Guide

Microsoft 365 Education changes: what UK schools need to know

A plain-English guide for school IT staff and business managers. Facts from Microsoft’s announcement of 5 November 2026. Last checked against Microsoft’s pages on 6 November 2026.

Microsoft announced changes to its Education licensing and storage on 5 November 2026. A few have already happened, a few arrive during 2027, and most apply at your school’s first renewal, extension or new agreement on or after 1 January 2028. The date that matters for you is the one on your own agreement, which your licensing partner can confirm. This page sets out what Microsoft has said, what it has not said yet, and what to do before your agreement date.

What was announced and when

On 5 November 2026 Microsoft published two pages describing the changes: the Microsoft 365 Education portfolio page and an accompanying FAQ. The changes themselves are drawn from those two pages, read on 6 November 2026; how storage works today comes from Microsoft’s service description and Storage FAQ, linked in the storage section and at the end. Where the two pages say different things, that is noted; where Microsoft has not said something yet, that is noted too.

The changes reach UK schools through Microsoft’s licensing partners; UK prices are confirmed only in a signed quote from your partner. This guide is not licensing advice — your licensing partner confirms what applies to you.

The dates, in order

1. 1 October 2026 — Microsoft 365 A7 (with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Agent 365) is available from this date.
2. 5 November 2026 — the announcement. Office 365 A1 sales through Microsoft’s web-direct route already ended on this date.
3. 1 December 2026 — Microsoft 365 Education A2 is available.
4. 1 May 2027 — Office 365 A1 sales through partners (CSP and Volume Licensing) end. Ask your partner what this means for your agreement. Also from this date, Microsoft applies a single Online Services price across Academic Volume Licensing price levels, at your first renewal on or after 1 May 2027.
5. 1 January 2028 — Office 365 A1, the Student Use Benefit and the free Exchange Online for Alumni retire. A0 is available, and A3 and A5 are relaunched. Most of the other changes, including the removal of the 100 TB base storage allocation, apply at your first renewal, extension or new agreement on or after this date.

Your current agreement, including any multi-year agreement, is unchanged until it ends. Microsoft’s FAQ states that early renewal to avoid the changes is “not encouraged or permitted”. Existing licences stay valid through the current term but cannot be renewed or expanded after retirement.

Microsoft’s two pages disagree about keeping Office 365 A1. The portfolio page says an enrolment that “began before January 1, 2028” can keep it; the FAQ says “before May 1, 2027”. Those are different dates, and Microsoft has not said which is right. Ask your licensing partner which applies to your agreement.

Where is your school starting from?

What changes for you depends on what you hold today. Find the closest match. If you are not sure, the steps further down show how to check.

What is retiring

Microsoft has named the following as retiring on 1 January 2028.

Sources: Microsoft 365 Education portfolio page and FAQ, 5 November 2026. The FAQ is where OVS-ES and School 3 are listed. “Ask your partner” applies to every row: end of sale is about what can be bought, and your own agreement decides what you hold and until when.

One related plan, Microsoft 365 A1 (the device-based plan), is not named in Microsoft’s retirement list, but may be affected. Microsoft has not said whether it retires, continues, or changes. Do not assume it is safe; ask your licensing partner.

Office 365 A1 Plus is not on the list because Microsoft was already ending it: it moved the remaining users to Office 365 A1 from 1 August 2024, and says all A1 Plus licences expire in 2025 (Microsoft’s Office 365 A1 Plus page).

The new plans

Microsoft is introducing or relaunching five plans. Its full names are Microsoft 365 Education A0, A2, A3, A5 and A7 (this guide shortens them to A0 to A7). The relaunched A3 and A5 are Microsoft 365 Education plans: Microsoft has not said what happens to the Office-only Office 365 A3 and A5 (see What Microsoft has not said yet). A2 to A7 are each available with or without Teams; A0 has no Teams. Microsoft Classroom is included in A2 and above. Copilot Chat is included in the paid A2–A7 plans for students aged 13 and over, and the school must enable it before experiences such as the Study and Learn Agent.

Source: Microsoft 365 Education portfolio page and its feature tables, 5 November 2026. “Builds on” is Microsoft’s wording. This table lists what Microsoft’s pages highlight for each plan, not every service in it: A0’s exclusions are stated for A0 only, so ask your partner exactly which services are in the plan you are considering.

What will it cost?

Microsoft has not published prices for the new plans. What it has said, on 5 November 2026, in its portfolio page and FAQ:

• A0 is free for schools that meet its conditions.
• The list price of today’s staff suites with Teams does not change, and A3 and A5 for staff gain Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 and the Intune Suite “without an increase to suite prices”.
• A2 to A5 are “more than 80%” cheaper than the business versions, and A7 “up to 60%”.
• From the first renewal on or after 1 May 2027, Microsoft applies a single Online Services price across its Academic Volume Licensing price levels.
• Renewal prices may vary with price level, programme, licence mix and the end of the Student Use Benefit and A1, and are confirmed only in a signed quote.

