover it.
Costed options, including doing nothing
Every application needs a bespoke, costed options appraisal. A generic one scores low, and reuse across applications may disqualify both bids. Show lower-cost options and why you rejected them. Always include a "do nothing" option that proves the harm of delay.
From your independent survey, we price each option and the programme around your term dates. That is part of our pre-construction services. You choose the preferred option and write the case for it.
Programme and fees
Assessors want a delivery plan that shows how, when and by whom the work is done, phased around school terms. For full marks, readiness milestones such as planning approval should finish by May 2027. Urgent works need a contingency plan to run in term time if the start slips.
Fees must be proportionate. Percentage fees should not exceed 10% of total project value, including bid-writer fees. The DfE does not treat 10% as a default allowance.
Whoever builds it, ask for a programme that shows which works run in the holidays and which in term time. It should also show how pupils are kept apart from the site on every day of term.
If the bid succeeds, or fails
The DfE puts each application in one of four outcomes: fully funded, approved subject to conditions, pending approval subject to further due diligence, or unsuccessful. It expects to announce them in May 2027, subject to change.
Conditional approval is likely for projects of £1m or more, block replacements and expansion projects. The DfE may ask for tender returns, planning evidence or an updated programme. You cannot accept the terms or start work until it confirms full approval. Costs incurred earlier are not funded.
An appeal is possible only where the DfE made a material error in assessing or disqualifying your application. The window opens in June 2027, subject to change.
If the bid fails
The works may still need doing. For works you fund yourselves, including independent schools and trusts on School Condition Allocations, the CIF independence rule does not apply. We can walk the blocks you name, grade the defects and price them.
Use this list before you submit. Send us your survey and get a free CIF-ready cost plan. Already have a quote? Send it to us. We'll beat it. We take school projects from £100,000, so smaller CIF works need another route.
- Portal account registered by 12 noon on 30 November 2026, if you are a new applicant
- Independent condition survey dated after 1 October 2023, with the surveyor's name, qualification and date on the front page
- Every section of the portal form completed in full, with documents only evidencing it
- Bespoke costed options appraisal with a "do nothing" option and a justified preferred option
- Cost plan and at least three consistent quotes or tenders for the same scope and dates
- Programme phased around term dates, with a term-time contingency plan
- Technical adviser procurement evidenced, and fees within 10% including bid-writer fees
- Each document within 50 pages in Arial 11 or larger, with photographs in the separate 1MB document
- Hand-signed declaration saved as a PDF
- For a VA school, the 10% contribution included in the form and documents
- Submitted by the accounting officer or senior manager, not the adviser, by 12 noon on 15 December 2026
