Scores more schools have had bids for government repair cash snubbed – prompting fears of a growing backlog of primaries and secondaries left with crumbling estates.
Just 826 projects at 733 schools have been allocated money through the Department for Education’s £450 million Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) this year.
The figures represent an almost 60 per cent fall since 2020-21, when ministers gave 2,104 projects more than £563 million through the scheme.
Meanwhile, almost 22 per cent of greenlit applications came from schools willing to stump up large sums towards the overall cost of the project.
