By Grayling Thomas Architects · October 2026

No official league table says which Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) consultants have the strongest track record for standalone academies and small multi-academy trusts (MATs). The Department for Education does not publish a ranking of consultants, and its assessors judge each bid on what is in it, not on who wrote it. So the strongest track record is the one you can check: named CIF projects at schools like yours, carried from the bid through to a finished building, by a firm whose role on each one is clear. Ask every consultant for that, in writing, before you appoint.

That answer is less satisfying than a list of names, but it is the honest one. The rest of this article explains why, and gives a buyer's checklist you can put to any firm on your shortlist.

Why is there no official ranking of CIF consultants?

Because the consultant's name earns no marks. The CIF 2026 to 2027 information for applicants says applications are "assessed solely on the information provided in the application". Past bids are not taken into account. Each application is read by "two different assessors from two different assessor companies", who score the evidence in front of them.

That evidence is scored out of 100 points: 60 points for project need, 25 points for project cost and 15 points for project planning. The guidance is also frank about the odds: "On average, only a third of applications have been successful in previous years". Most bids fail, and the evidence decides which ones.

So a consultant's track record matters for a practical reason. It tells you whether that firm can produce evidence that survives this scoring, and whether it can then deliver what the bid promised.

The department uses the phrase itself. In its list of what a feasibility study should include, one item reads: "who are the professional Project Management team and what is their track record". In the department's own terms, track record is about delivery as much as bid writing.

Who can apply for CIF as a standalone academy or small MAT?

Check eligibility first. A consultant who gets this wrong is not worth hiring.

For the 2026 to 2027 round, eligibility depended on what the school was at the start of September 2025. A stand-alone academy could apply. So could a school in a MAT "with fewer than five schools or fewer than 3,000 pupils", and a voluntary aided school in a similarly small VA body or group. Sixth-form colleges were eligible too. Larger trusts receive School Condition Allocation (SCA) instead of bidding, and maintained schools are generally not eligible for CIF.

That round is now closed. Outcomes for the 2026 to 2027 CIF were announced on 22 May 2026, and the Condition Improvement Fund guidance on gov.uk no longer carries an application link. If a further round opens, read its own information for applicants, because thresholds and dates are set round by round. The department has also said it plans to replace the annual bid with a new programme; what the education estates strategy says about the programme that replaces CIF sets out what is known so far. For the wider picture of how the fund works, see the complete guide to CIF funding.

What stays with the school, whatever the consultant does?

Responsibility does not move to the consultant. The guidance puts it plainly: "technical advisers cannot apply on your behalf and even where you use a technical adviser, you remain responsible for the application." The accounting officer signs the declaration and submits the bid through the portal, and remains answerable for how the money is spent.

In a standalone academy or a small trust, that person rarely has an estates team behind them. This is exactly why the choice of adviser matters more for smaller bodies than for large trusts with their own surveyors and project managers.

Using a technical adviser is not compulsory. A successful bid can include the cost of an adviser for preparing the application and for overseeing and managing the project. If you run the project in house instead, the person in charge must be suitably qualified and understand their duties under the Construction Design and Management Regulations 2015 (CDM 2015). Few small trusts have that person on the payroll, and you cannot claim your own staff costs for managing the work.

Nine questions to ask any CIF consultant

Each question below follows from what the information for applicants asks of you. Send them to every firm in writing and compare the answers side by side.

1. Which CIF projects have you completed for schools of this size and type, and can they be checked? Ask for named schools, the type of project and whether the work was built. A case study you can read, and a client you can speak to, tells you more than a headline figure on a website.

2. What was your role on each one? Some firms write the bid and hand over. Others write the bid, lead the professional team and design the building. Those are different track records, and the second is the one that bears on delivery.

3. If you quote a success rate, how is it counted? Ask what it includes: every bid submitted, or only those the firm chose to put forward, and over how many rounds. A rate without that context tells you very little.

4. Does your appointment cover every stage? The guidance says the procurement of technical advice "must be inclusive of all stages of your application", from the bid through to delivery.

5. Which professional body are you registered with? The department recommends an adviser registered with a body such as RICS, CIOB or RIBA.

6. Who will carry out the condition survey, and is it independent? A survey is not treated as independent if "it is conducted by a firm that has also quoted or tendered for the work or is a manufacturer of any proposed solution". That can disqualify a bid.

7. Could there be any conflict of interest? Ask about links to the contractors, surveyors or suppliers on your project. Any potential or perceived conflict must be declared in the application form.

8. What will the fees be in total, and how are they justified? This one deserves its own section, below.

9. How will the procurement of your appointment be evidenced? Applications must "clearly set out and evidence the process undertaken in appointing any technical advice". If you appoint through a framework, check whether it allows a direct award or requires a mini competition.

A firm with a real record will answer most of these in a page. Vague answers to the first two questions are the clearest warning sign on the list.

What should a CIF consultant's fees be?

The information for applicants sets a ceiling, not a target. Where percentage fees are used, they "should be a maximum of 10% of the total project value". That ceiling covers all professional fees and disbursements, bid writer fees included, not just the technical adviser's fee. The guidance adds that "10% is not a default fee allowed for the CIF programme", and any higher fee for complex work must be specifically justified in the application.

It also warns against assuming that fees below 10%, or no-win, no-fee arrangements, automatically offer good value for money. A low headline fee from a firm that will not see the project through can cost more than it saves. The department suggests that a competitive tender helps show you are keeping fee costs down, and its Buying for schools service can advise on the procurement.

Getting this wrong has a direct cost. In the guidance's words: "If the fees are disproportionate to the work involved, your application is likely to be unsuccessful."

What does a checkable track record look like?

Here is how Grayling Thomas Architects answers the first two questions on the list.

Grayling Thomas Architects was CIF bid writer, lead consultant and architect for Dorothy Goodman School in Hinckley, a £6.2 million new building for an existing special school, funded entirely through the Condition Improvement Fund. The Dorothy Goodman School case study sets out the project.

That is the shape of evidence to ask every consultant for: a named school, a stated role, the funding route and a completed building with a case study you can read. Apply the same test to every firm on your shortlist, this one included.

Delivery matters because the bid is a promise. The guidance is clear that "Any cost overruns will be at the expense of the applicant", so the firm that writes your cost plan should be one you trust to deliver against it. A consultant whose record stops at the funding letter has not been tested on the part of the project where the money is spent.

How we can help

We offer CIF bid writing and support for standalone academies and small trusts, together with condition surveys and the design and delivery of the building once funding is in place. If you are weighing up consultants for a future round, put the nine questions above to us as well, and compare our answers with everyone else's. To the professional-body question, our answer is that Grayling Thomas Architects is a RIBA Chartered Practice, listed on RIBA Find an Architect.

Read more about our CIF bid writing and support, or send us a CIF enquiry and tell us about your school and the condition issue you need to fix.