School Direct (salaried) funding manual 2019 to 2020 academic year

Question 1

What is School Direct (salaried) funding

Accepted Answer

Grant funding is available as a contribution to the training and salary costs for each qualifying trainee on School Direct (salaried) courses. Payments are made in 11 instalments, based on the trainee data you submit.

As your trainees are employed while they train, you’re expected to meet the full costs of training and their salary. We provide grant funding as a contribution to these costs.

The funding for each trainee varies depending on:

the subject of the trainee’s ITT course
the location of the school that employs the trainee

Courses for some subjects will attract no funding. More details are in the School Direct (salaried) grant funding rates section.

As School Direct (salaried) trainees are employed while training, they:

are not eligible for a training bursary or student finance
cannot be charged a fee for the award of QTS

You will need to inform your trainees if they need to pay additional fees, for example for an academic qualification such as post graduate certificate in education (PGCE).

Teaching duties

You should decide at the start of your trainee’s employment what teaching duties are required. The ITT criteria specifies that trainees on employment-based courses should not perform more than 90% of a full-time teacher’s duties.

This limit applies to all School Direct (salaried) courses.

Question 2

Who can offer School Direct (salaried) places

Accepted Answer

Lead school

The lead school is the agreed point of contact for training providers, placements and partner schools. They hold the partnership’s School Direct training places.

The lead school is responsible for the funding arrangements for the partnership and is accountable for grant funding received, its distribution and assurance.

Lead schools must be either:

an academy
a free school
a city technology college
a local authority (LA) maintained school
a private school designated as a teaching school
a multi-academy trust (only one school within a multi-academy trust may act as a proxy lead school)
a pupil referral unit (PRU)
a sixth-form college
a maintained special school

A private school can only act as a lead school if it is also a designated teaching school. When this is the case, the trainees recruited should benefit from a partnership that includes maintained schools, academies or free schools. Private schools cannot receive grant funding for the place unless they are a designated teaching school.

Partner schools

The partner school is any school working with a lead school to plan or deliver ITT. A partner school involved in ITT may employ the trainee, if it is state-funded, and may receive funding from the lead school. State-funded partner schools may be the principal training school for any School Direct trainee.

Further information on School Direct partners is available in Annex A: types of organisation involved in School Direct.

Ofsted inspections

When we’ve allocated places, Ofsted may inspect a lead school. Changes in the grade of the lead school will not change our initial funding allocation to the partnership.

A school must be graded by Ofsted as ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ to bid for places as a lead school. If a lead school falls below this grade, but Ofsted does not place it into special measures, then we will permit them to continue as a lead school, until it’s practical to switch the lead school status to another in the partnership.

If Ofsted places the lead school into special measures in-year, you must transfer all the ITT places to another lead school. We’ll suspend all funding until this action is completed.

Schools in special measures cannot recruit School Direct (salaried) trainees. If this happens after recruitment, but before training starts, the trainee will need to be transferred to another school in the partnership.

Employing schools can retain trainees if they’re placed in special measures after the trainee has started employment and training, if the lead school and ITT provider agree that the continued employment at the school will not impact the trainee or the quality of their training.

The lead school and ITT provider must also be willing to offer any necessary support to the trainee and placement school during both the training period and any subsequent employment as a newly qualified teacher (NQT) in the school (should it remain in special measures). If the lead school or ITT provider cannot offer such assurance and support, then an alternative school within the partnership must employ the trainee.

Schools and providers should contact itt.allocations@education.gov.uk to arrange the transfer in all circumstances.

Question 3

Trainee eligibility criteria

Accepted Answer

All trainees, regardless of route or funding, must meet the criteria to enter an ITT programme, as set out in the ITT criteria, before they can be considered.

Before offering a place, the lead school must make sure that each trainee:

is eligible to work in England as an unqualified teacher
does not already hold QTS or is eligible to receive QTS

Eligibility for QTS

Under current reciprocal arrangements, most qualified teachers from countries in the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland are able to receive QTS following application to the us.

Teachers can also apply to us for QTS if they qualified in:

Australia
Canada
New Zealand
the USA

Teachers who are successful in their application and receive QTS will not qualify for funding. Those that are unsuccessful in their application to us may be considered eligible.

