Within all European member countries there are moves towards greater educational inclusion. The promotion of equity in educational opportunities is a clear strategic challenge for the EU member States. Countries’ systems of funding for education play a crucial role in ensuring that learners from disadvantaged groups – including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities - have access to an inclusive education system at all levels of lifelong learning. Policy makers across Europe recognise that funding mechanisms are a critical lever in reducing disparities in education. They require more detailed information on the impact of funding mechanisms on inclusive education that can be used to guide their policy developments. The Financing Policies for Inclusive Education Systems (FPIES) project is a response to this identified policy need. The goal of the FPIES project is to work with country policy makers from the member countries of the European Agency for Special Needs and Inclusive Education (EASNIE), to systematically examine different approaches to educational financing and then identify effective funding policy tools that work towards reducing disparities in education. The FPIES project is based on a direct co-operation between EASNIE, its ministerial representatives and 6 Ministries of Education from Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia and UK-England. The FPIES project activities will aim to: - build on existing work to develop, trial and evaluate a coherent methodology for examining financing policy issues, developments and challenges in EU countries; - conduct a detailed analysis of financing policy issues for inclusive education, leading to the development of concrete policy tools (including an open source Policy Guidance Tool) that can be used for developing more inclusive funding approaches and financing policies that reduce disparities in education and work towards all learners’ educational and social inclusion and well-being.