For a rough idea of today’s prices, Microsoft’s UK Office 365 Education page lists the Office-only plans today: Office 365 A3 at £2.90 per staff licence and £2.25 per student licence a month, and Office 365 A5 at £7.15 and £5.40, excluding VAT (read 7 November 2026). These are not prices for the relaunched Microsoft 365 Education A3 and A5: Microsoft has not published those. The free plans, Office 365 A1 and the Student Use Benefit, cost nothing today, so a school that moves people from them to a paid plan pays for licences it does not pay for now. Licensing partners often sell below list price, so your partner’s quote is the figure that counts.

Storage: today, and what changes

How your pool works today

Microsoft gives an education tenant one pooled storage allowance: a default of 100 TB, plus what each paid licence contributes, plus any storage packs. Microsoft’s own worked example counts 100 TB as 102,400 GB, so this guide counts 1 TB as 1,024 GB too. Microsoft brought this in at each school’s first renewal on or after 1 August 2024, and applies it to a tenant with more than 50% education licences assigned, or more education than non-education licences purchased.

Sources: Microsoft’s Office 365 Education service description (Education Pooled Storage limits) and its Storage Changes FAQ (PDF, last updated February 2025), both read 6 November 2026. Other licences add their own amounts, which this page does not list: Microsoft 365 Apps for faculty, Office 365 Extra File Storage and any commercial licences in your tenant. Microsoft’s systems do not report the 10 TB packs you hold, so you need to know how many there are.

Paid student licences today: Microsoft’s pages disagree. Its per-licence storage list gives paid A3 and A5 student licences the same 50 GB and 100 GB as staff, but its 5 November 2026 page says paid student licences “will contribute to storage for the first time”, and its worked examples count staff licences only (per-licence list, Storage Changes FAQ). The pooled limit in your admin centre (Reports → Storage) is the real figure.

What counts against the pool today: all SharePoint sites, all OneDrives, and Exchange user, shared and group mailboxes. Archive mailboxes, public folders, discovery mailboxes and archived SharePoint sites do not count. Students on free licences, alumni mailboxes and OneDrives kept after someone leaves add nothing to the pool, but they still use it.

What changes at renewal

The 100 TB default is removed at your first renewal, extension or new agreement on or after 1 January 2028. After that, storage is pooled at tenant level but built up from the per-licence entitlements of the plans you hold. This applies to schools already on paid A3 or A5 too.

The per-licence entitlements Microsoft has announced (5 November 2026) are:

For the 2028 pool, Microsoft has not said whether Exchange mailboxes count. Today they do, as above.

If your estimated entitlement is less than you currently use, Microsoft lists four options:

1. Move to a higher plan to increase your per-licence entitlement.
2. Buy storage packs (10 TB each) to add to your pool.
3. Reduce your storage use before renewal.
4. Use Microsoft 365 Archive for content you need to keep but rarely access.

Storage estimate calculator

Check this first. Many schools’ students are on free licences today (Office 365 A1 for students, or the Student Use Benefit). At renewal those students either go onto free A0, which adds no storage and has no Exchange, SharePoint or Teams, or onto a paid plan, which adds storage. Put them in the right box below; entering free students as paid ones would overstate your storage a great deal.

Groundskeeper can fill this in from your own Microsoft 365, free — see below.

The calculator works out your estimated pooled storage today and under A2, A3 and A5/A7, side by side, and, if you give a current usage figure, the headroom or shortfall for each.

This is an estimate based on the per-licence figures Microsoft announced on 5 November 2026. Each 2028 row assumes every paid licence you enter is on that one plan. The “Today” row uses Microsoft’s current rules, as above, and the 2028 rows use the figures Microsoft announced. 1 TB = 1,024 GB, as in Microsoft’s own worked example. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere — the calculator runs entirely in your browser.

What happens when the pool is full

Microsoft says it warns you at 80% and again at 90% of your pool. At 100% you get a notice and 30 days to act. After that, SharePoint and OneDrive become read-only; email keeps working.

The first place to look is storage held by people who have left. Microsoft says that when a OneDrive licence is removed, the OneDrive is kept indefinitely without an owner, and still counts against the pool until an administrator deletes it. A deleted user’s OneDrive also counts until it is fully deleted, which takes 30 days (a period your IT team can change) plus 93 days in the recycle bin. Microsoft’s other suggestions are cleaning up, archive mailboxes and Microsoft 365 Archive.

This page is not telling you to delete anything. Check your data-retention policy first, and who is responsible for it, before any leaver’s files are removed.

What Microsoft has not said yet

Microsoft’s two pages were published on 5 November 2026 and do not answer everything. The following points are unresolved; this page will be updated as Microsoft publishes more detail.

