Completing The School Estate Management Standards Annual Return 2026

The Department for Education (DfE) has now published the questions that form the School Estate Management Standards Annual Return 2026. The purpose of the annual return is to assist responsible bodies in understanding how their school(s) are meeting the different levels detailed in the Standards, and to inform the DfE how the Standards are being followed and what support might be needed.

Who needs to submit the annual return?

The DfE are asking all responsible bodies that are eligible for annual DfE capital funding i.e. Devolved Formula Capital, School Condition Allocation, or access to the Condition Improvement Fund, to complete the annual return. Responsible bodies include:

• Local authorities.
• Sixth-form colleges.
• Single academy trusts.
• Multi-academy trusts.

Note that individual schools (as opposed to academies), nurseries or other educational settings do not need to submit the return.

How to submit the annual return

Whilst the questions can be found via this weblink

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6a79ebc3c5cca217fbd7a064/School_estates_management_annual_return_questions.pdf

schools can only upload their answers via the DfE’s portal Manage your education estate. In the remainder of this blog, I’ll be exploring what academies and sixth form colleges need to prepare to be able to complete the return.

Things You Should Do Now

Sign up for the DfE’s webinar about the annual return

The webinar will take place on Wednesday 9 September 2026 at 1000. Sign up to attend using this link:

https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/93aeb70c-4d01-49a5-b8ad-84f40bcb318a@fad277c9-c60a-4da1-b5f3-b3b8b34a82f9

Ensure you have access to the Manage your education estate portal

1. Make sure you can access the Manage your education estate The portal is accessed using a Department for Education Sign-in account via this weblink: https://services.signin.education.gov.uk/
   If you don’t already have a DfE Sign-in account, now is the time to get one as access needs to be approved by whoever holds approver rights at your school so it usually takes a few days for your account to be set up. More information on setting up your DfE Sign-in account can be found via the following weblink – scroll down to the Submit your return section:
   https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-estate-management-standards-annual-return
2. Once you have a DfE Sign-in account, check that you can access Manage your education estate and the annual return as follows:

• On the My services screen, click on Manage your education estate
• Under Browse by theme, click on Managing your estate
• On the Managing your estate screen, see the Responsibilities of estate management section and click on School estate management standards annual return (opens in new tab)
• The return will be accessible from the third week of September 2026 and will close in late November 2026.

Review the annual return

3. Download the annual return questions – see the weblink in the first paragraph of this blog.

• The DfE estimate that completing the return will take an hour, but that is dependent upon having all the information you need to be able to answer each of the questions.
• The DfE expects all responsible bodies to have achieved or be working towards meeting Level 3: Fully Effective. To remind yourself of what this entails, click on the link below to go to the School Estate Management Standards:
  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69e0b76e20b52e41448688cf/School_estate_management_standards.pdf
• Start gathering the information you’ll need to complete your return. This will probably entail speaking to other school staff, so it may be helpful to read the questions first and identify who can answer each question. For example, there are questions on strategy, financial planning, climate change, governance, business continuity, and insurance, as well as estate management.

Decide who needs to submit the annual return

The annual return guidance states that, “The return must be submitted by someone in a senior estate management role.” so it’s helpful to identify at this stage who that is going to be.

For more information, you can access the annual return guidance via this weblink: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-estate-management-standards-annual-return

Collating The Information Required

There are 6 sections in the annual return as follows: 

• Strategic estate management (6 questions).
• Planning and organising your estate resources (11 questions).
• Understanding and managing your land and buildings (7 questions).
• Maintaining your estate (2 questions).
• Sustainability (1 question).
• Digital technology (1 question).

The annual return does not require responsible bodies to upload any supporting documents. However, you will need to identify if you have the following documents in order to be able to answer the associated questions:

• An estate vision.
• An estate strategy.
• An asset management plan.
• A climate action plan.
• A business continuity plan.
• Estate-related budget forecasts.
• Specific estate information (see question 4. in the Understanding and managing your land and buildings section of the annual return).

Whilst you can save your answers as you go, it will be more time efficient to try and collate all the information you need before you start to complete the return.

The Benefits Of The Annual Return

Once you have submitted your annual return, you will have access to a feedback table which will detail which areas of the Standards are being met and at which level (Level 1: Baseline, Level 2: Transitioning, Level 3: Fully Effective, or Level 4: Advanced). This is helpful in benchmarking your own assessment against the Standards which you may have undertaken previously with the DfE’s assessment based on your submitted answers. You can then draw up an action plan (or revise your existing action plan) detailing what you need to do to fully meet the Standards.