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 2025 survey will run from the 21st April to the 13th June and will collect data on projects completed during the 24-25 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 2025 collection

• For Local Authority projects that add places, it is now mandatory to provide the BCIS cost breakdown (see Part 1f in the guidance) as per  The Information as to Provision of Education (England) (Amendment) Regulations 2023

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 availablehere. 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 or that added places 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. You will then need to sign-off the declaration and submit your return.

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. You should enter data for all projects that reach practical completion between April 2024 and March 2025. 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 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 2025 collection will be open between the 21st April and the 13th June.

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Key links for Condition Allocations

Information on Basic need allocations: Link
Information on High needs provision capital allocations: Link
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