In November and December 2018 Schools Forum agreed that when the local authority set the 2019-20 School Budgets that they should aim to:

• Move £1m from Free School Meals Ever 6 (FSM6) to Low Prior Attainment in each phase
• Set the Minimum Funding Guarantee at 0 per cent
• Ensure that no school contributes to the cost of MFG more than 1 per cent of its pre-MFG budget
• Use any increase in funding for Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU)
• Implement new allocations for split sites and off-site sports provision
• Set aside from the Growth Fund a maximum of £110,000 to support good schools with falling rolls.

The results of the budget modelling were presented to Schools Forum 13 February 2019 for approval alongside the indicative budgets for each school.  

All maintained schools will receive their Individual Budget Shares (IBS) from the Education Finance team by the end of February each year. This provides information on all income streams. 

Below outlines the average amounts of funding schools will receive in 2019-20:

Average funding for primary pupils 

Average pupil related funding*: £4,249.27

Average school factors**: £369.04

Average total per primary pupil: £4,618.31

Average funding for secondary pupils:

Average pupil related funding*: £5,830.17

Average school factors**: £422.23

Average total per secondary pupils: £6,252.40

* Pupil related funding includes: AWPU/ Basic Entitlement; FSM Ever 6; IDACI; EAL; Low Prior Attainment and Mobility

**Schools Factors includes: Lump Sum; Split Sites; Rates; and Private Finance Initiative (PFI)

The Growth Fund

The Growth fund is to compensate schools that are expanding . This is because the funding for these additional classes is lagged, as those additional pupils will not be recognised until the census for the following year.

The school will receive funding for 7/12’s(Sept – Mar) of the year for 25 average pupils.

The schools are minimum funded for 25 pupils and any pupils beyond this amount per class are funded the following year via a ‘backward look’.

Recovery Premium Funding

Recovery Premium funding is additional funding for eligible schools in the 2021/22 academic year. It is based on pupil premium eligibility to provide further support to disadvantaged pupils. The full DfE guidance can be found here.

Eligibility: All schools that are eligible for pupil premium are eligible for Recovery Premium, meaning the following pupils will attract Recovery Premium funding to schools:

• pupils who are eligible for free school meals (FSM)
• pupils who have been eligible for free school meals at any point in the last 6 years
• children looked after by local authorities and referred to as looked-after children (LAC)
• post looked-after children (post-LAC)

Funding allocations: School allocations will be calculated on a per pupil basis. Mainstream schools will get:

• £145 for each eligible pupil in mainstream education
• £290 for each eligible pupil in a special unit
• Other types of eligible schools will get £290 for each eligible pupil.

The DfE have applied additional weighting to specialist provision given the higher costs they face.

The DfE have also included a minimum ‘floor’ payment to ensure that eligible primary schools will not receive less than £2,000 and eligible secondary schools will not receive less than £6,000.

As with pupil premium, the funding for looked-after children will be paid to the local authority and managed by virtual school heads who will work with schools to determine how best to use funding.

Payment: The Recovery Premium will be paid in 4 instalments over the 2021/22 academic year. For maintained schools, payments will be made to local authorities on the last day of the month. Academies will be paid on the first day of the month in:

           Maintained schools (paid to LA)         Academies

1.        September 2021                                     October 2021

2.        December 2021                                      January 2022

3.        April 2022                                                May 2022

4.        June 2022                                               July 2022

Using Recovery Premium funding: Schools should spend this premium on evidence-based support, in line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s pupil premium guide, including

• supporting the quality of teaching, such as staff professional development
• providing targeted academic support, such as tutoring
• dealing with non-academic barriers to success in school, such as attendance, behaviour and social and emotional support

Like the pupil premium, schools can:

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

For further guidance on using pupil premium and Recovery Premium funding can be found here. effective use of pupil premium, and recovery premium funding, read our guidance on using pupil premium.

Reporting & accountability: Schools must show they are using their recovery premium effectively:

• by reporting on use of recovery premium as part of their pupil premium strategy statement
• through inspections by Ofsted - as part of these inspections, inspectors may discuss plans schools have to spend their recovery premium funding.

Split Site funding

Split Site funding is to compensate schools for the additional costs associated with operating a school on more than one site. These costs can include transport of pupils or staff, additional facilities costs (IT, utilities), duplication of staff (reception, security).

Further Information

For further information please find the full reports from the Schools Forum.

School led tutoring - Guidance for schools

The DfE has introduced School-Led Tutoring as part of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) in 2021/22. Eligible state-funded schools and academies will receive a ring-fenced grant to source their own tutoring provision for disadvantaged and vulnerable pupils who have missed the most education due to COVID-19.

