SFG20 Responds To The New Education Estates Strategy

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13 August 2026 | Updated 12 August 2026

With rising costs putting increasing pressure on schools, SFG20 explores how a more strategic, long-term approach to estate management can help schools overcome today's biggest maintenance challenges.

Schools across the UK are facing an estimated £13.8 billion maintenance backlog, according to the January 2025 National Audit Office (NAO) report¹. However, as this figure is based on data collected between 2017 and 2019, the true scale of the challenge is likely to be even greater today.

Years of underinvestment, ageing infrastructure and rising costs have left many schools struggling to keep up with essential maintenance, increasing safety risks for both students and staff. With many schools having limited teams to manage both the outsourced work and the day-to-day work themselves, schools are fighting against educational priorities for budget and resources, all amid skill gaps and recruitment challenges.

Recognising these challenges, the recently published Education Estates Strategy² sets out a 10-year plan to transform the condition of England's schools and colleges. The strategy aims to improve the management of school estates by bringing together long-term planning and clearer standards, with a greater focus on condition need, risk, and resilience.

Against this backdrop, Marc Dabbs, FM expert at SFG20, the industry standard for school building maintenance, explores the three biggest estate management challenges facing education estates today and how the DfE’s new strategy can help schools overcome them.

Prioritising Costly Day-To-Day Spending Over Planned Preventative Maintenance 

Budget pressures have become a widespread challenge across the education sector, with essential maintenance often delayed or deprioritised in an effort to reduce costs. As a result, many schools have been forced to prioritise day-to-day operational spending over Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM). 

While this may provide short-term savings, it’s often more expensive in the long run. Deferred maintenance can lead to major asset failures, operational inefficiencies, and significantly higher repair costs. The Cabinet Office estimates that delaying backlog maintenance can increase costs by over 1.5 times within just 2-4 years.

Ageing Infrastructure and Deteriorating Buildings 

Many schools are also dealing with ageing infrastructure, with critical systems such as roofs, electrical wiring and HVAC systems reaching or exceeding their intended lifespan. As buildings continue to age, the demand for maintenance and repairs only increases, placing further strain on budgets. Relatively minor issues can quickly escalate into more significant safety, operational and compliance risks, resulting in greater disruption and higher long-term costs.

Limited Resources and Skills Shortages

According to SFG20’s State of FM Survey 2026 report, 51% of organisations cited understaffing in their FM teams. Alongside financial pressures, many schools also face a shortage of time, resources, and specialist expertise to manage their estates effectively. With limited staff and increasing demands, it’s more difficult to plan maintenance and ensure ongoing compliance. 

These staffing shortages reflect a broader issue in the wider building maintenance industry: the need for skilled FM professionals is growing, but recruitment is not keeping up with the demand. As a result, FM teams are often overstretched, leading to reduced efficiency and the increased risk of operational failures. This is felt strongly in schools and is made more challenging with the scale of the backlog.

How Can Schools' Estate Management Teams Work with the New Government Guidance to Avoid Compliance and Safety Issues? 

Marc Dabbs, FM expert at SFG20, said: "While the maintenance backlog cannot be solved overnight, schools can take practical steps to improve the management of their estates.”

Dabbs continued: “The Department for Education has introduced the School Estate Management Standards and an estate management competency framework to help improve consistency and support more effective estate management across the education sector. Combined with the Education Estates Strategy, this places greater emphasis on long-term planning, robust estate data and effective governance to help schools better manage their estates.”

Dabbs added: “Rather than relying on reactive ‘patch-and-mend’ maintenance, schools are encouraged to build strong data foundations, with accurate asset registers, condition data, maintenance schedules and compliance evidence. Schools that get these foundations right will be better placed to manage risk, demonstrate compliance, secure future funding and, ultimately, run safer buildings for students and staff.”

Dabbs highlighted: “As the industry standard, SFG20 helps schools respond to the new strategy by identifying the correct maintenance tasks needed across their building assets and creating a more consistent approach to planned maintenance. Supported by robust maintenance regimes aligned to recognised guidance and accurate asset and condition data, schools can improve compliance, reduce risk and maintain safer, more resilient estates.”

1. Maintaining public service facilities - NAO report - see here.
2. School Estate Management Standards - see here.

Picture: An image of a school hallway.

Article written by Dave Mapps | Published 13 August 2026

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