2023 came to a close with after a busy few months of preparing and submitting bids for academy school clients hoping to attain CIF Funding. Having been working on planning, preparing, and evidencing the funding submissions over the previous months, it was a great way to finish the year with all bids uploaded in time.
Our Surveyors worked incredibly hard to achieve this and our appreciation is extended to the sub-consultants and contractors who also spent their time and contributed to the process. The outcome for the 2024/25 CIF round is expected to be announced in May 2024. We look forward to delivering some much-needed improvement projects on behalf of our Academy School clients during the summer.
On the subject of funding for schools, 2024 also began with a number of bid submissions under the SCA Funding for a number of CE Diocese schools. These submissions, which have been under planning and preparation by our team for several months, will allow for significant improvement works to take place at our Diocese school clients; all with the aim of improving the education environment for pupils.
As we often say to our clients – it’s never too early to start to plan funding submissions. Time pressures and busy schedules mean that some academies leave it too late to start the process, so they end up not bidding year after year. Due to the amount of work involved, we always advise a period of at least three months to prepare and submit a bit ahead of the deadline. With the CIF deadline falling in the middle of December, in reality, this can mean that schools need to contact us ahead of the summer holidays to allow adequate time for a site visit to take place. Our education team have a higher than average success rate in the number of bids we get approved, and several schools and small academy trusts have gained CIF funding successfully with us after years of unsuccessful bids using other consultants.
Any funding round is a potentially vital source of funds for schools to tackle improvement projects at their school. Be it the CIF, LCVAP, PSDS, Post-16, or any other round of funding, the message for 2024 is to make funding a priority; plan early, and consult the experts!
