The Education Estates Strategy – What’s changing and what does this mean for you?

The Education Estates Strategy (EES) published in February by the Department for Education (DfE), sets out the DfE’s 10-year plan to renew, modernise, and future-proof the education estate across England.

The EES responds to, what the Government describes as, years of underinvestment that have left too many children learning in deteriorating buildings.

The EES marks a shift from reactive repair to proactive estate management, long-term strategic maintenance and renewal and backed by £38 billion in education capital investment between 2025-26 and 2029-30, the highest investment from the Government since 2010. The EES sets out a vision for an estate that is inclusive, safe, suitable, sustainable and sufficiently sized.

Whilst the EES is not expected to deliver immediate, large-scale change, it does introduce new expectations, including increased engagement with DfE guidance and the requirement to evidence progress through an annual return.

Proactive estate management

A key focus of the EES is a move away from reactive “patch and mend” maintenance toward proactive, long-term lifecycle management.

A new digital service, Manage Your Education Estate, has been launched. This service will act as a central resource for estates guidance, data, tools, programmes and funding providing schools and colleges with easy access to estate guidance, tools and data at a school level.

From autumn 2026, responsible bodies, including academy trusts, local authorities, and FE colleges will be required to complete a light-touch self-assessment return on how they are meeting the Schools Estate Management Standards.

These assessments will identify where responsible bodies can improve their approach to estate management and, for those not meeting the standards, an estate management capability support plan will be put in place, setting out actions and support needed to reach the required standard within a year.

Responsible bodies will also be encouraged to collect data to identify under-used space, and to explore opportunities to repurpose these spaces. The EES and DfE have acknowledged the falling rolls (in light of demographic changes) and falling birth rates, planning to pilot the flexible use of surplus space in partnership with Best Start Family Hubs, housing, neighbourhood health services, and youth centres, to meet wider community needs. Whilst this could strengthen schools as community anchors, governance will be complex and clear frameworks will be essential for these partnerships to succeed.

The launch of the ‘Manage Your Education Estate’ platform and the move towards nationally standardised estate data is one of the key takeaways from the EES, embedding long-term planning, clearer standards, and stronger data foundations across the national education estate. By the end of the decade, funding decisions are expected to be increasingly data-led and Trusts with strong asset management systems will be well placed to secure investment, whilst those without reliable data may find themselves disadvantaged.

Funding changes and announcements

The EES sets out the Government’s commitment to long-term funding for the maintenance and renewal of schools and with a focus on strategy, even in the granular areas like repairs. The DfE wants estates managers to prioritise proactive work rather than emergency ‘patch’ repairs. As part of this commitment, the Government has ringfenced almost £3 billion per year, providing schools and colleges with increased certainty and stability, allowing them to plan with more confidence.

A new Renewal and Retrofit Programme, backed by over £700 million, will fund projects to improve building condition and increase climate resilience. The programme will pilot from April 2026 in the East Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, and the South East, before expanding nationally by 2029.

The Condition Improvement Fund is being replaced from autumn 2028 with a simpler programme that removes the need for responsible bodies to submit full bids and instead uses data-based funding, where need is evidenced through structured datasets. If implemented effectively, this could reduce the administrative burden for responsible bodies and offer them greater predictability.

There is an increased emphasis within the EES on climate resilience, decarbonisation and adaptation to flooding and overheating, issues that are increasingly material for governing bodies from both a risk and cost perspective. For schools concerned about climate impact or longer-term sustainability, the Government is expanding its Sustainability Support Programme to all settings, helping schools develop climate action plans and embed sustainability leadership.

Rebuilding estates

The EES confirms that the School Rebuilding Programme is being expanded and a further 250 schools and sixth-form colleges will be selected by spring 2027 to join more than 500 already in the programme, and almost £20 billion will be invested through to 2034-35.

This funding is specifically for schools and colleges that are beyond repair, needing comprehensive renewal and rebuilding. Schools that have been built with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) have been able to use this funding to ensure their buildings are safe.

SEND, Early Years, and Post-16 Education

At least £3.7 billion in high needs capital funding will be invested between 2025-26 and 2029-30 to create 60,000 specialist places. This will fund an expansion of inclusion bases, a new term for current SEN units, resourced provision and pupil support units. The EES expects that, in time, every secondary school will have an inclusion base creating dedicated spaces that bridge mainstream and specialist provision, supporting pupils with additional needs within local schools.

For schools looking to expand early years provision, £400 million is available from 2025-26 to 2029-30 to deliver thousands more school-based nursery places.

The Government has also confirmed that £395 million will be available until 2029/30 to help the expansion of post-16 learning in both devolved and non-devolved counties. For the FE sector, which is experiencing a demographic increase in 16–18 year olds, the commitment to greater capital certainty and expansion is particularly important.

Conclusion

This is only a summary of some of the changes and announcements covered in the EES but together they highlight a definitive change in how the estate will be managed as well as how funding will be treated and distributed across the next five years.

With more than 20,000 schools across England in need of renewal or refurbishment, the funding set out in the EES must be considered in light of the size of the undertaking and whether it will be sufficient to address deterioration at the required pace.

Estates policy is not just about buildings. It has been proven that safe, well-designed, inclusive environments materially improve attendance, attainment, staff retention and pupil wellbeing, whilst deteriorating buildings create legal risk, safeguarding concerns and morale challenges. Those trusts, colleges and local authorities that invest in robust asset management, high-quality data, and strategic planning will be best placed to secure funding going forward under the EES and, more importantly, to create environments in which children and young people can genuinely thrive.

Catherine Kennedy is a Partner at Forbes.