Pupil premium 2015 to 2016: conditions of grant
Updated 7 April 2016
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2016
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-allocations/pupil-premium-2015-to-2016-conditions-of-grant
1. Introduction
The Secretary of State for Education lays down the following terms and conditions on which assistance is given in relation to the pupil premium grant (PPG) payable to schools and local authorities for the financial year beginning 1 April 2015.
PPG provides funding for two policies:
- raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and closing the gap with their peers
- supporting children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces
2. Rates for eligible pupils
The PPG per pupil for 2015 to 2016 is as follows:
| Disadvantaged pupils | Pupil premium per pupil |
|---|---|
| Pupils in year groups reception to year 6 recorded as Ever 6 FSM | £1,320 |
| Pupils in years 7 to 11 recorded as Ever 6 FSM | £935 |
| 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 | £1,900 |
| Children who have ceased to be looked after by a local authority in England and Wales because of adoption, a special guardianship order, a child arrangements order or a residence order | £1,900 |
| Service children | - |
|---|---|
| Pupils in year groups reception to year 11 recorded as Ever 5 Service Child or in receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence | £300 |
3. Eligibility
3.1 Ever 6 FSM
The pupil premium for 2015 to 2016 will include pupils recorded in the January 2015 school census who are known to have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) in any of the previous 6 years (ie since summer 2009), as well as those first known to be eligible at January 2015.
3.2 Children adopted from care or who have left care
The pupil premium for 2015 to 2016 will include pupils recorded in the January 2015 school census and alternative provision 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.
3.3 Ever 5 service child
For the purposes of these grant conditions, ever 5 service child means a pupil recorded in the January 2015 school census who was eligible for the service child premium in any of the previous 4 years (ie since the January 2011 school census) as well as those recorded as a service child for the first time on the January 2015 school census.
The grant will be allocated as set out in sections 4, 5 and 6 below. Where national curriculum year groups do not apply to a pupil, the pupil will attract PPG if aged 4 to 15 as recorded in the January 2015 school census.
4. Allocations to schools
4.1 Mainstream schools
For the purposes of these conditions of grant, mainstream school means infant, junior, primary, middle, secondary, high schools, special school and pupil referral units. It does not include general hospital schools or other alternative provision.
DfE will allocate PPG to schools and local authorities (who must allocate for each FTE pupil on the January 2015 school census, at each school they maintain) the following amounts:
- £1,320 per pupil for each Ever 6 FSM full time equivalent (FTE) pupil aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 6, except where the pupil is allocated the LAC or post-LAC premium
- £935 per pupil for each Ever 6 FSM FTE in year groups 7 to 11, except where the pupil is allocated the LAC or post-LAC Premium
- £1,900 per pupil for each post-LAC in year groups reception to year 11
- £300 per pupil for each Ever 5 service child FTE pupil aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 11
- £300 for each pupil aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 11 who is either Ever 5 service child FTE or in receipt of pensions under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)
For pupils recorded aged 5 and over on the school census, PPG will be allocated on the basis of sole and dual main registrations only.
5. Maintained schools converting to academies
Schools that are academies on 1 April 2015, will receive their PPG directly from the Education Funding Agency (EFA). Local authorities should pay PPG to schools due to convert to academy status:
| Date of conversion to academy | Proportion of PPG paid by LA |
|---|---|
| On or by 1 September 2015 | 5/12ths of their annual allocation |
| After 1 September 2015 and on or by 1 January 2016 | 9/12ths of their annual allocation |
| After 1 January 2016 | Their full allocation |
EFA will adjust the local authority’s PPG allocation to reflect these conversions and the remaining allocation will be paid directly to the academy by the EFA.
Schools federated, or to be federated, under the provisions of section 24 of the Education Act 2002, during the financial year beginning 1 April 2015 shall have grant allocated to them as if they were not federated.
Local authorities must make the grant available to their schools irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share. PPG is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual schools budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee.
