In June 2025, the Department for Education tweaked the Urgent Capital Support application guidelines. The changes centre around critical areas, including eligibility clarification, sustainability and monitoring following completion.

What is Urgent Capital Support funding?

Urgent Capital Support, or UCS, is an education funding scheme for academies and sixth form colleges. The capital allows them to address pressing building condition issues that pose danger to students and staff or risk closing the school.

The funding is typically offered as a loan for those who cannot access the School Condition Allocation (SCA) or cannot wait for the next Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).

How has the UCS guidance changed?

The most notable shifts in the Urgent Capital Support guidance for 2025 include the introduction of Defined Categories for urgent issues, sustainability requirements surrounding net-zero goals and Output Specification 2022, stricter financial scrutiny, interest rate and early repayment clarity, and details on how to avoid clawback.

Other UCS changes include professional fee caps, new additions to the submission process and more clarification on automatic School Condition Allocation enrolment and cut-off dates for new multi-academy trusts (MATs).

All parties interested in applying for Urgent Capital Support this year should read the 2025 guidance to ensure no vital details are missed.

Get support with your Urgent Capital Support application

Changing guidelines can make the UCS application process more complicated. However, our experts fully understand the new requirements and can provide advice on how to apply correctly. Get support today by calling 0808 301 0341 or completing the form below.