Potential trainees who may already be eligible to receive QTS under the conditions described above should email qts.enquiries@education.gsi.gov.uk or visit England Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) for more information.

Qualified Teacher Learning and Skills (QTLS)

Individuals are recognised as qualified teachers and are not eligible for funding if they:

hold QTLS status
are members of the Education and Training Foundation (ETF), formerly the Institute for Learning (IfL)

They must continue to maintain their registration with the ETF for this recognition to be valid.

Changing ITT provider, School Direct partnerships or School Direct route

Ordinarily, we do not allow a School Direct lead school to change its identified partner ITT provider once it has registered a course. After a partnership agreement is drawn up and places are advertised to applicants, the lead school should make all reasonable efforts to deliver the course as described. We may consider a request from a lead school to change a partner ITT provider in exceptional circumstances.

A lead school must not transfer a trainee from one School Direct partnership to another, or from one School Direct route (salaried or fee-funded) to the other without prior agreement from us.

If you require further information about changing any aspect of courses that have been agreed with us, please email ITT.allocations@education.gov.uk. All changes must be confirmed by us before a place is offered to any applicant.

Failure to fully comply with the criteria and requirements may result in:

the withdrawal of funding to lead schools
non-compliance by the ITT provider, which may lead to withdrawal of accreditation

Question 4

Funding rates

Accepted Answer

Grant funding will be paid to lead schools for each trainee depending on the:

subject of their ITT course
location of the school in which they are employed, not the location of the lead school

Example If the lead school is in an inner London area, but the employing school is in a national area, funding will be paid at the national rate.

The training and salary grant rates that will be paid to the lead school for each trainee can be found below.

Funding will only be provided for trainees on courses in the identified subjects.

Trainees in high priority subjects

The following funding is available for:

chemistry
classics
computing
mathematics
languages
physics

Funding per trainee (by location)	Amount
National (excluding the London area)	£19,000
Inner London area	£23,900
Outer London area	£22,600
Fringe area	£20,200

Trainees in other priority subjects

The following funding is available for:

biology
design and technology
English
geography
history
music
religious education

Funding per trainee (by location)	Amount
National (excluding the London area)	£14,000
Inner London area	£17,600
Outer London area	£16,600
Fringe area	£14,900

Primary general trainees

The following funding is available for non-specialist and specialism primary trainees.

Funding per trainee (by location)	Amount
National (excluding the London area)	£9,000
Inner London area	£11,400
Outer London area	£10,800
Fringe area	£9,600

Primary with mathematics

The following funding is available for primary with mathematics trainees.

Funding per trainee (by location)	Amount
National (excluding the London area)	£14,000
Inner London Area	£17,600
Outer London Area	£16,600
Fringe Area	£14,900

This higher primary with mathematics funding rate is only available for eligible trainees with at least a B in mathematics A Level or equivalent. The lower grant rate is payable if the trainee does not have this grade or qualification.

Question 5

Subjects that attract grant funding

Accepted Answer

Grant funding is only available for trainees working towards QTS in:

biology
chemistry
classics
computing
design and technology
English
geography
history
modern foreign languages (MFL)
mathematics
music
physics
physics with mathematics
primary
primary with mathematics
religious education

Question 6

Grant funding agreements

Accepted Answer

All lead schools and schools with approval to recruit to funded School Direct (salaried) courses must enter into a grant funding agreement (GFA) with us. Grant funding will only be paid to lead schools and schools once a GFA is in place.

The first payment of grant funding will be made in September 2019. To receive this, all lead schools must have signed their GFA by 24 August 2019. If a GFA is delayed, grant funding payments will be made in the following month.

Even if a lead school has a pre-existing GFA from a previous academic year, they will not receive 2019 to 2020 payments until they have accepted the new GFA annexes.

Lead schools will be sent a grant offer letter (GOL) which includes the terms and conditions of the grant. They must complete all the highlighted sections in the GOL and email this document to GFA.ittfunding@education.gov.uk.

