Pupil Premium Updates

05 May 2021

The major updates announced by the Department for Education concerning the distribution of the Pupil Premium Grant for the 2021 to 2022 academic year are outlined below.

Allocation of the pupil premium

Previously based on the January census, pupil premium funding for mainstream and special schools in the 2021 to 2022 year is now allocated based on the number of eligible pupils registered by schools in their 2020 October census.

The pupil premium funding for the financial year beginning on 1st April 2021 is therefore based on the October 2020 census. The change has been made to bring the pupil premium in line with how the rest of the schools’ budget is calculated. It is expected to provide greater certainty around future funding levels earlier in the year.

In this transitional year, pupil premium funding will be confirmed in the usual timeline in June 2021. As from next year, allocations for mainstream and special schools will be published earlier in the year to give schools greater certainty over their future funding levels.

Allocations for alternative provision, pupil referral units and hospital schools continue to be based on the January census and is accordingly published to the usual timeline.

There will be no change in the payment arrangements for the pupil premium. The pupil premium grant will continue to be paid in quarterly instalments.

Per pupil funding rates remain the same as they were in 2020 to 2021.

Eligibility

Ever 6 Free School Meals Pupils

• For mainstream and special schools, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since January 2015. The pupils who are first recorded as eligible in October 2020 are also included.
• For pupil referral units, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since May 2015. This also includes those pupils who are first recorded as eligible in January 2021.

Children with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

• For 2021 to 2022, pupil premium eligibility is being extended to pupils eligible for free school meals under the temporary extension set out in the ‘Coronavirus (covid-19): temporary extension of free school meals eligibility to NRPF groups’ guidance.
• As these pupils are not registered as eligible in the school census, eligible schools will need to make a claim for additional pupil premium funding for these pupils. Further details on the claims process for these pupils will be published by the government in due course.

Children adopted from care or who have left care

• For mainstream and special schools, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census, who were looked after by an English or Welsh local authority immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order.
• For pupil referral units, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include post-LAC (Looked After Children) pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census.

Payment Dates in 2021-22

The pupil premium is paid in quarterly instalments. Allocation spreadsheets will be published in June 2021 on the government website.

Maintained schools will receive payments after their Local Authority is allocated the grant on the following dates:

• 30 June 2021
• 30 September 2021
• 31 December 2021
• 31 March 2022
  

Local authorities will be required to certify that they have transferred the correct amount of funding to their maintained schools or, where funding has been spent centrally, that it has been spent in line with the conditions of the pupil premium grant. A certification form will be issued by the Department for Education in April 2022.

Academies will receive their instalments on:

• 8 July 2021
• 8 October 2021
• 11 January 2022
• 8 April 2022

Updated conditions for schools

As part of the pupil premium grant conditions, schools are now required to prove how their spending decisions are informed by evidence and to publish an online statement:

Spending decision and research evidence (condition 7):

• Schools are required to demonstrate, from the 2021 to 2022 academic year, how their spending decisions are informed by research evidence.
• Schools must refer to a variety of sources, including the Education Endowment Foundation’s toolkit. Schools must also include activities considered in the EEF’s pupil premium guide.
• The Department for Education recommends taking a longer-term approach to planning how to use the grant (for example, over a 3-year period).

Pupil premium strategy (condition 8):

• Maintained schools are now required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy annually on their school’s website.
• Most academies must now publish their pupil premium strategy, academies are recommended to check their funding agreements.
• All schools must use the templates available on GOV.UK to publish their 2021 to 2022 pupil premium strategy, by the end of December 2021.
• The Department for Education has also recommended schools to update their online statement at least once a year, starting from late in the autumn term.
• The Department for Education will undertake monitoring checks on a sample of schools’ published reports.

The Scholars Programme has been cited by Ofsted as an ‘effective use of pupil premium’. By engaging pupils in a programme designed to introduce them to higher education, The Scholars Programme develops pupils’ cultural capital, lateral thinking skills and provides academic support.

For more information on the pupil premium grant for the 2021 to 2022 year, click here.

For an overview into the pupil premium, click here.

For an overview of pupil premium interventions, click here.

For information into how schools can enquire into The Scholars Programme, click here.