The Budget Forecast Return for the 2026 academic year is now available. This article outlines the forecast years required, what has changed in this year's template, and how actuals are populated.

The Budget Forecast Return requires you to submit forecasts for the academic years 2027/28 and 2028/29. Access Education Budgets populates data onto the worksheet titled BFR 2026.

The following mapping changes have been made for the BFR 2026 template.

Income previously reported under Line 220 (Other Income) via account code 525750 is now reported separately under new Line 213. This gives clearer visibility of this income stream. All other income previously on Line 220 remains unchanged.

Apprenticeship Levy costs (account codes 675100 and 675110) now feed into BFR Line 311, alongside other Staff Contract NI costs.

In Education Budgets, the default Section for Apprenticeship Levy has changed from EL 304 to EL 311. This is reflected on the Other Settings page. As a result, Apprenticeship Levy budget values now flow through to Line 311 rather than Line 330.

Any school that had not changed its Apprenticeship Levy section from the default EL 304 has been proactively updated to EL 311. If your organisation had already changed this section manually, you may want to review and update it as needed.

The Academy Budget Forecast report now automatically populates with Trial Balance data from Education Finance, covering both Previous Year and Current Year actuals.

This improves accuracy by ensuring figures match the official finance system, and saves staff time previously spent copying numbers between systems.

For general guidance on completing the BFR, including export steps and the manual import process, see the BFR User Guide.