Guidance

16 to 19 school and academy sixth form revenue funding allocation guide: 2024 to 2025

Updated 13 March 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction

This guide explains how we have calculated your 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation and the factors that have been applied. The guide is for the 2024 to 2025 academic year and continues to use the 16 to 19 funding formula as the basis of your allocation.

We will base your funding allocation on lagged student numbers plus any agreed exceptions, where relevant. Your allocation statement includes student numbers and other factors that affect your funding for 2024 to 2025.

2. Who this note is for

This guide is for school and academy sixth forms that submit school census data, including special academies and special free schools. There are separate guides for further education (FE) institutions and special post-16 institutions. If your institution returns independent learner record (ILR) data rather than census data, please refer to the FE allocation statement explanatory note when reviewing your statement.

When we refer to academies in this guide, we are referring to all types, including free schools, university technical colleges (UTCs) and studio schools, unless otherwise stated.

The changes for 2024 to 2025 section explains the changes to 16 to 19 funding in academic year 2024 to 2025, and where these change are reflected in your allocation statement.

3. Further advice and guidance

This guide and our 16 to 19 funding guidance will help you to understand how we have calculated your funding allocation for 2024 to 2025. We publish these guides on GOV.UK before the start of the academic year.

You should read this note alongside our detailed guidance on:

• allocation calculation toolkit (ACT)
• funding rates and formula
• business cases
• financial support for students
• how the 16 to 19 funding formula works
• how the high needs funding system works

4. Allocation changes

The allocation statement shows your current allocation based on the data available to us at this point.

We reserve the right to reduce or withdraw your allocation at any stage should issues arise through audit or other processes which:

• significantly affect the data underlying your allocation calculation (such as errors in ILR or school census returns)
• significantly affect contract compliance, or
• if we believe that by making an allocation we will be putting public funds at risk

We also reserve the right to change your allocation if there are significant policy or data changes that impact on the calculated figures.

By exception, we will consider evidenced and credible business cases from institutions where there has been a significant error in the data returned by the institution. If you wish to submit a case, please refer to our guidance for submitting a business case.

This process does not cover business cases for high needs place funding for institutions that are within scope of the high needs change place notification process. The high needs place change notification process is now complete, and we will not review any requests for changes.

5. Contact us

If you have questions after reading our guidance, or if there’s anything else you need help with, you can find more support in our customer help centre.

6. Changes for 2024 to 2025

On 27 October 2021, the Chancellor announced a 3-year spending review outcome for 16 to 19 education, which has made available an extra £1.6 billion in 2024 to 2025 financial year compared with 2021 to 2022. This is in addition to the £291 million for 16 to 19 education in 2021 to 2022 and the £400 million that the government provided in 2020 to 2021. 

We have used funding from the final year of the 3-year settlement to fund changes for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.

On 4 October 2023, the Prime Minister introduced the Advanced British Standard for 16 to 19 year olds, a new baccalaureate-style qualification that takes the best of A levels and T Levels and brings them together into a single qualification. We have used funding announced alongside this to prepare for the Advanced British Standard to strengthen funding for English and maths. Specifically, we have used this to:

• increase the advanced maths premium payments
• introduce a new core maths premium
• extend the current level 3 maths and English payment to support students who are retaking English and maths

6.1 Funding rate

We have increased the funding rate for students aged 16 and 17 and students aged 18 and over with high needs in band 5 to £4,843. We have built this into the increases in each of the funding bands, which have also increased proportionately.

6.2 Table 1

Band	From	To
Band 5	£4,753	£4,843
Band 4	£3,932	£4,006
Band 3	£3,198	£3,258
Band 2	£2,528	£2,576
Band 1	£4,753 proportion of band 5	£4,843 proportion of band 5

T Level funding rates include the 10% uplift that we have retained for an extra year for the academic year 2024 to 2025.

The figures shown on your allocation statement and in table 2 are the annual equivalent of the 2-year T Level rates for 2024 to 2025.

6.3 Table 2

Band	From	To
Band 9	£7,523	£7,665
Band 8	£6,897	£7,028
Band 7	£6,272	£6,391
Band 6	£5,438	£5,541

6.4 English and maths funding

We will extend the current level 3 maths and English payment to support those students studying other 16 to 19 study programmes or T Levels who are retaking English and maths to gain a GCSE grade 9 to 4 or Functional Skills level 2 in these subjects.

