Academy national non-domestic rates (NNDR) claims

Introduction

These instructions are to help academies and trusts submit a claim for NNDR to the Department for Education (DfE).

NNDR is a tax payable on non-domestic property set by the government and collected by the relevant billing authority. All educational settings under the ‘academy programme’ are entitled to tax relief from the billing authority on a significant portion, currently 80%, of the NNDR. We allow these educational settings to claim funding for the remaining NNDR amount.

Eligibility to claim

New claims for 2026 to 2027

From 1 April 2026, some academies will no longer need to claim NNDR as your billing authority will claim on your behalf.

Where your billing authority will be implementing the central NNDR payment process as of 1 April 2026, you will not be required to submit a claim.

However, if your billing authority is not on the central NNDR payment process and, therefore, continuing with the existing payment process as of 1 April 2026, you will need to submit a claim.

Adjustments for previous years

All academies and trusts can use the claim form to adjust previously paid claims for the following financial years:

• 2025 to 2026
• 2024 to 2025
• 2023 to 2024
• 2022 to 2023
• 2021 to 2022
• 2020 to 2021 – to note, this will be the last year that you can claim any adjustments for this financial year

Academies under billing authorities that have opted into the central payment process no longer have access to the NNDR academy portal.

The responsibility for submitting historical claims on behalf of the school will then fall to the billing authority. This approach is in place to stop duplicate claims.

Payments

Depending on monthly payment deadlines, we will make one payment within 3 months of receiving a claim. Depending on when you submit your claim during a month, we will aim to pay most claims within 2 months of submission.

Each time a payment is processed, you will receive a remittance advice from DfE as confirmation of payment.

Making a valid claim

When making a claim, it is important to note the following eligibility criteria:

• we do not allow claims for periods prior to academy conversion. If your conversion date falls within a financial year, then you will be able to claim from the date of conversion to the end of March of that year and thereafter
• unoccupied properties are not eligible
• properties must be used for educational purposes, with pupils attending classroom-based learning
• claims should only be submitted for academy buildings
• buildings used solely for administrative tasks are not eligible
• office and premises which are rated separately from the main school site are not eligible
• rented facilities are not eligible
• maintained nursery premises that are rated separately from the main school are not eligible
• car parking spaces and premises which are rated separately from the main school site are not eligible

Multi-academy trusts can submit claims on behalf of their constituent academies; however, payments will remain at academy level.

We require total bill values with 80% mandatory relief applied when submitting a claim. You should enter the total bill amount for the year you are claiming.

For example, if your bill shows the total charge amount of £2,490.88, then £2,490.88 should be entered into the online NNDR claim form. These instructions are the same for each year. For academies with multiple bills and buildings, you must combine your bill values and enter these into the form.

To validate your NNDR claim, you may be prompted to upload the supporting bill.

When to claim

Accessing the claim form

Use the NNDR claim form to make a claim.

Before you start

Before you start the claims process, you will need:

• to have read this guidance on how to make a claim
• a DfE Sign-in account
• the authority to submit a claim on behalf of your setting and you understand that, as a recipient of this funding, your setting is responsible for protecting public money

You might also be asked to upload a digital PDF copy of your NNDR bill. The bill should show a deduction of mandatory relief. If your bill does not show a deduction of mandatory relief, then you must obtain a new bill from the billing authority.

Sign in to your DfE Sign-in account

We recommend you try your DfE Sign-in credentials as soon as possible to avoid any issues with submitting your form.

Follow steps 1 to 7 below to access your DfE Sign-in account.

1. Access the NNDR claim form. When prompted, sign in to DfE Sign-in using your username and password for authentication.
2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you will need to enter a verification code to login. To send the verification email with the code you need to click on ‘Email code to (your email address)’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.
3. After clicking on ‘Email code to (your email address)’ you will progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.
4. Choose the organisation for whom you are completing the form for (this is only required if your account is linked to several organisations).
5. The next page displays the details we hold about the organisation you selected when you signed in. This will show the name, address and unique identifier of the organisation, as well as the name and email address of the person who signed into the form.
6. If these details are correct, select ‘Continue’ to go to the next page.
7. If you believe these details are incorrect, contact us via the Customer Help Portal and we will investigate. However, you can still proceed with your submission.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by following steps 1 to 7 below:

1. Access DfE Sign-in and select ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’.
2. Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name). We cannot accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’. You cannot use a personal email address.
3. We will send you an email to verify your email address. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.
4. Create a memorable password that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 out of: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname.
5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your MFA verification email by clicking on ’Email code to (your email address)’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.
6. We will send you an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.
7. Follow the next step instructions outlined in ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’ below.

Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account

To add a new organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, follow steps 1 to 6 below:

1. Login to your DfE Sign-in account.
2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.
3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the righthand side of the page.
4. Enter the URN or UKPRN of the organisation you wish to add.
5. Select the organisation from search results.
6. Enter comments for the approver and select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to the approver of that organisation. If you do not already have an approver your request will be actioned by the DfE Sign-in support team.

Once you have a DfE Sign-in account linked to your organisation, you will need to select ‘Request access to a service’ at the ‘Services’ page and request access to ‘National non-domestic rates (NNDR) claims’. To request access, follow these steps on the DfE Sign-in help page.

You might have noticed the term ‘approver’ when creating your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually as an administrator or a senior manager.

For security reasons, you will need the authorisation of one of your organisation’s approvers before you can access the form.

If you need further assistance

If you need help using the DfE Sign-in service, use our DfE Sign-in help where you will be able to request further assistance. When raising a support request,  select ‘Other’.

If you believe you are eligible to claim but have problems accessing the form, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal.

Completing the form

Access the NNDR claim form and select ‘Start now’. Once you have authenticated through DfE Sign-in and are in the form, you will be able to see the status of previous claims and can make a new claim.  When making a new claim you will find a ‘Save and continue’ button on each page which will take you to the next page.

The form will remember information you have saved if you sign out or if you leave it open for an extended period. You can resume your submission when you sign back in.

You will be presented with several pages with a series of questions which will ask you to complete information related to NNDR. All questions are mandatory.

After answering all the questions, you will be prompted to complete the required declarations before you can submit your form. Once you have submitted the form, you will be advised of next steps and will receive an email confirmation.

You can edit and resubmit your form until the submission deadline.

Enquiries

If you have any questions about the NNDR process or how to complete the online form, you can contact us via the Customer Help Portal.

What happens next

The claim information you have submitted will be checked and validated.

If there are no issues with your claim, we will process the payment within the expected timescales (within 3 months of receiving a claim) and you will receive notifications and payments accordingly.

If we have a query regarding your claim, we will contact you for further information.