Guidance

Recovery premium: conditions of grant for local authorities

Updated 21 June 2022

This guidance was withdrawn on 27 September 2023

This has been withdrawn as it is out of date.

Applies to England

1. Introduction

The Secretary of State for Education has set the following terms and conditions on which assistance is given in relation to the recovery premium grant (RPG) payable to local authorities for the 2021 to 2022 academic year.

2. Rates for eligible pupils and schools

Pupils in year groups reception to 11 belonging to one or more of the following groups are eligible for the recovery premium grant:

• pupils recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM), at any point in the past six years, as well as pupils eligible for no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
• looked-after children (LAC) defined in the Children Act 1989 as one who is in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority
• children who are not longed looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order)

The RPG per-pupil rate is as follows:

Disadvantaged pupils	Recovery premium per pupil
Eligible pupils in mainstream schools, who are not in special educational needs (SEN) units	£145
Eligible pupils in special educational needs (SEN) units in mainstream schools*	£290
Eligible pupils in special schools, pupil referral units and hospital schools	£290

*As a proxy for those deemed eligible in SEN units, the proportions of FSM6, post-LAC and eligible NRPF pupils at the school overall is applied to the total number of pupils in special units as captured on the 2021 to 2022 local authority proforma tool (APT).

In addition to the per-pupil rates, we are also applying a floor whereby:

• no eligible primary or middle deemed primary school will receive less than £2,000
• no eligible secondary, all-through special, alternative provision or hospital school will receive less than £6,000

3. Eligibility

3.1 Ever 6 free school meals children

For mainstream and special schools, the first three payments of the recovery premium will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since January 2015, as well as those first recorded as eligible at October 2020. The fourth payment of the recovery premium will include pupils recorded in the October 2021 census who have a recorded period of FSM eligibility since January 2016, as well as those recorded as first eligible at October 2021.

For pupil referral units, the recovery premium will include pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since May 2015, as well as those first recorded as eligible at January 2021. The fourth payment will include pupils recorded in the January 2022 census who have a recorded period of FSM eligibility since 2016, as well as those recorded as first eligible in January 2022.

For the purposes of these grant conditions, these pupils are collectively referred to as Ever 6 FSM.

RPG will be allocated on the basis of sole and dual main registrations only.

Where national curriculum year groups do not apply to a pupil, the eligible pupil will receive RPG if aged 4 to 15 as recorded in the relevant school census for mainstream and special schools and in the January 2021 school census for pupil referral units. The fourth payment will be based on the January 2022 census.

3.2 Children with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

Recovery premium eligibility is being extended to pupils eligible for free school meals under the temporary extension set out in the guidance: coronavirus (COVID-19): temporary extension of free school meals eligibility to NRPF groups.

As these pupils are not registered as eligible in the school census, eligibility will be based on claims submitted for such pupils in respect of additional pupil premium funding. The first three instalments of the recovery premium will be based on the claims process undertaken in respect of the 2021 to 2022 pupil premium, as referred to in the pupil premium: conditions of grant 2021 to 2022 for local authorities

Further information on the fourth instalment of the recovery premium in respect of these pupils will be published shortly.

3.3 Children adopted from care or who have left care

For mainstream and special schools, the first three instalments of the recovery premium 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 (previously known as a residence order). These are collectively referred to as post-LAC in these conditions of grant. The fourth instalment of the recovery premium for 2021 to 2022 will include such pupils recorded in the October 2021 school census.

For pupil referral units, the first three instalments of the recovery premium will include post-LAC pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census and the fourth instalment will include post-LAC pupils recorded in the January 2022 school census.

4. Allocations and payments

Payment will be made in quarterly instalments.

For mainstream and special schools, the first three instalments will be paid according to an allocation of recovery premium based on the number of pupils in the October 2020 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since January 2015, as well as those first recorded as eligible at October 2020.

The first three instalments will be paid on:

• 30 September 2021
• 31 December 2021
• 29 April 2022

The fourth instalment will be paid according to an allocation of the recovery premium based on the number of pupils in the October 2021 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since January 2016, as well as those first recorded as eligible at October 2021.

The fourth instalment will be paid on:

• 30 June 2022

For pupil referral units (PRU), the first three instalments of the recovery premium will be paid according to an allocation based on the number of pupils in the January 2021 school census who have had a recorded period of FSM eligibility since May 2016, as well as those first recorded as eligible at January 2021. The fourth instalment will be paid according to an allocation based on the January 2022 census.

If the resulting allocation for a school is less than the relevant floor amount in section 2 above, the allocation will be increased to the floor amount.

ESFA will allocate RPG to local authorities based on the rates set out in section 2.

For each school they maintain, local authorities must allocate these amounts for each FTE pupil, basing the first three payments on the October 2020 school census for mainstream and special schools. The fourth payment should be allocated based on the October 2021 school census. For pupil referral units, allocations should be based on the January 2021 school census. The fourth payment should be allocated based on the January 2022 census.

Schools federated, or to be federated, under the provisions of section 24 of the Education Act 2002, during the financial year beginning 1 April 2021 shall have grant allocated to them as if they were not federated.

