The government’s Inclusive Mainstream Fund (IMF) is intended to help mainstream schools strengthen inclusive practice, remove commonly occurring barriers to learning and participation, and provide earlier, evidence-based support for pupils with additional needs and SEND. Schools must use the grant alongside their core funding, including the notional SEN budget, and invest it in line with the government’s seven principles of inclusion.
Every school receiving IMF funding must publish an inclusion strategy on its website by 31 December 2026. The strategy should identify the needs of the school’s cohort and the barriers pupils face, explain planned activities and budgeted costs, and show how the school will improve its universal and targeted provision.
ASCL has produced three practical resources to support leadership teams through this process (see download links below). The 'Simple guide to completing your inclusion strategy' template helps schools organise their evidence, priorities, actions and evaluation. The 'Inclusive Mainstream: Principles and practice in my setting' resource and 'Inclusive schools reflection tool' provide structured prompts for senior leaders to review existing evidence, test current practice against the seven principles, identify gaps and agree priorities. Together, they position inclusion as a whole-school leadership responsibility and an integral part of school improvemen, not a separate initiative led by the SENCO alone.
The
ASCL Leadership Essentials conferences around the country in November 2026 will provide further opportunities for identifying what a great inclusion strategy can achieve.
Download 'Simple guide to completing your inclusion strategy'
Download 'Inclusive Mainstream: Principles and practice in my setting'
Download 'Inclusive schools reflection tool'