1. Once you have signed into the portal, you are presented with a home page, containing key dates for collections, and links to Good Estates Management for Schools (GEMS) and capital funding information. On the left of the screen is a menu with links to the separate sections of the Capital Spend Survey (Figure 11)
Figure 11: Home page for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
2. Clicking on the “Create/Current Projects link brings you to the Create/Current Projects page (Figure 12). This page contains a list of all the current projects for your responsible body that have not yet been signed off by the chief executive or director of children’s services.
Figure 12: Create/Current Projects page for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
3. To create a new project, click the “Create Project” button. This will take you to the project creation page (figure 13).
Figure 13: Project creation page for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
4. In the “Project Name” field, you can enter any text string that identifies this project to you. It is not mandatory.
5. To select the school on which the project was carried out, you have 3 options. In most circumstances, you will be able to find the school in the drop down list available under the “Schools in your group” box. Click the down arrow to see a list. NOTE: Due to technical limitations dioceses may find some (or all) of their schools do not appear in the dropdown menu. Please use the "Search all schools" option if you cannot see the school you require.
6. If the school is not available here, you can select the radio button for “Search all schools”, this will change the selection box to simply read “School” (Figure 14). Click the magnifying glass to open the search box
Figure 14: School search bar for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
7. Click in the “Search” field on the school lookup page (Figure 15) and type the school URN, LAEstab, or name. Locate the school in the populated list, click to ensure it has a check mark, and then click “Select”.
Figure 15: School lookup for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
8. If you still cannot ascertain the correct site, the third option is “Stipulate site name” – this may be applicable if there is a new school that does not yet have a URN, for example. If this is the case, click the “Stipulate site name” option. The “Search” field is replaced with the “Site name” free text box (Figure 16). Enter the site name into this field.
Figure 16: Site name free text box for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
9. The next field is the “Primary Purpose” field. There are three options: “Add Places”, “Address Condition” and “Condition and additional places”. If the project is to add additional places only, such as a new school, or entirely new block, select “Add Places”. If the project does not add any additional places, such as condition projects, emergency repairs, or suitability enhancements, select “Address Condition”. If the project both addresses condition and adds new places, such as a replacement block, or an extension to a current building where repairs will also take place, select the “Condition and additional places” option. This is a required field.
10. The next box (“Primary type”) will now be available, and the options to choose from will be dependent on your response in the “Primary Purpose” box. Please select the most appropriate option available, as follows in table 1:
Table 1: Choices available in the “Primary Type” field
11. The next box is “Site type” – if the primary type is not a refurbishment or maintenance project, please select whether the project is on an existing site, a new brownfield site, or a new greenfield site.
12. The next box is “Construction type” – if the primary type is not a refurbishment or maintenance project, please select whether the construction is traditional block/brick, Structural frame, or modular.
13. If the project is changing the school’s capacity, please fill in the final option on this page. This should be the total capacity of the school after the project has added places.
14. When you are happy with the data entered on this page, click “Next”. Note: Clicking “Next” saves the project, and you will be unable to amend the primary type and primary purpose fields after this point. To change the primary type or primary purpose after clicking next you will need to delete the project and reenter the details
1. All Responsible Bodies (RBs) in receipt of a School Condition Allocation or Basic Need funding will be contacted and have an account created for them. Sign up details will be emailed out from . If you have not received this email, or require additional accounts creating contact ConditionSpend.COLLECTION@education.gov.uk with the contact name and email address required for the account.
Note: The GIFA field is mandatory, however it will not be applicable for many condition projects. If “area” is not a suitable measure for the type of project, please enter “0” in this box”, for example boiler repair, or door replacements.
Figure 17: Create Project Information page for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
2. The following three boxes, “New build %”, “Condition Works %” and “Refurbishment %” are not mandatory. If you are aware of what percentage of the works fit in to these categories, please enter in these fields. If you are not sure, please leave blank.
3. The “Building Contract Formation Date” is the date on which the contract for the works was signed.
Note: The date picker can be accessed by clicking on the calendar icon to the right of the selection box. To quickly access months, you can click on the year displayed at the top of the date picker. Dates can be entered manually but must be in the format DD/MM/YYYY.
The “Construction Start Date” is the day that the works began, or are planned to begin.
5. The “Anticipated Completion Date” is when the works are expected to be completed.
Note: Completing the “Actual Completion Date” sets the project to “Complete” and adds it to the list of projects to be signed off in the survey.
The “Actual Completion Date” is when works were fully complete by the contrtactor.
7. The next box to complete is whether the project is carbon neutral. You should only enter “Yes” if the project meets PAS 2080 standards on carbon neutrality. If you know that the project does not meet these standards, enter “No”, otherwise enter “Don’t Know”
8. The next box asks whether a DfE construction framework was used for procuring the project. For smaller condition related projects we would not expect this to be the case. For larger building projects we recommend the use of DfE construction frameworks.