This additional funding is intended to support students’ participation in their study programme or T Level. It ensures that institutions have the resources to provide, where needed, extra hours of education or other support to deliver English and/or maths alongside other qualifications.

This will help raise the standard of attainment ahead of the introduction of the Advanced British Standard.

The rates for the English and maths funding will be:

• £375 per student per subject in band 4 and above
• £229 per student per subject in bands 3 and 2
• £375 per full-time equivalent (FTE) per subject in band 1 where students are on programmes of 150 hours or more

All students subject to the condition of funding (CoF) will attract the payment.

6.5 Disadvantage funding

For academic year 2024 to 2025 funding allocations, we will adjust the care leavers’ (disadvantage block 1) rate. We will also adjust the disadvantage block 2 rate in line with the increase to the funding rate. This change reflects the additional cost of teaching and supporting those students who have low prior attainment.

We will increase the disadvantage block 1 rate to:

• £570 for students who are in care or who have recently left care

We will increase the disadvantage block 2 rate to:

• £570 for bands 4 and 5 students
• £347 for bands 2 and 3 students
• £772 for T Level students

6.6 Advanced maths premium

We have removed core maths qualifications from the advanced maths premium. We will continue to pay the advanced maths premium for other qualifications in scope in academic year 2024 to 2025 at an increased rate of £900.

We have revised the baseline we used to calculate the premium for advanced maths enrolments recorded between academic year 2019 to 2020 and academic year 2020 to 2021 to remove core maths qualifications.

In April 2023, we contacted institutions affected by this change and confirmed that we will provide temporary funding equivalent to 100% of the funding difference to institutions that experienced a decrease of £20,000 or more in advanced maths premium funding in academic year 2023 to 2024 compared with 2022 to 2023.

In 2024 to 2025, we will again provide one year of temporary funding but at 50% of the funding difference to institutions that would see a decrease in their advanced maths premium funding by £20,000 or more in academic year 2024 to 2025 compared with 2022 to 2023, using the revised baseline.

6.7 Core maths premium

We have introduced a new funding element for core maths in 2024 to 2025. We will pay the core maths premium at a rate of £900.

7. Allocation statement 2024 to 2025 – detailed notes

7.1 Special academies and special free schools post-16 funding

The 16 to 19 revenue funding statements for special free schools and special academies include high needs place funding and student financial support funding.

See the relevant sections below for information on how these are calculated.

7.2 Core programme funding

This section explains the various elements of the funding formula, which is shown on page 1 of your 16 to 19 revenue funding statement.

Student numbers for 2024 to 2025

See the student numbers section.

Funding rate per student

See the breakdown of funding by band section.

Retention factor

We calculate the retention factor by:

• retention rate = retained students ÷ total funded students
• retention factor = (retention rate ÷ 2) + 0.5

We calculate it from the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data. If historic data is not available (often due to the institution being new and therefore not having submitted any data), we use national averages for the relevant institution type.

7.3 Programme cost weighting

We use the average programme cost weighting (PCW) for your institution, and we have weighted this by the funded hours for each student. We base PCW on the sector subject area (SSA) classification for each student’s core aim. We calculate this from the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data.

For T Level programmes, the PCW value is attracted by the occupational specialism recorded. Like study programmes, PCW for T Levels is based on SSA. However, this is linked to the occupational specialism via mapping to apprenticeship standards.

T Level transition programme PCW is an average of all the occupational specialism PCW values within the associated T Level route.

If historic data is not available, we use national averages for the relevant institution type.

English and maths funding

See the English and maths funding section.

Disadvantage funding

See the distribution of disadvantage funding section.

Large programme funding

See the large programme uplift section.

Area cost allowance

Some areas of the country are more expensive to teach in than others and the area cost allowance weights the allocation to reflect this. We normally calculate area cost based on your institution’s address, except for a small number of institutions that deliver provision in different locations where it is based on the delivery postcodes for that provision.

We round the values on your statement to various numbers of decimal places. However, we calculate your funding using un-rounded values. This may result in some slight differences when you work through the calculation yourselves.

8. Student numbers

This section explains how we have calculated the student numbers in your 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. Some of the information set out below may not be relevant to your institution and therefore may not be shown on your statement.

If your institution returns ILR data rather than census data, please refer to the FE allocation statement explanatory note when reviewing your statement.

8.1 Students

This figure is taken from the autumn census 2023 (2023 to 2024 data). It is the number of students recorded as on roll (main or current main) on census day 5 October 2023  at the institution in national curriculum years 12, 13 or 14.