After the GOL has been returned fully completed and signed by the lead school’s accounting officer, we will arrange for this to be countersigned by our responsible officer and returned to the lead school. This countersigned document forms the GFA and must be retained by the lead school.

We will write to lead schools to advise them when the GOL, which includes the GFA and terms and conditions, is available.

Question 7

Conditions of grant

Accepted Answer

Grant funding must be used to support the specific trainee only. Funding must not be shared across funded and non-funded places.

Schools and providers must inform trainees if they need to pay additional fees, for example for an academic qualification such as a post graduate certificate in education (PGCE).

For the period of their training all trainees must be employed by a school as an unqualified teacher and paid in line with their employing school’s pay policy.

Schools need to ensure that pay rates are clearly advertised to the trainee beforehand.

Trainees who are on a full-time course should be employed full-time.

Trainees are typically employed for up to 12 months starting from September. The precise duration of training and employment may vary, however the funding contribution attached to each place remains fixed.

Trainees ineligible for grant funding

If you choose to recruit trainees who are on courses in subjects that are not eligible for grant funding, they must:

These trainees will need to be registered with either the:

Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) by universities
Trainee Teacher Portal (TTP) School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITTs), but recorded as ‘not fundable’

In subjects where recruitment is unlimited, as set out in the allocations methodology, lead schools are not restricted in the number of trainees that they recruit. For subjects in this category that attract no grant funding, lead schools must be aware of the financial implications of recruitment.

We cannot be held responsible for any costs associated with recruiting trainees in subjects that are not eligible for grant funding.

Question 8

Payment of School Direct (salaried) funding

Accepted Answer

When will payments be made

The training and salary grant will be paid by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to School Direct lead schools (or local authorities for maintained schools) in 11 monthly instalments from September to July as set out in Annex D: funding cycle.

The payment will be received within the first 8 working days of each month. Payment is subject to the GFA being received and trainee numbers being established from available data.

The first payment of the 2019 to 2020 academic year will be made to lead schools in September 2019 where a GFA is in place and trainee numbers are established from available data. In cases where funding starts in later months, the first instalment will be adjusted to include the missed payments backdated to September. The lead school will receive the grant funding in full by the final instalment made in July 2020.

How much will the payment be

We’ll write to lead schools prior to payment of the first monthly instalment to confirm the amounts for the first 3 months of the academic year. These payments will be calculated using trainee recruitment data available at that time. This funding may be at a preliminary rate.

Following receipt of verified trainee data from the ITT provider in the October ITT census, we’ll adjust the monthly payment amounts from December 2019 onwards. We’ll issue any arrears that may be due or recover funding as appropriate within this adjustment.

If the relevant data is supplied, this adjustment may also reflect any changes required to grant funding amounts based on the location of the trainee’s employing or main placement school.

ITT providers must have all the relevant trainee information to complete the October ITT census. We strongly encourage all lead schools to engage with their partner ITT provider to avoid any delay in or suspension of payment.

Who will payments be made to

The grant will be paid directly to the lead school by the ESFA if you’re an:

academy
multi-academy trust (MAT)
free school

If a lead school is a local authority maintained school the grant will be paid to the relevant local authority by the ESFA.

This includes:

voluntary-aided
voluntary-controlled
foundation schools
sixth-form colleges that receive their funding from the local authority

Lead schools in this category will need to make sure that suitable agreements are in place with their local authority so that funding is transferred appropriately.

Lead schools should identify funding arrangements and mechanisms to recover unused funds in written agreements with their partner schools and ITT providers.

We’ll not provide any additional funding for the administration of School Direct (salaried) courses.

Maths and Physics Chairs

The Maths and Physics Chairs programme provides the opportunity for postdoctoral researchers to train and teach in state-funded schools in England.

The programme was originally limited to those only wishing to teach maths and physics. However, the programme is now open to participants in all other Ebacc subjects.

In their first year participants on the programme train as teachers in their host school on either a School Direct (salaried) course or School Direct (fee-funded) course.

Participants opting for the School Direct (salaried) course on the Maths and Physics Chairs programme are treated as standard School Direct (salaried) places, with the same requirements for data reporting and the funding levels as identified in this document. Additional costs associated with the programme, such as incentive contributions for those training in mathematics or physics, are funded separately.

