School estate management standards annual return

About the school estate management standards annual return

This annual return starts from September 2026.

The return:  

• uses multiple-choice questions, read the return questions (PDF, 396 KB, 10 pages)
• does not require you to upload supporting documents
• will not affect the funding your organisation gets from us, the Department for Education (DfE)

The annual return will help you understand the levels of the school estate management standards your organisation is meeting. It will also give DfEus information about how the standards are being followed and what support might be needed.

Who needs to complete and submit the return

DfEWe asksask all school responsible bodies that are eligible for annual DfE capital funding to submit this return, including:

• local authorities
• sixth-form colleges
• multi-academy and single-academy trusts
• dioceses

In dioceses with voluntary-aided schools, the diocese will complete and submit the return. Where necessary, it should seek input from schools or their governing bodies.

Individual schools, nurseries or other educational environments do not need to submit the return.

Important dates

For the 2026 to 2027 academic year return:

• submissions open in the third week of September 2026
• the deadline will be in late November 2026

Complete your return

Before starting the return, read the School estate management standard.

We expect all responsible bodies to work towards meeting level 3 (fully effective). It is not expected that everyone will already be at level 3.

You can complete the return in 2 ways:

1. Different people complete the sections relevant to their role.

2. One person in a senior estate management role completes all sections and consults colleagues if needed.

The return will take an hour to complete.

The return must be submitted by someone in a senior estate management role.

Save your answers

When completing the return, you can:


• save your progress
• review and change answers before submitting the return

If you are concerned about not meeting the standards

We know that estate management can often be challenging and long-term work. If your organisation is not meeting the standards, there is:


• no penalty
• no criticism of you or your team

Where needed, we will work with your organisation to help it meet the standards. The support can include peer support, training or other non-financial support.

Submit your return

You will need to use the Manage your education estate service via DfE Sign-in.

To access Manage your education estate:

1. Create a DfE Sign-in account.
2. Add your responsible body to your DfE Sign-in account. Find out how to add organisations.
3. Add Manage your education estate to your organisation. Find out how to add a DfE service.

Get help using DfE Sign-in

If you do not know who your approver is, use the DfE Sign-in contact form.

If you have forgotten your DfE Sign-in password, you will need to use your login email address to update it.

Get help using Manage your education estate

If you cannot access Manage your education estate to submit your return, orraise needa DfE service query.

After submitting the return

After you have submitted your return, you can choose to submitview athe latelevels of school estate management standards your organisation is meeting. These levels are calculated based on your answers. You can also give feedback:


• agree or disagree with the levels
• add comments
• tell us about anything that stops your organisation meeting the standards

Support

A webinar about the annual return oncewill take place at 10am on Wednesday 9 September 2026. Sign up to attend.

If you cannot complete the deadlineannual hasreturn passed,by the due date,raise a DfE service query.