For some institutions, we have used a different student number methodology.

8.2 Ratio

If shown, please refer to the FE allocation statement explanatory note.

8.3 Exceptional variations to lagged student number

This is an increase or decrease applied to the lagged student number that we’ve agreed to as an exceptional case.

8.4 Total student numbers for 2024 to 2025/Finalised academy estimate

This is the total of students shown in the first row and ‘exceptional variations to lagged student number’.

8.5 Student number methodology used

This is the methodology we use to calculate your total funded student numbers in 2024 to 2025.

9. Student number methodology

Our funding rates and formula guidance has full details of how we calculate student numbers for different types of institutions. Our default approach is to base allocations on lagged numbers. The lagged approach applies when there is a reasonably consistent level of delivery over time and applies in most but not all circumstances.

Exceptions to the lagged approach include student numbers for new institutions, closing provision, transferred provision (including in relation to subcontracting), exceptional in-year growth and in-year closures. In these situations, we may remove an institution from the lagged approach at any point, which may result in a change to their funding allocation.

10. Breakdown of funding by band

This section explains how we have calculated funding bands in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. Further information about funding rates is in our funding rates and formula guidance.

In this guidance, ‘full-time’ means funding bands 5, 4a and the T Level bands. Therefore ‘part-time’ is funding bands 4b or lower.

10.1 T Level bands

The following applies if you have T Level students. If you are not receiving T Level student funding, please refer to the mainstream bands section.

Number of students allocated in 2024 to 2025 – T Level

Student numbers are placed into T Level bands 9 to 6 based on the occupational specialism undertaken by the student. We take this information from a combination of:

• the estimated student participation figures provided by institutions (from 2024 to 2025 these are just the students starting in the 2024 to 2025 academic year)

• students starting their T Level before 2024 to 2025 who are carrying on their programme into academic year 2024 to 2025. We have selected T Level students from your autumn census 2023 data whose latest T Level programme aim has no actual end date and a planned end date after 31 July 2024

Funding rate

T Level students attract a higher rate of programme funding linked to the minimum delivery hours (determined by the occupational specialism being studied), so will typically be funded in band 6, 7, 8 or 9.

Student funding

This is the total student funding for each band, which we calculate by:

• ‘number of students allocated in 2024 to 2025’ × ‘funding rate’

Total T Level bands

We calculate the total student funding for bands 9 to 6 by:

• ‘student funding T Level band 9’ + ‘student funding T Level band 8’ + ‘student funding T Level band 7’ + ‘student funding T Level band 6’

10.2 Mainstream bands

Student numbers 2022 to 2023

For 2024 to 2025 allocations, we will use your 2022 to 2023 ILR R14 data to determine the number of students in each band based on the definition of the bands that applied in that year.

Band 5 students are all students with annual planned hours of 580 and over, except T Level students and students aged 18+ who are not high needs.

Band 4 students are split into 2 categories:

• 4a for those students who are aged 18+ and not with high needs with planned hours over 485 per year
• 4b is 16 and 17 year olds and students aged 18+ with high needs with planned hours between 485 and 579 per year

Bands 1 to 3 show all 16 to 19 Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) funded students with annual planned hours in that band. The planned hours for each band are set out in our funding rates and formula guidance.

In addition, students in band 1 (up to 299 hours) is the total number of band 1 FTE students for the numbers shown.

You can view the student-level data behind each funding band in your ACT. We have published guidance on how to use your ACT file.

Proportions used in 2024 to 2025 allocation

This is the proportion of students to be funded in each band based on the total student numbers in 2022 to 2023.

Number of students allocated in 2024 to 2025

This is the percentage proportions for bands 5 to 1 applied to the ‘total student numbers for 2024 to 2025’ shown in the ‘student numbers’ table.

We round the values in this column to whole numbers. This may result in a slight difference to the ‘total student numbers for 2024 to 2025’ shown in the ‘student numbers’ table.

The following applies if you have T Level students:

• the number of band 5 students allocated in 2024 to 2025 is adjusted to remove students funded in the T Level bands

Funding rate

This is the base amount of funding for each student in the band. You can find more information on the funding rates for 2024 to 2025 on GOV.UK.

Note that, as described above, for the purpose of calculating the number of students in each funding band in the 2024 to 2025 funding allocation, we have used data from your 2022 to 2023 full year data return. For that purpose, we have therefore applied the definitions of the funding bands in 2022 to 2023. 