Flexible School Direct (salaried)

Lead schools delivering part-time or accelerated courses will receive the same School Direct (salaried) grant funding for each trainee as a full-time equivalent trainee. This will be paid over the course of the same monthly instalment schedule as any other School Direct (salaried) trainee.

It’s the responsibility of the lead school to decide:

the payment profile for the trainee’s salary
how the grant will be managed as a contribution towards this

Any funding that is owed to us will be calculated in accordance with the reconciliation, assurance and audit section.

Data requirements and reporting

Schools and ITT providers are required to share all data on School Direct (salaried) with the us, including data on:

applications
recruitment
employment outcomes

School Direct (salaried) grant funding is calculated on the basis of data submitted by ITT providers through HESA and the Trainee Teacher Portal (TTP)Data must be accurate, complete and submitted on time. Failure to do so is likely to result in the suspension of the funding of the School Direct Partnership.

Data requirements from schools

Once a candidate has been recruited, lead schools are required to give accurate placement and employing school data to their partner ITT provider. Lead schools must inform providers promptly of any changes such as withdrawals and deferrals.

Lead schools are required to provide trainee data to us as part of their GFA Annex G audit and assurance return.

Data requirements from ITT providers

Failure to comply with requests for data in an accurate or timely manner may lead to the withdrawal of accreditation for the ITT provider. Full details of the process are included in the ITT TTP data guidance for higher education institutions (HEIs) and non-HEIs available through the TTP.

Guidance will be updated throughout the academic year.

Question 9

Withdrawals and deferrals

Accepted Answer

Withdrawals

Lead schools will receive funding for any trainee who starts and withdraws from a funded School Direct (salaried) course up until the end of the month in which they withdraw. Funding will either:

cease in-year from the following month if the ITT provider has updated the trainee data on the ITT TTP
as part of a funding reconciliation exercise following the end of the academic year

ITT providers are required to record all trainee withdrawals in the exit information tab on the ITT TTP in the same month the trainee withdraws.

Reconciliation will be determined on a pro rata basis. We’ll consider the trainee’s actual withdrawal date in relation to the intended completion date.

We will not reimburse lead schools for any expenditure made after the trainee withdraws. If a trainee leaves without completing their ITT, the last date of training is the final day and date for which the ITT provider has evidence that they were still in training or attendance for any learning that is part of their ITT. Supporting evidence may be requested to corroborate the withdrawal date.

All appropriate records should be retained by the ITT provider or lead school.

The total grant that is due to the lead school for the individual trainee will be used to calculate the value of funding to be recovered. Where funding ceases in-year any further adjustment that is required for different funding areas will be included in the reconciliation exercise. In cases where the lead school is a multi-academy trust, funding will initially be based on the location of the trust’s registered office and will be adjusted to reflect the location of the trainee’s employing or main placement academy during their training.

For trainees undertaking a flexible School Direct (salaried) programme, we will take into consideration the withdrawal date and course length and funding will be recovered on a pro-rata basis.

Deferrals

Schools, in agreement with the ITT provider, are responsible for making the decision to allow a trainee to defer. Lead schools must communicate this decision to their ITT provider, who is responsible for reporting this to us through the ITT TTP.

Trainees can only defer once they have started their ITT course and the deferral period is usually a maximum of one year. However, the deferral period may be extended to more than one year with prior approval from us. The grant will only be paid up to the maximum training and salary grant rate relevant to the academic year in which the trainee starts, regardless of the year in which they return to the course.

ITT providers are required to record all trainee deferrals as dormant periods in the course details tab on the TTP. The school must retain these funds until the trainee returns to the course. If the trainee does not return to the course, funds relating to the remaining months on which the trainee was not training will be recovered in full. In this event, the deferral date or date of last attendance would become the date of withdrawal. Similarly, if the trainee returns to the course and subsequently withdraws, funding will be recovered on the basis of the total time that they were on the course.

For trainees undertaking a flexible School Direct (salaried) programme, we will take into consideration the deferral date and course length when calculating any funding adjustments or recoveries.

