Welcome to the Capital Spend Survey (CSS) Portal.

What is the Capital Spend Survey

DfE collects data on the use of School Condition Allocation (SCA) and Basic Need funding by responsible bodies.

Spending on completed projects (those that reach practical completion) can be logged on this portal throughout the year. You submit your yearly return during an eight-week window each year, along with a short survey.

The 2024 survey round has now closed. It collected data on projects completed during the 23-24 financial year.

Data can only be submitted using the online portal and copies of the data sent by email will not be accepted.

Changes for the 2024 collection

• We are now collecting DFC funding, Community Infrastructure Levy funding, and VA contributions as separate fields. Previously we would have expected these to be included in the "Other funding" field. MATs and VA groups do not need to report projects that did not have any SCA funding.
• We are now collecting the Pupil Place Planning Area Code for projects that add places.
• We have updated the spreadsheet template. It should now be easier to use, make it clear which fields are mandatory for projects, and include all the fields that were not included in previous templates.

Overview

• It is suggested that you use Chrome as your browser.
• You will need to request an account for the online portal by emailing ConditionSpend.COLLECTION@education.gov.uk if you do not have one.
• When a project completes (i.e. reaches practical completion), enter the spend data on the portal.
• Instead of entering project data directly on to the portal, you can instead fill in and upload the spreadsheet template available here. If you use the template, please make sure that the mandatory fields have been completed for all projects and upload it at least a week before the deadline as it will need to be manually imported into the system before you can complete the survey and submit your project data.
• Check all completed projects using SCA funding have been added, that values are supplied for all mandatory fields, and that the data is correct.
• For Local Authorities only, check all completed projects using Basic Need funding have been added and that the data is correct.
• When the survey window opens, check all relevant projects have been entered on the portal and submit your survey. Please note that uploaded spreadsheets take 3-4 working days to process and you will not be able to submit your return until this has been done.
• When you submit your data you will be asked a short series of supplementary questions, and then to sign-off the declaration that appears at the end.

When is the deadline for submitting data?

The portal is open all year round. You can enter, edit and delete project data throughout the year, ready for submission when the next survey window opens.

During the survey window, we ask you to submit your return. At this point we collect the data on all the completed projects, which you will no longer be able to change. Any projects without a completion date will not form part of the return and can still be edited or deleted. We recommend that you enter the spend data for a project as it completes, so you will not be over-burdened entering data for multiple projects during the survey window.

The survey window for the 2024 collection was open between the 22nd April and the 14th June.

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Key links for Condition Allocations

Information on School Capital Funding: Link
Good Estate Management For Schools guidance: Link

Who to contact if you have a query

If you have any queries, please contact: ConditionSpend.COLLECTION@education.gov.uk