9. The next box asks about site acquisition costs – please enter how much money was spent on acquiring the land, if applicable for this project.
10. The final box is for additional information that you wish to supply about the project. It is a free text field. This should be limited to issues with the particular build, or information that you feel would benefit DfE to know. It should not contain information on funding. Once complete, please click “Next”
1. The following page asks about funding streams for the project (Figure 18). The first box is for Schools Condition Allocation. Please enter the amount of Schools Condition Allocation that was used to fund the project.
Figure 18: Create Project Funding page for DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
2. The second box is for High Needs Capital funding. You should enter any High Needs Capital funding used for the project here. 3. The third box is for any Basic Need funding used to complete the project. Only local authorities receive Basic Need funding, however this may have been used in a project that is overseen by a multi-academy trust. 4. The fourth box is for Revenue funding. You should enter any Revenue funding used for the project here.
5. The fifth box is for Section 106 funding. These are developer contributions specifically supplied under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) any other developer contributions should be entered in the “Other funding” box, with details set out in the “Source of other funding” free text box.
6. The sixth box is for any projects using the Healthy Pupils Capital Fund. You should enter the amount spent from this fund here. 7. The seventh box is for Community Infrastructure Levy. You should enter the amount spent from this levy here. 8. The eighth box is for Devolved Formula Capital. You should enter any DFC funding used for the project here. 9. The ninth box is for VA group contributions and is only applicable to Dioceses or Diocese chains. Enter the 10% contributions to SCA and DFC funding here.
7. The tenth box is for any local authority funding that has been supplied outside of the funding recorded in the previous boxes.
8. Any other funding used for the project should be totalled in the “Other Funding” box. This should then be detailed in the “Source of Other Funding” box.
9. Once all funding information has been captured, please click the “Next” button.
Note: This section is for projects where the primary purpose is to add places only, for projects that address condition only, see section 1d, and for projects that address condition and add additional places, see section 1e
1. When adding additional places, the next page contains questions on where additional places have been created or places have been re-provided (Figure 19).
Figure 19: Type Detail page for Additional Places projects in DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
2. The first box asks what type of places have been created. Your choices determine which options are available to complete next. There are 5 options as shown in Table 2:
Table 2: Choices available in the “Detailed Places Project Purpose” box
3. If additional places have been created, please indicate in the boxes how many new places have been created in each of the given categories: Nursery (pre-reception), Primary (Reception to year 6), Secondary (Year 7 to year 11), 6th form (Years 12 and 13, though this can also include any post 16 educational places that are not Special Educational Needs) and Special Educational Needs (SEN).
4. If places are being re-provided, please indicate the number of mainstream places being re-provided, and the number of SEN places reprovided
5. Click “Next” – for additional places projects, the guidance continues in part 1g. 1e and 1f are for projects that address condition needs or both create places and address condition needs.
Note: This section is for projects where the primary purpose is to address condition needs only, for projects that add places only, see section 1c, and for projects that address condition and add additional places, see section 1e
1. When addressing condition need, the next page contains questions on the detailed project purpose (Figure 20).
Figure 20: Detailed Condition Project Purpose selection box in DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
2. The box has 8 choices, which are detailed in table 3:
Table 3: Choices available in the “Detailed Condition Project Purpose” box
3. Once the most appropriate selection has been chosen, click “Next” – for additional places projects, the guidance continues in part 1f. 1e is for projects that both create places and address condition needs.
Note: This section is for projects where the primary purpose is to address condition needs and add places, for projects that add places only, see section 1c, and for projects that address condition only, see section 1d
1. When addressing condition need and ad ding additional places, the next page contains questions on the detailed project purpose and additional places (Figure 21).
Figure 21: Detailed Condition Project Purpose selection and How Places are being Delivered boxes in DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
2. The first box is for the condition portion of the works, and asks for the detailed condition project purpose (Figure 22):
Figure 22: Options available from detailed project purpose box
3. The box has 8 choices, which are detailed in table 4:
Table 4: Choices available in the “Detailed Condition Project Purpose” box
4. The next section covers adding additional places, and contains questions on where additional places have been created or places have been re-provided (Figure 23).
Figure 23: Type Detail page for Additional Places projects in DfE Capital Spend Survey portal
5. The next box asks what type of places have been created. Your choices determine which options are available to complete next. There are 5 options as shown in Table 5:
Table 5: Choices available in the “Detailed Places Project Purpose” box
6. If additional places have been created, please indicate in the boxes how many new places have been created in each of the given categories: Nursery (pre-reception), Primary (Reception to year 6), Secondary (Year 7 to year 11), 6th form (Years 12 and 13, though this can also include any post 16 educational places that are not Special Educational Needs) and Special Educational Needs (SEN).