Question 10

Reconciliation, assurance and audit

Accepted Answer

Reconciliation

We reserve the right to carry out a reconciliation exercise at the end of the academic year for School Direct (salaried) funding. Grant funding identified as recoverable as result of this exercise will be recouped. In most cases, recovery will be carried out by offsetting funding that will be paid to the lead schools in subsequent years. If this is not possible, we’ll invoice the lead school for the outstanding amount.

As part of any such reconciliation exercise, grant funding may be recovered as a result of:

trainees not starting
trainees leaving before obtaining QTS including trainees who accept a place and subsequently withdraw
the location of any partner school that employs the trainee, or main placement school in the ITT year, being in a lower funding area than the lead school
trainees recruited and offered a place beyond the lead school’s allocation in that subject
errors identified in trainee data submitted by schools and ITT providers, upon which the grant funding is calculated, resulting in an overpayment
any miscalculation of grant which results in an overpayment to the lead school
any grant payment made to an incorrect recipient
any grant payment made in error

Grant funding may also be recovered as a result of:

early completion of training
non-compliance with the GFA including, but not limited to, failure to submit
in accordance with the requirements of the grant funding letter or any subsequent communication from us

Where a recovery of grant is required, we may recover grant in the same or subsequent academic years.

Where a payment of grant is required outside of the academic year to which it relates, this will be classed as income to the lead school. Follow-up assurance will be required at the end of the academic year in which the payment was made.

Assurance and audit

ITT providers must hold full records of all trainees in receipt of grant funding, including evidence of trainees’ academic qualifications achieved prior to starting their training. Trainees must be in receipt of the degree on which their assessment was based, prior to starting the course. We reserve the right to request this evidence at any point during the academic year from ITT providers, for the purpose of monitoring quality and funding assurance.

ITT providers need to make sure that all trainee records on the ITT TTP are complete. This includes amending the records of trainees who:

withdraw or defer from their ITT programme
start later in 2019 to 2020
return from earlier academic years

We reserve the right to:

delay or withhold payments to the lead school if data is inaccurate or incomplete
request evidence, from ITT providers and lead schools, for the purpose of monitoring quality and funding assurance

Lead schools are required to submit an annual certification of expenditure to us by 31 December 2020.

For lead schools in receipt of grant funding of:

£40,000 and above this is found at Annex G(i) of the GFA and requires independent external auditor and Chair of Governors approval
less than £40,000, this is found at Annex G(ii) of the GFA and is self-certified by the Accounting Officer of the lead school and Chair of Governors

As part of the grant assurance process, lead schools are required to submit an audited breakdown of grant expenditure and corresponding trainee details. Where these trainee details differ from those submitted through the TTP by the provider, we reserve the right to withhold or recover funding from the lead school.

As part of the grant assurance process, any marketing expenditure should be presented within a separate line on the payment schedule of Annex G.

If a school is both a lead school for School Direct (salaried) places and the accredited entity for a SCITT Provider, it must complete both the:

Annex G to the GFA for School Direct grant
Audit Grant Return for other grant funding such as for training bursaries

Failure to submit accurately completed and signed off assurance and audit documentation on time is likely to result in future ITT grant funding being withheld and the recovery of funding paid.

Further assurance will be sought in the following academic year for trainees who deferred or extended their training into the following academic year. Lead schools need to retain all appropriate records for the next audit, for example when the trainee resumed training, and the status of the trainee.

Further information about this process will be supplied by us in autumn 2020.

Failure to fully comply with the reporting and assurance requirements stated in this manual may result in the withdrawal of funding to lead schools. It may also result in non-compliance by the ITT provider, which may lead to withdrawal of accreditation.

Question 11

Annex A: types of organisation involved in School Direct

Accepted Answer

Lead school

The lead school:

is the agreed point of contact for the school direct partnership
holds the partnership’s School Direct training places
is responsible for the partnership activity
can employ trainees, and receive grant funding for such them
must agree the location of apprentices with the ITT provider
is responsible for the grant funding and its distribution
is responsible placing trainees across the partnership

They’ll be responsible for communications:

across the partnership to and from the us
between each partner school
agreeing the location of trainees with the ITT provider

The lead school must be:

a maintained school – primary or secondary
aspecial school
a sixth form college
a pupil referral unit (PRU)
a city technology college
an academy
a multi academy trust
a free school

Private schools cannot be lead schools unless they are designated as a teaching school.

