Guidance

Pupil premium 2023-24: conditions of grant for local authorities

Updated 28 March 2024

This guidance was withdrawn on 4 September 2024

Find the latest information on pupil premium in our Local authorities: pre-16 schools funding collection.

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 pupil premium (PP) grant payable to local authorities for the financial year beginning 1 April 2023.

PP grant rates and detailed eligibility criteria for the financial year 2023-24 are set out in the PP grant technical note.

PP grant funding is allocated to local authorities for 2 separate objectives:

• raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities to help them reach their potential

• providing support for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces

2.Eligibility criteria

There are different eligibility criteria for each objective set out above.

2.1 Raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils

PP grant is allocated to local authorities, who must distribute it to each school they maintain based on the number of pupils in year groups reception to year 11, who are:

• recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) 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 who were looked after by a local authority or other state care immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority or other state care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order). From 1 April 2023, PP grant eligibility for pupils who have been adopted from care or have left care will include children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

PP grant is also allocated to local authorities based on the number of looked-after children (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 school.

Local authorities receive PP grant for any pupils eligible for pupil premium in independent special schools where the authority pays full tuition fees. It is for the local authority to decide how much of this funding to pass on to the child’s school.

The portion of PP grant funding for LAC and PLAC pupils is referred to as ‘pupil premium plus’ (PP+).

Local authorities should pay PP grant to schools due to convert to academy status as per the proportions set out in the PP grant technical note.

If a school closes during the financial year, the local authority should allocate PP grant for the proportion of the financial year the school is open. See further details in the PP grant technical note.

2.2 Providing support for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces

The portion of PP grant for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces is referred to as service pupil premium (SPP). SPP is allocated to local authorities, to distribute to each school they maintain, based on the number of pupils who meet the following eligibility criteria:

• one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces (including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service). This includes pupils with a parent who is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England

• registered as a ‘service child’ on any school census in the past 6 years

• one of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme

3. Permitted use of PP grant

PP grant must be spent to deliver the objectives and support eligible pupil cohorts as described in sections 2.1 and 2.2 above.

The grant can be spent:

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

• for the benefit of pupils registered at other state funded schools or academies - for example, when hosting summer schools which welcome pupils from other schools

• on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of pupils at the school - for example, where Virtual Heads (responsible for LAC PP grant) deem it beneficial to do so, such as art therapy outside of the classroom, or training of local authority staff to raise awareness of LAC

Schools may use a portion of PP grant funding to support pupils who do not meet any of the PP grant eligibility criteria set out at sections 2.1 and 2.2 above where they deem it beneficial to do so. For example, PP grant can be used to support other pupils with identified needs, such as pupils who have or have had a social worker, or pupils who act as a carer. It can also be used for whole class approaches, for example high-quality teaching, which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils.

The local authority can pool any amount of LAC PP grant to fund activities that will benefit a group, or all, of the authority’s LAC. Any PP grant held centrally must not be used to fund services that the local authority is responsible for funding, such as support for foster carers, school uniforms or transport to get the child to school.

For any funding that is passed on to the child’s school, processes for allocating the funds should be as simple as possible to avoid delay.

3.1 The ‘menu of approaches’

To ensure PP grant is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational attainment of eligible pupils, schools must use their PP grant in line with the ‘menu of approaches’ set by the Department for Education (DfE). The menu of approaches is in the using pupil premium guidance.

The menu has been developed in line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) 3-tiered approach to help schools allocate spending across the following 3 key areas:

• support high-quality teaching, such as staff professional development

• provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring, including through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP)

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

In line with the EEF’s recommended approach, schools should particularly prioritise high-quality teaching, though the exact balance of spending between tiers will vary depending on the specific needs of their pupils.

Schools are not required to allocate PP grant to every approach on the menu, but any activity funded by PP grant must fall under one of the approaches listed.

For PLAC, it is the responsibility of the school to ensure that their use of PP grant addresses the specific needs of PLAC attending the school.

For LAC, it is the responsibility of the Virtual School Head in the local authority that looks after the child, in consultation with the child’s school, to ensure that PP grant is used to support the child’s educational needs. This should be in accordance with their personal education plans and in line with the menu of approaches.

Local authorities may allocate PP grant to independent special schools or spend the funding themselves on additional educational support to raise the attainment of the eligible pupils. Local authorities must consult the schools about how to use PP grant to support eligible pupils.

The primary purpose of SPP is to enable schools to offer pastoral support to eligible pupils during challenging times and to help mitigate the negative impact of family mobility or parental deployment on service children. It can be used to help improve the academic progress of eligible pupils if schools deem this to be a priority.

See the using pupil premium guidance for further information.

4. Use of evidence

As set out at section 3.1, DfE introduced the menu of approaches to ensure that PP grant is focused on effective approaches to raise the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Schools must be able to demonstrate in their published strategy statement (see section 5) how they have considered the evidence and an understanding of the needs of their pupils when using the menu to plan how they will use their PP grant.

5. Accountability

Schools whose PP grant allocation for the financial year 2023-24 is based on 6 or more eligible pupils are required to publish an updated pupil premium strategy statement annually. Those whose allocation is based on 5 pupils or fewer are not required to publish a pupil premium strategy statement.

All schools that are required to publish a strategy statement for the academic year 2023/24 must do so by 31 December 2023, using the template available in the guidance page. The template is designed to help schools develop their pupil premium strategy and to demonstrate that their use of the funding meets the requirements of these conditions of grant.

DfE will review a sample of schools’ published strategy statements to ensure that PP grant has been spent in line with these conditions of grant.

Given their role in ensuring schools use funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, governors should scrutinise schools’ strategy statements, including their plans for and use of their PP grant and the outcomes achieved in the previous academic year.

Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors, and the PP grant is no exception.

6. Allocation and payment arrangements

DfE will publish initial allocations in March 2023 for all schools that complete the October 2022 census.

Allocations will be confirmed in June 2023, before the first payment. The June allocations will include Pupil Referral Units that complete the January 2023 census.

The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) will pay PP grant to local authorities in quarterly instalments as follows:

• 30 June 2023
• 29 September 2023
• 29 December 2023
• 28 March 2024

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

7. Carrying PP grant forward

Schools are not required to spend all of the PP grant they receive in the financial year beginning 1 April 2023; some or all of it may be carried forward to future financial years.

Any funding that is carried forward must be used in accordance with the conditions of grant for PP grant for the financial year in which the funding is spent. It must be accounted for in the school’s pupil premium strategy statement for the academic year in which it is spent.

Local authorities must not carry forward funding held centrally into the financial year 2024-25. Centrally held PP grant relating to LAC that has not been spent, or allocated to the child’s school, by 31 March 2024 will be recovered.

8. Certification

Local authorities 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. DfE will issue a certification form in Spring 2024.

9. Variation

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

10.Non-compliance

If a local authority or school fails to comply with the terms and conditions set out in this document, the Secretary of State may recover some or all of the PP grant that has been allocated. This will be notified in writing to the local authority or school.

11. Overpayments

If a school or local authority identifies that it has been overpaid, it must contact ESFA to arrange repayment of the excess. Where ESFA identifies an overpayment, it may seek to recover the excess. The local authority or school will be notified of this in writing.

12. Further information

The books, other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts 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 local authority or school 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 these terms and conditions. Failure to provide this information may result in the Secretary of State withholding subsequent instalments of PP grant.