​On 25 March 2026, the Department for Education published the methodology for its new Inclusive Mainstream Fund, and for anyone working in or around schools, it is worth taking the time to understand what has actually been announced, what schools are now expected to do, and what it means in practice for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Here is a straightforward breakdown.

What Is the Inclusive Mainstream Fund?

The Inclusive Mainstream Fund, known as the IMF, is a new grant announced as part of the government's Schools White Paper, "Every Child Achieving and Thriving." It is part of a broader £1.6 billion investment over three years aimed at making mainstream schools more inclusive by design.

Of the total fund, £400 million per year goes directly to mainstream schools, with a further £83 million for 16-19 providers and £47 million for early years settings. The funding began from April 2026 and is confirmed for the current three-year spending period.

This is not a token gesture. The average secondary school will receive around £48,000 in 2026-27 on top of its core funding, while the average primary school of 275 pupils will receive approximately £14,000, roughly equivalent to half of a teaching assistant's salary.

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What Is It Actually For?

The fund is designed to support schools to move towards practices that are inclusive by design, providing early support directly to children without the need for a formal diagnosis or statutory process. That last part is significant. The intent is to shift the system upstream, catching and supporting children's needs before they reach the point of requiring an Education, Health and Care Plan.

Schools will be equipped with more resource to meet a wider range of commonly occurring, predictable needs whenever they arise or escalate, improving the quality of their universal offer.

The DfE recommends schools direct their funding across seven themes of activity. These are ambitious leadership and governance that embeds inclusion in planning, evidence-based early intervention, high-quality adaptive teaching, accessible provision beyond the classroom, a safe and respectful school culture, strong partnerships with families, and inclusive physical environments. Together, these seven principles are meant to form the basis of what the government is calling every school's "universal offer."

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How Is the Funding Calculated?

The funding formula is based on three elements. Every school receives a lump sum of £3,000 regardless of size. Primary schools then receive £16 per pupil and £79 per pupil recorded with low prior attainment. Secondary schools receive £14 per pupil and £88 per eligible low prior attainment pupil. An area cost adjustment is also applied to account for differences in labour costs across the country, which will be relevant for schools in areas like the Midlands.

Pupil counts from the October 2025 census are being used to calculate allocations. Final school-level figures will be confirmed and paid in May and June 2026 for maintained schools and academy trusts respectively.

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What Are Schools Required to Do?

This is where the accountability element comes in. All schools will be required to publish an inclusion strategy from December 2026. This will be used to hold them accountable on how they will deliver inclusive whole-school approaches and evidence-based support to meet the needs of their cohort, including pupils with SEND.

The inclusion strategy is not optional and it is not a box-ticking exercise. It will be available to Ofsted inspectors, scrutinised by governors and trustees, and published on the school's website so parents can see it. The DfE will provide a template and guidance ahead of the December deadline.

One of the clearest signals in the guidance is a move away from reliance on formal diagnosis and Education, Health and Care Plans, transferring greater responsibility onto schools to make complex judgements about need with limited external validation. That is a meaningful shift, and schools will need the right staff in place to manage it well.

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What Does This Mean for Staffing?

This is where Link3 Recruitment sees the direct connection between policy and practice. The IMF creates a genuine opportunity for schools to invest in the people who make inclusion work day to day.

Schools can use the funding for training and cover costs to strengthen approaches to adaptive teaching, including flexible grouping, scaffolding, and using technology to support pupils with SEND. They can also fund CPD for leaders and teachers to support delivery of effective, early targeted smaller-group interventions, as well as teaching assistant training and resources.

Separately, a £200 million investment will fund national evidence-based training on SEND and inclusion for all early years, school, and college staff. This is in addition to what schools can spend from the IMF itself.

Put simply, this is a significant injection of resource into the people side of inclusion. Schools that use this funding wisely will be investing in upskilling their existing teams and in bringing in specialist support where gaps exist. That might mean training up a SEND teaching assistant to deliver targeted language interventions, funding a SENCO to take on a more strategic leadership role, or bringing in specialist staff who can work across a cohort rather than just with individual pupils on an EHCP.

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Some Honest Context

Some school leaders have already noted that the fund, spread across the whole system, may not go as far as the headline figures suggest. The IMF does not replace existing SEND funding; it sits alongside it. Schools cannot treat it as an answer to every inclusion challenge, and they will still be working within existing pressures on budgets, staffing and workload.

But the direction of travel is clear. The government has put inclusion at the centre of its education reform agenda, and schools that start preparing now, thinking about their inclusion strategy, reviewing their staffing, and considering how to deploy this funding effectively, will be better placed than those who wait.

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How We Can Help

At Link3 Recruitment, we work with schools across the Midlands every day. We understand the staffing demands that come with a genuine commitment to SEND inclusion, and we specialise in connecting schools with the right people to make that commitment a reality.

Whether you need an experienced SEND teaching assistant, a qualified SENCO, or support staff trained in adaptive teaching and early intervention, we are here to help you plan ahead and build a team that works for every child in your school.

Get in touch with the Link3 Recruitment team today. Visit: www.link3recruitment.co.uk | Call: 0115 6972550