Partner school

The partner school is any school within the partnership of schools involved in ITT. Partner schools, which are private schools, they may contribute to the training.

Employing school or main placement school

The employing school is defined as the school that employs the trainee during their ITT year.

The trainee must carry out their ITT in at least 2 schools. A private school that employs trainees can only receive funding if they are a designated teaching school.

ITT provider

The ITT provider is accredited by us.

The ITT provider is a full member of the School Direct partnership. As an accredited provider of ITT, it has the experience of delivering teacher training and is accountable for the marketing, selection, assessment and standards monitoring for the trainees. The ITT provider will recommend trainees for the award of QTS.

Question 12

Annex B: locations used to calculate the value of grant funding

Accepted Answer

Initial payments will be made based on the location of the lead school, as detailed in funding rates.

The geographical locations for variation are those set out within the school teachers’ pay and conditions.

Inner London area

‘Inner London area’ means the area comprising the London boroughs of:

Barking and Dagenham
Brent, Camden
City of London
Ealing
Greenwich
Hackney
Hammersmith and Fulham
Haringey
Islington
Kensington and Chelsea
Lambeth
Lewisham
Merton
Newham
Southwark
Tower Hamlets
Wandsworth
Westminster

Outer London area

‘Outer London area’ means the area comprising the London boroughs of:

Barnet
Bexley
Bromley
Croydon
Enfield
Harrow
Havering
Hillingdon
Hounslow
Kingston-upon-Thames
Redbridge
Richmond-upon-Thames
Sutton
Waltham Forest

Fringe area

‘Fringe area’ means:

Berkshire – the districts of Bracknell Forest, Slough, and Windsor and Maidenhead
Buckinghamshire – the districts of South Buckinghamshire and Chiltern
Essex – the districts of Basildon, Brentwood, Epping Forest, Harlow and Thurrock
Hertfordshire – the districts of Broxbourne, Dacorum, East Hertfordshire, Hertsmere, St Albans, Three Rivers, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield
Kent – the districts of Dartford and Sevenoaks
Surrey – the whole county
West Sussex – the district of Crawley

Question 13

Additional supporting information

Accepted Answer

School Direct information for schools: getting involved and guidance for lead schools

School Direct funding: pages which support and inform types of funding for ITT

Degree equivalency: information on compatibility of qualifications across the world with UK recognised degree standards

UCAS teacher training: search and apply for training programmes beginning in 2019

2019 to 2020 postgraduate teacher apprenticeship funding manual

2019 to 2020 training bursary manual

ITT criteria and supporting advice

Contacts

Contact itt.funding@education.gov.uk for:

funding and payment queries from schools and ITT
grant funding letters and agreements queries

For allocation queries email itt.allocations@education.gov.uk.

For October census queries, or any other data matter, email itt.datamanagement@education.gov.uk.

For ITT criteria email itt.accreditation@education.gov.uk.

For all other enquiries, contact DfE.

The future teaching scholars programme is not covered by this guidance or funded through School Direct (salaried). For further information, email schools@futureteachingscholars.com.

Question 14

Annex D: funding cycle

Accepted Answer

June to July 2019

We’ll write to lead schools to:

give notification of 2019 to 2020 funding arrangements
supply the GFA letter

New lead schools should submit GFAs to us.

Lead schools continuing with the programme from 2018 to 2019 should acknowledge and accept their new GFA annexes.

August 2019

We’ll write to lead schools about funding amounts for September to November based on recruitment data.

Lead schools must submit their GFAs/acknowledgement of new annexes by 24 August to enable September payment.

ITT providers register trainees on ITT TTP.

September 2019

The first of 11 payments are made to lead schools with a GFA in place on the basis of recruitment data.

ITT providers continue register trainees on ITT TTP.

Payment profile and funding summary available to lead schools.