6. Terms on which PPG is allocated to schools
The grant may be spent in the following ways:
- for the purposes of the school ie for the educational benefit of pupils registered at that school
- for the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools or academies
- on community facilities eg services whose provision furthers any charitable purpose for the benefit of pupils at the school or their families, or people who live or work in the locality in which the school is situated
The grant does not have to be completely spent by schools in the financial year beginning 1 April 2015; some or all of it may be carried forward to future financial years.
7. Pupil numbers used to calculate PPG
EFA will calculate the allocation using:
- the number of pupils recorded on the January 2015 school census who are Ever 6 FSM (not eligible for the LAC and post-LAC premium)
- post-LAC
- Ever 5 Service child FTE pupils aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 11
For new schools that open in the 2015 to 2016 financial year, EFA will use the October 2015 school census. If a school opens after the October census, EFA will use data from the January 2016 school census. In each case the allocation will be prorated to the proportion of the 2015 to 2016 financial year that the school is open.
Where a new school is not fully established, and at the start of the autumn term 2015, the school has been open for fewer years than the number of year groups in the school, then the school’s allocation will be revised in March 2016. The revised allocation will apply the rates set out in section 2 to the increase in eligible pupils between the January 2015 school census and the October 2015 school census. The increase will be prorated by 7/12ths to reflect that the additional year groups have been in place for 7 months of the financial year.
8. New schools and schools that close
New schools that open in the 2015 to 2016 financial year will receive PPG for the proportion of the financial year for which it is open.
If a school closes during the financial year, the LA should allocate PPG for the proportion of the financial year when the school was open.
Where a school receives pupils from schools that close or as a result of school merger, the LA should allocate the same grant that it would have allocated to the schools that closed or merged for the remainder of the financial year. Local authorities should agree the amount a new school receives from schools that close.
9. Non-mainstream schools
EFA allocates PPG to each local authority for Ever 6 FSM and post-LAC pupils in general hospital schools and alternative provision (including non-maintained special schools) not maintained by the local authority but where the local authority pays full tuition fees.
LAs must pay PPG for pupils in non-maintained special schools and this can be allocated on a termly basis.
LAs may allocate PPG to other alternative provision settings or use the grant to spend specifically on additional educational support to raise the standard of attainment for the eligible pupils. LAs must consult the non-mainstream settings about how LA use PPG to support children educated in non-mainstream settings.
For non-mainstream schools that complete the school level annual census (SLASC), rather than the main school census, pupil premium will be based on the number of FTE pupils recorded as FSM in the January 2015 SLASC.
10. Looked-after children (LAC)
DfE will allocate to schools and LAs a provisional amount of £1,900 per child looked after for at least one day as recorded in the March 2014 children looked-after data return (SSDA903) and aged 4 to 15 at 31 August 2013.
DfE will update and finalise this allocation in December 2015 based on the number of children looked after for at least one day as recorded in the March 2015 children looked-after data return (SSDA903) and aged 4 to 15 at 31 August 2014.
10.1 Use of the LAC premium
The LAC premium must be managed by the designated virtual school head (VSH) and used 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 pupil premium funding with the designated teacher in the child’s education setting.
LAs may not carry forward funding held centrally into the financial year 2016 to 2017. Centrally-held LAC premium that has not been spent, or allocated to the child’s education setting, by 31 March 2016 will be recovered.
11. Allocation and payment arrangements
PPG allocations will be confirmed in summer 2015 once pupil number data from the January 2015 census has been validated and agreed. PPG will be paid to LAs in quarterly instalments by:
- 30 June 2015
- 30 September 2015
- 31 December 2015
- 31 March 2016
PPG will be paid to academies and free schools in quarterly instalments by the first working day of:
- July 2015
- October 2015
- January 2016
- April 2016
12. Certification
LAs will be required to certify that they have passed on the correct amount of funding to schools or, where funding has been spent centrally, that it has been spent in line with these conditions of grant.
EFA will issue a certification form in April 2015 for return by 27 May 2016.
13. Variation
The basis for allocation of grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from those set out above, if so requested by the school or local authority.
14. Overpayments
Any overpayment of PPG shall be repaid by the school or local authority.
15. Further information
Books and other documents and records relating to the recipient’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 recipient has used its resources in discharging its grant-aided activities.
Schools and LAs shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether it has complied with these conditions.