If a school or PRU becomes an academy during the academic year 2021 to 2022 their subsequent payments following their conversion will be paid direct by ESFA.

Local authorities must make the grant available to their schools irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share. RPG is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual school’s budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee.

5. Terms on which RPG is allocated to schools

The grant may be spent in the following ways:

• for the purposes of the school, that is, for the educational benefit of pupils registered at that school
• or the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools or academies
• on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of pupils at the school

The grant does not have to be completely spent by schools in the academic year beginning 1 September 2021. Some or all of it may be carried forward to future financial years. Any funding that is carried forward must be spent according to the conditions in this document.

6. Use of evidence

Schools must demonstrate how their decisions on recovery premium spend are informed by research evidence, making reference to a range of sources including the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF) toolkit. In line with the EEF’s Pupil Premium guide activities should include those that:

• support the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development
• provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring
• tackle non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

7. Accountability

To comply with School Information regulations, maintained schools are required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy annually. Schools are also required to include information on how they have used their recovery premium on the same template. All schools must use the templates to publish their 2021 to 2022 pupil premium and recovery premium strategy, by the end of December 2021.

The Department for Education will undertake monitoring checks on a sample of schools’ published reports. Given their role in ensuring schools spend funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, governors should scrutinise schools’ plans for and use of their pupil premium and recovery premium funding.

8. Pupil numbers used to calculate RPG

ESFA will calculate the allocation using:

• the number of Ever 6 FSM pupils (not eligible for the LAC and post-LAC premium) as well as eligible no recourse to public funds pupils (NRPF)
• post-LAC pupils

For new mainstream and special schools that opened after October 2020, we’ll use the October 2021 school census. For new mainstream and special schools that open after the October 2021 census, we’ll use data from the January 2022 school census.

We’ll use the January 2022 school census for all four instalments for pupil referral units opened after the January 2021 school census.

New schools that open in the 2021 to 2022 academic year will receive RPG for the proportion of the academic year for which they are open.

Allocations for new schools will be published in April.

New schools will receive their first payment in April, which will include any funding due by that date, and their final instalment in June.

9. Alternative Provision

ESFA allocates RPG to each local authority for Ever 6 FSM, and post-LAC pupils in pupil referral units, general hospital schools and in alternative provision settings not maintained by the local authority but where the local authority pays full tuition fees. This does not include non-maintained special schools, who will receive RPG direct from ESFA.

Local authorities may allocate RPG to alternative provision settings or use the grant to spend specifically on additional educational support to raise the standard of attainment for the eligible pupils. Local authorities must consult the alternative provision settings about how local authorities use RPG to support children educated in non-mainstream settings.

For non-mainstream schools that complete the school level annual school census (SLASC), rather than the main school census, recovery premium will be based on the number of FTE pupils recorded as FSM in the January 2021 SLASC.

10. Looked-after children (LAC)

ESFA will allocate a provisional amount of £145 to local authorities in September 2021. This amount is per looked-after child (for at least one day) as recorded in the March 2020 children looked-after data return (SSDA903), and aged 4 to 15 as of 31 August 2019

In future, we’ll update this allocation based on the number of children looked after (for at least one day) during the year ending March 2021, as recorded in the March 2021 children looked-after data return (SSDA903), and aged 4 to 15 at 31 August 2020.

This will increase to £290 the allocations for LAC pupils in AP/special schools and special units, by matching to the October 2020 school census. Where a looked-after pupil has previously been recorded as claiming free school meals this update may have an impact on some schools’ allocations.

The final payment in June 2022 will be adjusted to match the October 2021 census and for pupil referral units this will be adjusted to match the January 2022 census.

11. Use of the LAC recovery premium

The LAC recovery premium must be managed by the designated virtual school head (VSH) in the local authority that looks after the child and used without delay for the benefit of the looked-after child’s educational needs as described in their personal education plan.

The VSH should ensure there are arrangements in place to discuss how the child will benefit from recovery premium funding with the designated teacher or another member of staff in the child’s education setting who best understands their needs. Processes for allocating funds to a child’s education setting should be as simple as possible to avoid delay.

Local authorities may not carry forward funding held centrally into the academic year 2022 to 2023. Centrally-held LAC premium that has not been spent, or allocated to the child’s education setting, by 31 August 2022 will be recovered.

12. Variation

The basis for allocation of grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from those set out above, if requested by the school or local authority.

13. Other terms

If the authority or a school fails to comply with the terms set out in the paragraphs above, the Secretary of State may withhold the whole, or any part of subsequent instalments of the premium paid to the authority or school. This will be notified in writing to the authority or school and any such sum that has been notified shall be withheld from subsequent instalments of the premium.

14. Overpayments

Any overpayment of RPG shall be repaid by the school or local authority.

15. Further information

Books, other documents and records relating to the proprietor’s accounts shall be open to 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 proprietor has used its resources in discharging its grant-aided activities.

Schools and local authorities shall provide information that may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether it has complied with these conditions.

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