7. If places are being re-provided, please indicate the number of mainstream places being re-provided, and the number of SEN places reprovided
8. Click “Next”
Note: We would expect that all new build projects will be able to provide this information, however due to the evolving workload pressures in regards to the Covid-19 response, this section is currently not mandatory.
1. For projects that create additional places, the Capital Spend Survey asks for funding details that conform with the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) Elemental Standard Form of Cost Analysis, and additionally includes a category for any spending on ICT infrastructure (Figure 24)
Figure 24: British Cost Information Service elemental breakdowns
2. Information on what constitutes each of the elments can be found on the Royal Institute for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) website at https:// https://www.rics.org/uk/ which are summarised in table 6:
Table 6: BCIS Elemental breakdowns
3. Once the information has been entered, click “Save” This will return you to the Current/Create projects home screen.
1. For projects that create additional places, the Capital Spend Survey asks for funding details that conform with the Building Cost Information Service (BCIS) Elemental Standard Form of Cost Analysis, and additionally includes a category for any spending on ICT infrastructure (Figure 25)
Figure 25: Condition Data Collection elemental breakdowns
2. The first box asks for the CDC block reference that the project was completed on. This is not a mandatory field, however is useful if known.
3. Information on what constitutes each of the elments is summarised in table 7:
Table 7: CDC Elemental breakdowns
4. Once the information has been entered, click “Save” This will return you to the Current/Create projects home screen.
This section is for uploading projects in bulk, using a spreadsheet. If you wish to enter projects individually, using the online interface, please see section 1 above. If you do use the template, please upload it at least a week before the deadline to leave enough time for the data to be imported as you cannot submit your return until the individual project data is visible on the portal. 1. The next option on the left navigation panel is “Project upload” (Figure 26) – If you wish to upload your projects on a single spreadsheet, you can do that here.
Figure 26: Project upload menu option
2. Clicking the “Upload Projects” button allows you to upload a spreadsheet to the DfE (Figure 27). A template file is provided here. Guidance on using the template is on the first worksheet.
Figure 27: Upload file screen
3. Click on “Choose file” and navigate to the file you wish to upload. Once selected, click “Open”.
Note: You will be able to select any file, however the portal will only accept files of type .xls, .xlsx and .ods
4. Click “Submit” to send the file to the DfE.
5. The file will be verified by DfE and imported into the portal project list on your behalf. Once DfE have started processing your file, you will not be able to update, remove or replace the file. Only one file can be uploaded at a time, additional files can be uploaded once the previous file has a status of 'Complete'. This process will take approximately 2-3 working days.
6. The contents of the file will never be updated by DfE. Any agreed changes will be made directly to the project data viewable via the portal.
7. A file can be deleted and replaced if DfE have not yet started processing the file. Click into the file and select the “Delete” option. After the processing has begun, if any changes need to be made contact ConditionSpend.COLLECTION@education.gov.uk
1. The next option on the left navigation panel is marked “Funding” (Figure 28).
Figure 28: Funding menu option
2. In this section you will also see the School Condition Allocation your organisation has received since 18-19. For local authorities you will see your basic need allocations as well. (Figure 29).
Figure 29: SCA and Basic Need allocations
3. Please check any funding amounts received and contact ConditionSpend.COLLECTION@education.gov.uk. if there are any errors.
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1. The final option on the left navigation panel is marked “Past projects” (Figure 30). .
Figure 30: Past Projects Menu option
2. This section may be empty, even if you have entered information about completed projects. Once the survey has been completed and accepted by the DfE this section will be populated with all completed projects that have been received (Figure 31)
Figure 31: Blank view of past projects for previous 3 years.
1. At certain times you will be contacted to submit your survey return. 2. We will ask your designated Accounting Officer to sign-off on all the completed projects and submit the survey. The option to do this is marked "Survey Submission" in the left-hand navigational panel. (Figure 32) Figure 32: Navigation panel including Survey Submission section 3. You can enter or upload project data at any time during the year, but can only submit your survey return when this option is available. 4. On this page you will see all your projects that have actual completion dates. When you submit your survey you are only signing-off on these completed projects. 5. Before you can sign-off on your survey return you must first complete a short series of supplementary questions covering strategic estate management and SCA spending and carry forward. 6. Once these supplementary questions have been completed, the declaration will appear on the page. 7. To submit your survey, you must check the checkbox on the declaration and enter the current date in the appropriate box. Then click the "Submit" button. (Figure 33) Figure 33: Survey Submission page including projects, declaration and submission button
