Terms of reference: grants for moderating primary assessments
Information about grants paid by the Standards and Testing Agency (STA) to local authorities and academies.
Applies to England
Purpose
STA pays grants to local authorities and academies to support them in undertaking:
- moderation of teacher assessment (TA) at key stage 2 (KS2)
- monitoring of the phonics screening check
STA pays these grants retrospectively to:
- local authorities once every academic year
- academies on a 4 year cycle
This is an annual activity required by the amended Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 2 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 2003 and amended Education (National Curriculum) (Key Stage 1 Assessment Arrangements) (England) Order 2004.
Conditions
Funding from this grant is non-ringfenced, but local authorities and academies must ensure statutory moderation takes place at least every 4 years.
Local authorities are required to moderate 25% of their geographic schools each year, including academies who have selected the local authority to moderate them in that academic year and are due statutory moderation.
Allocation
STA allocates funding to local authorities based on the number of maintained schools within their geographic area, using spring census data and paid based on a ratio of expected visits in academic year. Funding for academies is allocated on a 4 year cycle based on the year they opened.
Grant payment amounts are based on the Department for Education’s (DfE) Quality Assurance Framework. DfE introduced the calculation for this grant in 2012.
Payment schedules
STA makes a payment in:
- September to local authorities
- October to the required academies
This covers the costs incurred for the retrospective academic year between 1 September to 31 August.