MOTIV

Purpose

• The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, funding for which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current inequalities by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most.
• The Pupil Premium will be allocated to schools for most pupils and will be clearly identifiable. It will be for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium is spent since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
• For deprived pupils in non-mainstream settings, it will be for the local authority to decide how to allocate it. For instance it could be allocated to the setting where they are being educated, or held by the local authority to spend specifically on additional educational support to raise the standard of attainment for these pupils. The authority must consult non-mainstream settings about how the Premium for these pupils should be used.
• Whilst schools will be free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit, they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support deprived pupils. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium. From September 2012, we will also require schools to publish online information about how they have used the premium. This will ensure that parents and others are made fully aware of the progress and attainment of pupils covered by the premium.
• We will also provide schools with evidence and information about interventions which can improve the progress and attainment of pupils from poorer backgrounds.

Key facts

• Total funding for the Pupil Premium will be £625m in 2011-12, and will rise to £2.5 billion a year by 2014-15.
• The Pupil Premium will be allocated to deprived children who are currently known to be eligible for FSM in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings and children who have been looked after for more than 6 months.
• The level of this premium in 2011-12 will be £430 per pupil.
• A premium will also be introduced for children whose parents are currently serving in the armed forces – this will be set at £200 in 2011-12.
• The Pupil Premium will be introduced from April 2011, paid to local authorities by means of a specific grant based on January 2011 school census figures for pupils in Reception to Year 11. For looked after children the Pupil Premium will be calculated using the Children looked after data returns (SSDA903).
• The Pupil Premium will also be paid to academies via the Young Peoples’ Learning Agency.
• Local authorities are responsible for looked after children in care and will make payments to schools and academies where an eligible looked after child is on roll.