Pupil premium: conditions of grant 2021 to 2022 for academies and free schools
Updated 24 March 2022
Applies to England
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022/pupil-premium-conditions-of-grant-2021-to-2022-for-academies-and-free-schools
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 academies (including free schools) for the financial year beginning 1 April 2021.
PPG provides funding for 2 separate policies:
- raising the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities to reach their potential
- supporting children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces
2. Rates for eligible pupils
The PPG per-pupil rate for 2021 to 2022 is as follows:
| Disadvantaged pupils | Pupil premium per pupil |
|---|---|
| Pupils in year groups reception to year 6 recorded as Ever 6 free school meals (FSM) as well as eligible children with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) pupils in these year groups | £1,345 |
| Pupils in years 7 to 11 recorded as Ever 6 FSM as well as eligible NRPF pupils in these year groups | £955 |
| 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 | £2,345 |
| Children who have ceased to be 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) | £2,345 |
| Service children | Service premium per pupil |
|---|---|
| Pupils in year groups reception to year 11 recorded as Ever 6 service child or in receipt of a child pension from the Ministry of Defence | £310 |
3. Eligibility
3.1 Ever 6 free school meals children
For mainstream and special academies, 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, as well as those first recorded as eligible at October 2020.
For alternative provision academies, 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, as well as those first recorded as eligible at January 2021.
For the purposes of these grant conditions, these pupils are collectively referred to as Ever 6 FSM.
3.2 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 in due course.
3.3 Children adopted from care or who have left care
For mainstream and special academies, 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 (previously known as a residence order). These are collectively referred to as post-LAC in these conditions of grant.
For alternative provision academies, the pupil premium for 2021 to 2022 will include post-LAC pupils recorded in the January 2021 school census.
3.4 Ever 6 service children
For mainstream and special academies, the service premium for 2021 to 2022 will include pupils recorded in the October 2020 school census who have been eligible for the service child premium at any point since the January 2015 census as well as those recorded as a service child for the first time in the October 2020 school census. For alternative provision academies, the service premium for 2021 to 2022 will include these pupils, as well as those recorded as a service child for the first time in the January 2021 school census.
For the purposes of these grant conditions, these pupils are collectively referred to as Ever 6 service children. Service children are not regarded as disadvantaged; their premium is allocated for pastoral support purposes.
4. Allocations to academies
For academies, Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will allocate PPG to academies the following amounts:
- £1,345 per pupil for each Ever 6 FSM FTE and each eligible NRPF 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
- £955 per pupil for each Ever 6 FSM FTE and each eligible NRPF FTE pupil, in year groups 7 to 11, except where the pupil is allocated the LAC or post-LAC premium
- £2,345 per pupil for each post-LAC in year groups reception to year 11
- £310 for each pupil aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 11, who is either Ever 6 service child FTE or in receipt of pensions under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme (AFCS) and the War Pensions Scheme (WPS)
PPG 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 pupil will attract PPG if aged 4 to 15 as recorded in the October 2020 school census for mainstream and special schools, and in the January 2021 school census for alternative provision academies.
5. Maintained schools converting to academies
Schools that are academies on 1 April 2021 will receive their PPG directly from ESFA.
ESFA will pay PPG to schools due to convert to academy status as follows:
| Date of conversion to academy | Proportion of PPG paid by ESFA |
|---|---|
| On or by 1 September 2021 | Seven twelfths of their annual allocation |
| After 1 September 2021 and on or by 1 January 2022 | Three twelfths of their annual allocation |
| After 1 January 2022 | No allocation |
We will adjust the local authorities PPG allocation to reflect these conversions, and we will pay the remaining allocation directly to the academy.
6. Terms on which PPG is allocated to academies
The grant may be spent in the following ways:
- for the purposes of the academy; that is, for the educational benefit of pupils registered at that school
- for 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 the academy in the financial year beginning 1 April 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.
7. Use of evidence
From academic year 2021 to 2022, schools must demonstrate how their spending decisions 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; and
- tackle non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support.
8. Accountability
To comply with School Information regulations, maintained schools are required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy annually. 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 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 and trustees should scrutinise schools’ plans for and use of their pupil premium funding. Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and this will be no exception.
9. Pupil numbers used to calculate PPG
ESFA will calculate the allocation using:
- the number of Ever 6 FSM pupils (not eligible for the LAC and post-LAC premium)
- post-LAC pupils
- Ever 6 Service child FTE pupils aged 4 and over in year groups reception to year 11
The LAC numbers will be updated in December 2021 as stated in section 9. This means that some academies could see a small reduction in the number of Ever 6 FSM pupils counted in their pupil premium allocation, if the pupil is identified as LAC in the update. In these cases the academies concerned would see a reduction in their pupil premium allocation.
For new mainstream and special academies that opened after October 2020, we will use the October 2021 school census. For new mainstream and special academies that open after the October 2021 school census, we will use data from the January 2022 school census.
For pupils with no recourse to public funds, pupil numbers will be calculated based on claims received through the upcoming claims process.
We will also use the January 2022 school census for alternative provision academies opened after the January 2021 school census.
In each case, the allocation will be prorated to the proportion of the 2021 to 2022 financial year that the school is open. Where a new academy is not fully established, and at the start of the autumn term 2021, the academy 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 2022.
For mainstream and special academies, the revised allocation will apply the rates set out in section 2, to the increase in eligible pupils between the October 2020 and the October 2021 school census. The increase will be prorated by seven twelfths to reflect that the additional year groups have been in place for seven months of the financial year.
10. New academies and academies that close
New academies that open in the 2021 to 2022 financial year will receive PPG for the proportion of the financial year for which they are open.
If an academy closes during the financial year, the ESFA should allocate PPG for the proportion of the financial year the school was open.
Where an academy receives pupils from schools that close or as a result of school merger, the ESFA will 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 academy receives from schools that close.
11. Looked-after children (LAC)
We will update and finalise allocations to local authorities for LAC in December 2021 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. Where a looked-after pupil has previously been recorded as claiming FSM this update may have an impact on some academies’ allocations as set out above.
12. Allocation and payment arrangements
We will confirm PPG allocations in June 2021, once pupil number data from the October 2020 and January 2021 school census has been validated and agreed.
We will pay PPG to academies in quarterly instalments on:
- 08 July 2021 - for academies open at 1 April 2021
- 08 October 2021 - for academies open at 1 April 2021
- 11 January 2022 - for academies open at 1 September 2021
- 08 April 2022 - for academies open at 1 January 2022
13. Other terms
If an academy 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 academy.
This will be notified in writing to the school and any such sum that has been notified shall be withheld from subsequent instalments of the premium.
14. 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 academy.
15. Overpayments
Any overpayment of the premium shall be recovered against GAG funding by ESFA on behalf of the Secretary of State.
16. Further information
The 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 must provide such further 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 premium.