• The two pages disagree on the A1 cut-off date. The portfolio page says an enrolment that “began before January 1, 2028” can keep A1; the FAQ says “before May 1, 2027”. Ask your licensing partner which applies to your agreement.
• Automatic conversion. Microsoft has not said whether licences convert to a new plan automatically at renewal or whether schools must actively choose.
• Education Qualified User. Microsoft’s FAQ uses this term, but neither page defines it.
• Mailbox storage after the change. Today Exchange user, shared and group mailboxes count toward the pool. Microsoft has not said whether they will count under the 2028 plans.
• Microsoft 365 A1 (device). This plan is not named in Microsoft’s retirement list. Its future is not stated.
• Office 365 A3 and A5. Microsoft’s pages do not mention them, so it is not said whether they continue, retire or move into Microsoft 365 Education A3 and A5. Ask your partner.
• Prices for the new plans. None are published yet. UK prices are only confirmed in a signed quote through a licensing partner.
• Whether paid student licences add storage today. Microsoft’s pages disagree (see Storage).

What to do this term

1. Check which licences you hold — all of them. In the Microsoft 365 admin centre look at your subscriptions, or ask your licensing partner. Note any retiring plans, such as Office 365 A1 or the Student Use Benefit. If you are on paid A3 or A5 you are affected too: those plans carry on, but your storage changes at renewal.
2. Check how much storage you are using. In the Microsoft 365 admin centre go to Reports → Storage (you need to be a Global Admin or SharePoint Admin). It shows your pooled limit, use by service and top consumers. It may show GB or TB depending on size, so convert to one unit before adding anything up (the calculator accepts either). Note the date of each figure. Today mailboxes count toward the pool; whether they will after the change is not said.
3. Find your renewal date. Your licensing partner can confirm when your current agreement ends and whether the 1 May 2027 or 1 January 2028 dates fall on or before it.
4. Talk to your licensing partner well before that date. Use the list below. Do not leave it until renewal day.

Groundskeeper can read steps 1 to 3 for you; see Where Groundskeeper helps.

Take this to your licensing partner

Have these ready, so the conversation starts from facts:

• Your agreement end date, and the type of agreement.
• The exact product names on your agreement (including any Microsoft 365 A1).
• Staff and student counts, with students on free licences kept apart from students on paid ones.
• Dated storage totals for SharePoint and OneDrive, with mailbox storage shown apart, and any storage packs you hold.

And ask them the open questions:

• Which A1 cut-off date applies to our agreement, and can we keep A1 until it ends?
• Will our licences convert automatically, or must we choose?
• What does “Education Qualified User” mean for us?
• Will Exchange mailbox storage count toward the pooled total after the change?
• Can we have a signed UK quote for the plans we are considering?

Where Groundskeeper helps

Groundskeeper’s Microsoft 365 Education changes view does the calculator’s work for you, from your own Microsoft 365 tenant, so you do not have to add anything up. It is free in every edition, including Community. Groundskeeper is self-hosted: it runs on your own server and reads your tenant through Microsoft Graph with read-only permissions. It never changes anything. The permissions are Organization.Read.All, which the licence-count connector already uses, and optionally Reports.Read.All, which is needed only for storage. It shows:

• The plans you hold today, with how many staff and student seats are on each, including the plans Microsoft is retiring, and the plain note that the change applies at your first renewal on or after 1 January 2028.
• The plans to check with your partner — those Microsoft has not named as retiring, such as Microsoft 365 A1 (device).
• Next renewal or change dates, as Microsoft reports them. Your licensing partner confirms your agreement dates.
• Your real SharePoint and OneDrive usage, when you add the optional Reports.Read.All permission, with mailbox storage shown apart (mailboxes count today; Microsoft has not said whether they will after the change). The view works without the permission and tells you how to add it.
• Your allowance today, worked out exactly. It reads your licence codes and applies Microsoft’s own per-licence table, then adds the 10 TB packs you tell it about, because Microsoft’s systems do not report those.
• Storage held by leavers, when you add Reports.Read.All: OneDrives with no licensed owner, and deleted users’ OneDrives still waiting to be deleted. It lists them and says what Microsoft suggests; it never deletes anything.
• The same estimate as the calculator for each future option — A2, A3 and A5/A7, with your students on free A0 and on a paid plan — with the headroom or shortfall for each, so you can see your options side by side.

Its limits, plainly: Groundskeeper cannot read your tenant’s actual storage allowance, because Microsoft does not publish it; today’s allowance is worked out from your licence codes and the packs you tell it, and the figures for the new plans are estimates from your seat counts. It does not know prices or the terms of your agreement. It does not decide which of your students move to A0; it shows both. Your licensing partner confirms what applies to you.

This view is coming in the next release of Groundskeeper.

The Microsoft pages

The pages this guide is based on, as they stood on 6 November 2026:

• Microsoft 365 Education portfolio — the new plans, storage entitlements and retirement dates.
• Microsoft 365 Education FAQ — timing, the early-renewal restriction, and OVS-ES/School 3.
• Office 365 Education service description — Education Pooled Storage limits, how the pool works today (read 6 November 2026).
• Microsoft 365 for Education: Storage Changes FAQ (PDF, last updated February 2025) — the per-licence table, what counts, and what happens when the pool is full (read 6 November 2026).

This is not licensing advice. Your licensing partner confirms which plans, prices and dates apply to your school’s agreement.

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