diff --git a/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/25/00background_updates.sql b/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/25/00background_updates.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..2ad9e8fa56
--- /dev/null
+++ b/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/25/00background_updates.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+/* Copyright 2015, 2016 OpenMarket Ltd
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+
+CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS background_updates(
+ update_name TEXT NOT NULL, -- The name of the background update.
+ progress_json TEXT NOT NULL, -- The current progress of the update as JSON.
+ CONSTRAINT background_updates_uniqueness UNIQUE (update_name)
+);
diff --git a/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/35/00background_updates_add_col.sql b/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/35/00background_updates_add_col.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c2d2a4f836
--- /dev/null
+++ b/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/35/00background_updates_add_col.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+/* Copyright 2016 OpenMarket Ltd
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+
+ALTER TABLE background_updates ADD COLUMN depends_on TEXT;
diff --git a/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/58/00background_update_ordering.sql b/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/58/00background_update_ordering.sql
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..02dae587cc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/synapse/storage/schema/common/delta/58/00background_update_ordering.sql
@@ -0,0 +1,19 @@
+/* Copyright 2020 The Matrix.org Foundation C.I.C
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ * http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+/* add an "ordering" column to background_updates, which can be used to sort them
+ to achieve some level of consistency. */
+
+ALTER TABLE background_updates ADD COLUMN ordering INT NOT NULL DEFAULT 0;
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