Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19) national testing programme: spring 2022 allocation payment technical note

Updated 26 July 2022

This guidance was withdrawn on 27 September 2023

This has been withdrawn as it is out of date.

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This guidance provides additional information on the allocations to be paid to schools and colleges to support the costs associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19) national testing programme.

2. Conditions of grant funding

Information on the scope, eligibility and terms of funding for the initial roll-out of rapid asymptomatic testing site (ATS) testing from 23 August 2021 is in the coronavirus (COVID-19) national testing programme: conditions of grant.

3. Autumn 2021 payment

Institutions may receive one payment in autumn 2021.

This payment will relate to testing for the period of:

• phase 5: 23 August 2021 to 17 September 2021
• phase 4a: 24 July 2021 to 30 July 2021

Phase 5 will recognise the 2-week rapid one-off ATS testing on return for all pupils in the autumn 2021 term.

Phase 4a will recognise one week of ongoing ATS testing for further education (FE) colleges whose summer term finished on 30 July 2021.

4. Spring 2022 payment

Institutions may receive one payment in spring 2022.

This payment will relate to testing for the period of:

• phase 6: 18 September 2021 to 17 December 2021
• phase 7: 18 December 2021 to 7 January 2022

Phase 6 will recognise ongoing ATS testing in schools and colleges for the remainder of the 2021 autumn term.

Phase 7 will recognise the 1-week rapid one-off ATS testing on return of all pupils in schools and ongoing ATS testing for FE for the 2022 spring term.

Information on how these payments will be paid to schools and colleges is in the coronavirus (COVID-19) national testing programme: conditions of grant.

4.1 Summer 2022 payment

Institutions may receive one payment in summer 2022.

This payment will relate to testing for the period of:

• phase 8: 8 January 2022 to 18 February 2022
• phase 9: 19 February 2022 to 31 March 2022

Phase 8 will recognise ongoing ATS testing in schools and colleges up to 18 February 2022.

Phase 9 will recognise ongoing ATS testing in specialist and special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) institutions up to 31 March 2022.

Information on how these payments will be paid to schools and colleges is in the coronavirus (COVID-19) national testing programme: conditions of grant.

5. Allocations

We will base allocations on the number of bays/desks estimated as needed to deliver the number of tests completed (measured by the number of test results recorded on the school or college’s individual account on the test site results service).

We will pay eligible institutions in and close to London an additional weighting for workforce costs.

We will calculate this in accordance with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s general labour market rates.

We have accounted for different staffing levels needed for rapid one-off testing on return of pupils and students in special schools, special post-16 institutions, alternative provision academies and pupil referral units. We have assumed that:

• these settings will need a higher number of test assistants to support pupils who cannot self-administer tests
• test assistants will be paid at a higher hourly rate to reflect the likelihood of additional qualifications or experience being needed

It’s important for us to be able to identify a school or college’s Unique Reference Number (URN) from their test site results service data to calculate allocations correctly.

5.1 Autumn 2021 allocation

The autumn 2021 allocation will continue to fund ATS tests for pupils and students only.

For this allocation payment period we have calculated the number of estimated bays required as follows:

• phase 5: total pupil tests divided by 396 (6 days multiplied by 6 hours multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay
• phase 4a: total pupil tests divided by 110 (5 days multiplied by 2 hours multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay

For the autumn 2021 allocation, an institution’s establishment type and local authority location will reflect their status as of 1 October 2021.

Allocation funding amounts for pupil testing bays can be found in the phase 5: pupil and phase 4a: pupil tables.

5.2 Spring 2022 allocation

The spring 2022 allocation will continue to fund ATS tests for pupils only.

For this allocation payment period we have calculated the number of estimated bays required as follows:

On a weekly basis:

• phase 6: weekly total of pupil tests divided by 55 (5 days multiplied by 1 hours multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay
• phase 7 for FE: weekly total of pupil tests divided by 55 (5 days multiplied by 1 hours multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay

Over the complete period:

• phase 7 for schools: total pupil tests divided by 198 (3 days multiplied by 6 hours multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay

For the spring 2022 allocation, an institution’s establishment type and local authority location will reflect their status as of 31 March 2022.

Allocation funding amounts for pupil testing bays can be found in the phase 6: pupil and phase 7: pupil schools and FE tables.

5.3 Summer 2022 allocation

The summer 2022 allocation will continue to fund ATS tests for pupils only.

For this allocation payment period we have calculated the number of estimated bays required as follows:

On a weekly basis:

• phase 8: weekly total of pupil tests divided by 55 (5 days multiplied by 1 hour multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay
• phase 9 for specialist and SEND institutions: weekly total of pupil tests divided by 55 (5 days multiplied by 1 hour multiplied by 11 tests an hour) rounded up to the next whole bay

For the spring 2022 allocation, an institution’s establishment type and local authority location will reflect their status as of 31 May 2022.

Allocation funding amounts for pupil testing bays can be found in the phase 8 and Phase 9: pupil tables.

6. Institutions who have delivered a small number of pupil tests

We know that some institutions have returned a small number of pupil tests. We recognise that there will still be costs associated with this testing, but that this cost will be lower than running a bay full-time.

6.1 Autumn 2021 minimum allocation

For the autumn 2021 allocation an institution will receive a minimum allocation amount if they have:

• delivered less than 22 ATS tests during the autumn term period (this is based on our estimation that institutions who have returned less than 22 ATS tests during this time will have required less than 1 hour of testing on 2 separate days)

Minimum allocation amounts for all 2021 to 2022 allocation payments have been published.

6.2 Spring 2022 minimum allocation

For the spring 2022 allocation an institution will receive a minimum allocation amount if they have:

• for phase 6 and phase 7 in FE: delivered less than 11 ATS tests in a week during this phase

The minimum allocation amount is applied on a weekly basis. So, if an institution delivers less than 11 tests in a week, they will receive minimum funding for that week only.

For phase 7 in schools:

• delivered less than 11 ATS during the entire phase period

We have published the minimum allocation amounts.

6.3 ### Summer 2022 minimum allocation

For the summer 2022 allocation an institution will receive a minimum allocation amount if they have:

• for phase 8 and phase 9: delivered less than 11 ATS tests in a week during this phase. The minimum allocation amount is applied on a weekly basis. So, if an institution delivers less than 11 tests in a week, they will receive minimum funding for that week only.

We have published the minimum allocation amounts.

7. Allocation adjustments

Where it has been identified that an institution requires an adjustment to their mass testing allocation, the published allocation will be amended accordingly, and this will be paid as part of their next allocation payment.

8. Mass testing allocation examples

8.1 Autumn 2021 allocation covering the period 23 August 2021 to 17 September 2021

8.2 Example A

URN: 999999 Name: Somewhere Academy

LA Name: Birmingham = Region Lookup – Not London

Establishment Type: Academy Convertor = Bay Type Lookup – Mainstream School

Phase: Secondary

Overall number of ATS Tests for phase 5 period: 688

Number of bays calculation:

• Phase 5 = 688 tests / 396 (6 hours x 6 days x 11 tests per hour) = 2 bay

For this institution they would receive:

• £9,060 for phase 5 testing = 2 bays for a mainstream school in Not London

Their total allocation for this period would be £9,060.