As you may know, there are currently 3 tutoring routes that schools can access as part of the NTP:

1. Tuition Partners
2. Academic Mentors
3. School-Led Tutoring

This guidance relates to funding available for School-Led Tutoring, the full DfE guidance for which can be found here.

For the purpose of this grant, tutoring is defined as ‘a teacher, teaching assistant or other professional educator providing intensive and individualised academic support to pupils in either one-to-one or small group arrangements.’

Overview: Eligible state-funded schools and academy trusts can access a ring-fenced grant to fund locally sourced tutoring provision for disadvantaged pupils, which should include those eligible for pupil premium and pupils with other types of disadvantage or additional needs, including Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), children who have a social worker, previously looked-after children, young carers and other vulnerable pupils. However, if a school or academy trust feels that a pupil who doesn’t fall into these categories would benefit from catch-up tutoring, the funding can be used to provide this.

Schools can utilise existing staff such as teachers and teaching assistants or external tutoring resources such as private tutors or returning teachers.

Eligibility: All state-funded schools and academy trusts with pupils in Year 1 to 11 eligible for pupil premium can access the grant, including special schools and PRUs.

Funding:

• Funding for School-Led Tutoring is allocated for around 60 per cent of pupils eligible for pupil premium per school.
• The grant for 2021/22 is expected to cover 75 per cent of the cost of the tuition up to an £18 average per pupil per hour cost and a pupil receiving a package of 15 hours of tuition. Schools and academies can choose to pay above or below this figure, but will contribute 25 per cent of the cost in all cases. An average £18 per hour cost is the maximum covered by the grant. In this instance, the DfE will provide £13.50 per hour, with schools contributing the remaining £4.50 per hour from other budgets, such as the recovery premium or pupil premium. Any grant remaining at the end of the academic year will be recovered by the DfE.
• The subsidy rate for 2022/23 will be 60 per cent and for 2023/24 will be 25 per cent.
• Increased funding is available for non-mainstream schools, such as special schools and academies, PRUs and alternative provision. This funding allocation is based on a maximum average tutoring cost of £47 per hour, with 75 per cent of this cost (£35.25 per hour) covered by the grant.

The funding allocations for all schools were published on the DfE website in September here, alongside the number of hours of tuition the DfE anticipates can be delivered.

How to Access Funding: Schools do not need to ‘opt-in’ or apply to receive this funding. The grant will be paid by the ESFA as part of their regular scheduled payments.

The School-Led Tutoring Grant will be paid in three payments during 2021/22. Academy trusts will be funded directly and maintained schools will be funded via the local authority, with payments received on the last working day of each month in:

      Maintained Schools          Academies

1.    September 2021               October 2021

2.    December 2021                January 2022

3.    April 2022                           May 2022

Although there is no requirement to apply for this ring-fenced funding, there are conditions attached including the completion of an end of year financial return.

Conditions

• Some internal staff, including teaching assistants, will be required to undertake a free training programme before delivering tutoring. Training will be available on Gov.UK in November 2021 and is expected to take 11 hours to complete. More info on training can be found in the full guidance document
• Allocations distributed in academic year 2021/22 will only be available for that academic year and will not be added to schools and academy trusts’ baselines in calculating any future years’ funding allocations
• The grant is ring-fenced for expenditure on School-Led Tutoring only and any remaining grant will be recovered by the DfE at the end of the academic year.
• The funding should be used to cover the actual staff costs of delivering catch-up tuition. If internal staff are being paid to tutor, this must be in addition to their contracted hours and duties. The funding cannot be used to cover costs such as diagnostic tools, room hire, equipment, laptops, transport, stationery, or record keeping
• This funding cannot be used to pay for the unsubsidised costs of NTP Academic Mentors or Tuition Partners
• All schools and academy trusts will be required to make return data to DfE as part of the grant
• Schools and academy trusts are expected to keep records of all payments related to the School-Led Tutoring grant. These will be required in the event of an audit

Data requirements

Schools and academies will be required to provide data to the DfE as part of the grant through:

• Identifying pupils receiving School-Led Tutoring in the termly census returns
• An online ESFA form at the end of the academic year, which will be published in June 2022

Details on including this information can be found in the full guidance here.

‘Overpayments’ – unused grant money

The grant will be paid in advance and can only be spent on School-Led Tutoring. If any of the funding remains at the end of the academic year, this will be recovered by the DfE and will be determined by the information schools submit through the ESFA online form.