Guidance

Pupil premium 2024 to 2025: conditions of grant for non-maintained special schools (NMSS)

Updated 12 December 2024

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 non-maintained special schools (NMSS) for the financial year beginning 1 April 2024.

PP grant rates and detailed eligibility criteria for the financial year 2024 to 2025 are set out in the PP grant technical note.

PP grant funding is allocated to NMSS 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. Funding criteria

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

2.1 Raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils

PP grant is allocated to NMSS 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)
• 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). This includes 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, including those who attend NMSS. 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

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

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). It has been combined into PP payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending, but the group of pupils that SPP is intended to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

SPP is allocated to NMSS based on the number of pupils who meet the following 2 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
• they have been registered as a ‘service child’ on any school census in the past 6 years

They would also be eligible if:

• 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 eligible pupils registered at the NMSS who meet the funding criteria
• for the benefit of pupils who meet the funding criteria and are registered at other state funded schools - for example, when hosting summer schools which welcome pupils from other schools
• on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of eligible pupils at the NMSS

Schools do not have to spend PP so that it solely benefits pupils that meet the funding criteria. PP can be used to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer. It can also be used for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils.

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 spend their PP grant (excluding SPP) on evidence-informed activities 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 aligns with the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) evidence-informed tiered approach, which helps schools allocate spending across 3 key areas:

• developing high-quality teaching, for example through professional development and recruitment and retention
• providing targeted academic support, such as one-to-one or small group tuition
• tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour and social and emotional wellbeing

When considering the balance of spending within the 3-tiered model set out in EEF’s guide to the pupil premium, schools should bear in mind that the EEF recommends that approaches which support and promote high-quality teaching in schools should be a top priority for pupil premium spending. However, the exact balance of spending between categories will vary depending on the specific needs of pupils and the relative size of the school’s PP cohort. 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.

3.2 Looked-after children

For LAC, it is the responsibility of the designated virtual school head (VSH) in the local authority that looks after the child, in consultation with the child’s school, to ensure that PP grant is used on evidence-informed interventions to support the child’s educational needs. The funding should be used on evidence-informed interventions that are clearly linked to robust personal education plans and in line with the menu of approaches.

See the using pupil premium guidance for further information.

3.3 Previously looked-after children

For PLAC, it is the responsibility of the school to ensure that the PP grant is used on evidence-informed interventions, in line with the menu of approaches, to support the specific educational needs of PLAC attending the school. See the using pupil premium guidance for further information.

3.5 Service pupil premium (SPP)

Unlike the rest of PP, schools are not required to spend SPP in line with the menu of approaches. 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.

Further information on how to use the SPP can be found in the SPP guidance.

4. Accountability

Schools whose PP grant allocation for the financial year 2024 to 2025 is based on more than 5 eligible pupils are required to publish an updated PP strategy statement annually. Those whose allocation is based on 5 pupils or fewer are not required to publish a PP strategy statement.

All schools that are required to publish a strategy statement for the academic year 2024 to 2025 must do so by 31 December 2024, using the template available in the guidance page.

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 that schools use funding appropriately and in holding schools to account for educational performance, governors should scrutinise schools’ 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.

5. Allocation and payment arrangements

DfE will publish initial allocations in May 2024 for all NMSS that complete the October 2023 census. Allocations will be confirmed in June 2024, before the first payment.

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

• 19 August 2024 - for NMSS open before 1 April 2024
• 18 October 2024 - for NMSS open at 1 April 2024
• 17 January 2025 - for NMSS open at 1 September 2024
• 18 April 2025 - for NMSS open at 1 January 2025

6.Carrying PP grant forward

Schools are not required to spend all of the PP grant they receive in the financial year beginning 1 April 2024; 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.

7. 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 school.

8.Non-compliance

If a 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 funding that has been allocated. This will be notified in writing to the school.

9. Overpayments

If a school 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 school will be notified of this in writing.

10. Further information

The books, other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts (for the purposes of this grant “recipient” is the NMSS 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 NMSS 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 these terms and conditions. Failure to provide this information may result in the Secretary of State withholding subsequent instalments of PP grant.