Pupil and Recovery Premium

Purpose

Pupil premium is additional funding for schools, granted by the government, designed to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in schools in England. Evidence shows that disadvantaged children generally face additional challenges in reaching their potential at school and often do not perform as well as other pupils. 

Recovery premium is part of the government’s package of funding to support pupils whose education has been impacted by COVID-19. It is a time-limited grant providing additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021/22,  2022/23 and 2023/24 academic years, focused on pupils who are eligible for pupil premium. 

Funding rates for 2023-24 

The amount of pupil premium funding schools and local authorities receive for each eligible child is:

• £342 for Early Years pupils
• £1455 for pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible in the past 6 years
• £2410 for pupils who have been adopted from care of have left care
• £2530 for children who are looked after by the local authority (please note - this is managed by the Virtual School Head)
• £335 for children who have a parent serving in HM Forces or who has retired on a pension from the Ministry of Defence (to help with pastoral support)
• £145 for each eligible pupil for recovery plans (COVID)

Use of the pupil premium/recovery premium

It is up to school leaders to decide how to spend the pupil premium, drawing on evidence of effective practice. Schools do not have to spend pupil premium so it solely benefits eligible pupils.  They can use it wherever they identify the greatest needs. 

Evidence suggests that pupil premium spending is most effective when schools use a tiered approach, targeting spending across 3 areas, with a particular focus on teaching.

1. Teaching

Investing in high-quality teaching, for example:

• training and professional development for teachers
• recruitment and retention
• support for teachers early in their careers

2.  Targeted academic support

Additional support for some pupils focussed on their specific needs, for example:

• one to one group tuition
• small group tuition
• speech and language therapy

3. Wider approaches

Support for non academic issues that impact success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional challenges.  For example:

• school breakfast clubs
• counselling to support emotional health and well-being
• help with the cost of educational trips or visits

Accountability

Schools must show how they're using their pupil premium funding:

• by publishing an online statement about how they use pupil premium funding effectively
• through inspections by Ofsted
• through Virtual School Annual Reports (written by Virtual School Heads)

Recovery Premium Funding

Purpose

The recovery premium grant is part of the government’s package of funding to support pupils whose education has been impacted by coronavirus (COVID-19).

It is a time-limited grant providing over £300m of additional funding for state-funded schools in the 2021 to 2022 academic year and £1bn across the 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 academic years.

It is focused on pupil premium eligible pupils due to the additional impact of the pandemic on these students.  However, schools can use it to deliver evidence-based approaches for supporting any pupil based on an assessment of individual need.

Eligibility

The following types of school will receive an allocation of recovery premium:

• mainstream primary, secondary and all through local authority-maintained schools, academies and free schools serving children aged 4 to 15
• local authority-maintained special schools
• special academies and free schools
• non-maintained special schools
• pupil referral units
• alternative provision academies and free schools
• local authority-maintained hospital schools and academies

Pupil eligibility

Recovery premium allocations for mainstream schools will be based on pupil premium eligibility. This includes:

• pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM), including eligible children of families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF)
• pupils who have been eligible for FSM at any point in the last 6 years
• children looked after by local authorities, referred to as looked-after children (LAC), and children previously looked after by local authorities, referred to as previously looked-after children (PLAC)

Funding rates for 2023-24

Recovery premium allocations will be calculated on a per pupil basis, based on the following rates:

Mainstream education:

• £145 per eligible pupil in primary schools
• £276 per eligible pupil in secondary schools

The government has included a minimum payment to ensure that eligible primary schools will not receive less than £2,000

Funding for looked-after children will be paid to the local authority and be managed by the virtual school head in consultation with the child’s school.

Using recovery premium funding

Like the pupil premium, schools can:

• spend the recovery premium on a wider cohort of pupils than those who are eligible for the funding
• direct recovery premium spending where they think the need is greatest

Funding for looked-after children should be managed by the local authority virtual school head. They should work with schools, including the designated teacher, to decide how to use the funding effectively to support looked-after children.

Menu of approaches

As with pupil premium, schools must use their recovery premium on evidence-based approaches to support pupils. A ‘menu of approaches’ has been developed to help schools to use both grants effectively.

Any activities funded by recovery premium (or pupil premium) must align with the ‘menu’ from the start of the 2022 to 2023 academic year.

Reporting and accountability

Schools must show they are using their recovery premium effectively:

• by reporting on their use of recovery premium as part of their pupil premium strategy statement
• through inspections by Ofsted - inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their recovery premium funding
• by declaring that they have spent the funding in line with the conditions of grant (including that it has not been spent on NTP) and can demonstrate this upon request - a tick-box declaration will be added to the 2022 to 2023 year-end statement for NTP

Please click the link below to show how pupil premium & recovery funding is being used this academic year and the impact it is having/predicted to have on attainment of disadvantaged pupils.