School staff instructor (SSI) funding grant: local authority and maintained schools conditions of grant 2021 to 2022
Published 20 October 2021
Applies to England
© Crown copyright 2021
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1. Introduction
The school staff instructor (SSI) funding grant 2021 to 2022 (“grant funding”) will be paid by the Secretary of State for Education (“Secretary of State”) to the local authority (“authority”), as a grant under section 14 of the Education Act 2002.In accordance with section 16 of that Act, the Secretary of State attaches the following terms to the premium payable for the academic year 2021 to 2022. The local authority is required to distribute the grant funding to maintained schools* only.
*Maintained school’ has the same meaning as section 20 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 and means (unless the context otherwise requires) a community, foundation or voluntary school or a community or foundation special school.
The grant funding for the 2021 to 2022 academic year is paid in 2 instalments from the Secretary of State as follows:
| Financial year | 2021 to 2022 academic year | Payment date |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 to 2022 | September 2021 to March 2022 | 29 October 2021 |
| 2022 to 2023 | April 2022 to August 2022 | 30 April 2022 |
2. Purpose of the grant funding
The grant funding once allocated to the school must be placed under the control of the SSI of the school’s CCF. The grant funding meets the commitment made by the Secretary of State to support SSIs and to confirm departmental support for achieving the government ambition of having 60,000 cadets in schools by 2024. The grant funding matches the allowance paid by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to an SSI and equates to an additional day’s allowance. The additional day enables an SSI to spend more time on cadet duties, which in turn will help to, sustain the unit and the growth of cadet numbers.
3. Basis of allocation of the grant funding
The grant funding for the academic year 2021 to 2022 is calculated based on the daily allowance rate an SSI receives from the MoD as follows:
51 days (one day per week for 51 weeks) x £74.80 (daily rate) = £3814.80
The allocations for each school in the local authority will be published in October 2021 and include schools that were maintained schools on 1 September 2021.
In the case of a school which has opened or is due to open during the 2021 to 2022 academic year the rate payable will equate to the number of weeks left within the academic year. For example, if there were 30 weeks remaining, the amount payable would be 30 x £74.80.
Local authorities should not pay the grant funding to academies that converted before 1 September 2021, as they will receive their funding directly from ESFA.
Schools that convert to academies on or after 1 September 2021 up to and including 1 April 2022 will be paid the April to August 2022 element of the academic year allocation direct from ESFA on 1 May 2022.
The grant funding must be made available by the local authority to the school irrespective of the existence of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share. The grant funding is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual school’s budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee.
4. Terms on which the grant funding is allocated to schools
Local authorities must pass the grant funding to maintained schools within one month of receipt and must require that maintained schools comply with the terms set out below.
- The grant funding is only payable when a school that has a CCF has an SSI in post. Where an SSI holds this position for two (or more) separate CCFs they will be entitled to the grant funding for each of the CCFs.
- The grant funding once allocated to the school must be placed under the control of the SSI of the school’s CCF.
- The grant funding is provided on the basis that it must only be used to fund the SSI to spend additional time in the performance of CCF duties and activities applicable to their role. Therefore, supporting the success and sustainment of the CCF and assisting with cadet growth.
5. Certification
Local authorities will be required to certify that they have passed on the correct amount of funding to schools and, where funding has been spent, that it has been spent in line with the terms set out above.
6. Variation
The basis for allocation of the grant funding may be varied by the Secretary of State from the terms set out in clause 4 above, if requested by the local authority or at the discretion of the Secretary of State.
7. Other terms
If the local authority or a school fails to comply with the terms set out in the paragraphs above, the Secretary of State may require the repayment of the whole or any part of the grant funding paid to the authority or the withholding of subsequent instalments of the grant funding.
This will be notified in writing to the local authority or school, and any such sum that has been notified shall immediately become payable by the local authority to the Secretary of State or be withheld from subsequent instalments.
8. Overpayments
Any overpayment of the grant funding shall be immediately repaid by the local authority to the Secretary of State.
9. Further information
The books and other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts (for the purposes of this grant “recipient” is the local authority or school) must be made available for inspection by the Secretary of State and 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 the terms set out in this document. Failure to provide this information may result in the Secretary of State requiring repayment of the whole or any part of the grant funding paid to the local authority or the withholding of subsequent instalments of the grant funding.