Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19) recovery premium 2022 to 2023: conditions of grant for academies and free schools

Updated 23 June 2023

Applies to England

1.  Introduction

The Secretary of State for Education lays down the following terms and conditions on which assistance is given in relation to the recovery premium grant (RPG) payable to academies (including free schools) for the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

The RPG rates and detailed eligibility criteria for the academic year 2022 to 2023 are set out in the RPG technical note.

The RPG is part of the government’s package of funding to support education recovery following the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

It is a time-limited grant for the 2021 to 2022 to the 2023 to 2024 academic years.

2. Distribution of RPG

RPG funding for academies is distributed directly by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) as set out in sections 2.1 and 2.2.

Where the number of eligible pupils in an academy results in their allocation being below the relevant floor amount (see the technical note), the allocation will be increased to the floor amount.

RPG based on the eligibility of looked-after children (LAC) in all eligible schools (maintained and academies) is paid to local authorities as set out in section 2.3.

If an academy opens or closes during the academic year, ESFA shall allocate RPG for the proportion of the academic year the school is open.

2.1 Mainstream academies (not including special educational needs (SEN) units in those academies – see section 2.2)

RPG will be allocated to mainstream academies (at the rates set out in the technical note) based on the number of pupils in year groups reception to year 11, who are:

• recorded as eligible for free school meals or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (FSM Ever 6). This includes eligible children of families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

• previously looked-after children (PLAC) pupils. Pupils 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 (previously known as a residence order)

2.2 Special academies, SEN units in mainstream academies and alternative provision (AP) academies

RPG will be allocated (at the rates set out in the technical note) based on the total number of pupils in reception to year 11, minus those children who are looked after by the local authority – see section 2.3.

2.3 RPG funding for LAC in all eligible schools

RPG is allocated to local authorities based on the number of LAC supported by the authority. LAC are defined in the Children Act 1989 as those who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority.

It is for the local authority to decide how much of this funding to pass on to the child’s academy.

See the RPG conditions of grant for local authorities for further details.

3. Permitted use of RPG

The grant can be spent:

• for the benefit of pupils registered at the academy that receives it

• for the benefit of pupils registered at other academies or maintained schools

• on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of pupils at the academy

Academies must use RPG funding for the purpose of supporting pupils’ educational recovery.

Academies may wish to use a portion of RPG funding to support pupils who do not meet any of the RPG eligibility criteria but have additional needs such as those who have or have had a social worker or act as a carer.

In special settings all pupils are eligible.

In line with the 3-tiered approach in the Educations Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) pupil premium guide, activities must be those that:

• support the quality of teaching

• provide targeted academic support, and

• tackle non-academic barriers to academic success, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

To support academies to use RPG in line with the 3 tiers outlined above, DfE have published a ‘menu of approaches’, which has been informed by evidence of effective practice. Academies must use their RPG (and their pupil premium grant (PPG) funding – see the PPG conditions of grant) in line with this menu from the start of the 2022 to 2023 academic year. Academies are not required to allocate RPG to every approach on the menu, but any activity funded by RPG must fall under one of the approaches listed.

Academies must not use RPG to meet their portion of the costs of tuition provided through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). All schools are required to meet those costs from other sources of income, such as PPG. RPG is additional funding to provide further education recovery support on top of the subsidised NTP offer.

The menu of approaches is on page 7 of the Using Pupil Premium guidance.

3.1 Using RPG to support previously looked-after children (PLAC)

In order to support education recovery for PLAC, it is the responsibility of the academy to ensure that their use of RPG addresses the specific needs of PLAC attending the school.

See the section on pupil premium plus in the Using Pupil Premium guidance for further information.

4. Use of evidence

Academies must be able to demonstrate how the activity they use their RPG to fund has been informed by research evidence, making reference to a range of sources, such as that published by the EEF.

Academies are required to cite this evidence in their pupil premium strategy statement – see section 5.1.

5. Accountability

5.1 Strategy statements

Academies are required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy annually. Your funding agreement may contain further details. Academies are required to include information on how they have used their RPG in this statement.

All academies must use the template available on the Using Pupil Premium guidance page on GOV.UK to publish their 2022 to 2023 statement, by the end of December 2022.

The template is designed to enable academies to present an overview of their strategy for use of their PPG and RPG, and to demonstrate that their use of the funding meets the requirements of these conditions of grant for both grants. The template requires academies to report on their use of PPG and RPG in line with the 3-tiered approach set out in section 3. As stated in section 3, all activity funded by the RPG (and PPG) must align with the published menu of approaches.

Given their role in ensuring academies spend funding appropriately, and in holding academies to account for educational performance, trustees should scrutinise academies’ statements, including their plans for use of their RPG and the outcomes achieved in the previous academic year. Academies are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by trustees, and the RPG is no exception.

The Department for Education will undertake monitoring checks on a sample of academies’ published statements. If the Trust or academy fails to comply with the terms set out in this document, the Secretary of State may recover some or all of the RPG funding that has been allocated. This will be notified in writing to the authority or school.

5.2 Declaration of compliance with these conditions of grant

All academies are required to declare that the RPG they have spent during the 2022 to 2023 academic year has been spent in line with the conditions set out in this document. A tick-box declaration will be added to the 2022 to 2023 year-end statement for NTP.

6.  Allocation and payment arrangements

We will pay RPG to academies in quarterly instalments by:

• 10 October 2022

• 10 January 2023

• 21 April 2023

• 10 July 2023

Updated allocations will be published shortly before each instalment is paid.

7. Carrying RPG forward

Academies must spend all of the RPG they receive in the 2022 to 2023 academic year. RPG must not be carried forward to future academic years. Funding will be recovered where the Department has identified that a school has not spent all of its RPG.

8. Variation

The basis for allocation of RPG may be varied by the Secretary of State from those set out above, if requested by the academy.

9. Overpayments

Any overpayment of RPG shall be repaid by the academy.

10. Other terms

If an academy fails to comply with the terms set out in the paragraphs above, the Secretary of State may recover some or all of the RPG funding that has been allocated. This will be notified in writing to the academy.

11. Further information

Books and other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts (for the purposes of this grant ‘recipient’ is the academy proprietor) must be made available for inspection by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Comptroller and Auditor General may, under section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983, carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency, and effectiveness with which the recipient has used its resources in discharging its grant-aided activities.

The academy proprietor shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State for the purpose of determining whether, or to what extent, it has complied with the terms set out in this document.

Failure to provide this information may result in the Secretary of State withholding subsequent instalments of the RPG.