Student funding

We calculate student funding by:

• ‘number of students allocated in 2024 to 2025’ (or the number of FTE students) × ‘funding rate’

Total/Total mainstream bands

We calculate the total student funding for bands 5 to 1 by:

• ‘student funding band 5’ + ‘student funding band 4’ + ‘student funding band 3’ + ‘student funding band 2’ + ‘student funding band 1 FTE’

Total student funding

The following applies if you have T Level students:

• ‘total mainstream bands’ + ‘total T Level bands’

11. English and maths funding

This section explains how we have calculated English and maths funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information, please refer to our English and maths funding guide.

11.1 Total instances attracting funding per student

We use the last full year of data to identify eligible students. For example, we will use data from the end of academic year 2022 to 2023 to inform allocations for 2024 to 2025. We classify eligible students as those who are:

a) 16 to 19 students who have passed the funding qualifying period

b) recorded in the school census as not having prior attainment in English and/or maths GCSE grade 9 to 4 or equivalent. We will not count students with a prior attainment of a GCSE grade 2 or below but who hold a pass in level 2 Functional Skills

Qualifying students attract an instance of funding for each subject in which  they do not hold a GCSE grade 9 to 4 or equivalent at the start of their programme. Those without English or without maths will receive 1 instance and those without English and without maths will receive 2 instances.

11.2 Total funded instances

We calculate total funded instances by:

• ‘instances per student’ × ‘total student numbers 2024 to 2025’ (student numbers table)

11.3 Students attracting the higher rate (bands 4 and above), the lower rate (bands 2 and 3) and the FTE rate

This is the ‘total funded instances’ split between students attracting the higher rate (band 4 and above) and students attracting the lower rate (band 2 and band 3) according to the proportions in the ‘breakdown of funding by band’ table. We calculate this by:

• ‘number of funded instances in each band’ (higher, lower, FTE) × ‘English and maths funding rate’

11.4 Total English and maths funding

We calculate total English and maths funding by:

• ‘students attracting the higher rate’ + ‘students attracting the lower rate’ + ‘students attracting the FTE rate’

12. Distribution of disadvantage funding

This section explains how we have calculated the disadvantage block 1 and block 2 funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information on disadvantage funding, please refer to our funding rates and formula guide.

12.1 Disadvantage block 1

Economic deprivation funding

We use the student’s home postcode from the autumn census 2023 (2022 to 2023 full year data) and the index of multiple deprivation (IMD) 2019 to calculate the block 1 factor.

The block 1 factor is an average across the whole institution, weighted by the funded hours for each student.

We apply the uplift to the programme funding total, up to and including the English and maths funding.

If historic data is not available, we use local authority averages for the relevant institution type.

Care leavers

This is the number of successful 16 to 19 bursary fund claims for 2022 to 2023 for vulnerable students who were ‘in care’ or ‘care leavers’, at a rate of £570 per student.

Total block 1 funding

We calculate total block 1 funding by:

• ‘block 1 funding’ + ‘care leaver funding’

12.2 Disadvantage block 2

Total instances attracting funding per student

The factor is based on the number of instances when a student does not have at least a grade 4 in GCSE maths or English at the end of year 11:

• a student without a grade 4 in maths and English counts as 2 instances
• a student without a grade 4 in either maths or English counts as 1 instance
• a student with grade 4 (or above) in both counts as 0 instances

We use the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data to provide the number of instances per student.

If historic data is not available, we use national averages for the relevant institution type.  

Total funded instances

We calculate total funded instances by:

• ‘instances per student’ × ‘total student numbers 2024 to 2025’ (student numbers table)

Students attracting the higher rate (bands 4 and 5), the lower rate (bands 2 and 3), the FTE rate and the T Level rate

This is the ‘total funded instances’ split between students attracting the higher rate (band 4 and band 5) and students attracting the lower rate (band 2 and band 3) according to the proportions in the ‘breakdown of funding by band’ table.

The following applies if you have T Level students:

• for students attracting the T Level rate, we calculate the ‘total funded instances’ by: ‘instances per student’ × ‘total T Level bands’
• ‘number of funded instances in each band’ (higher, lower, FTE, T Level) × ‘block 2 funding rate’

Total block 2 funding/Total block 2 funding including T Levels

We calculate block 2 funding by:

• ‘students attracting the higher rate’ + ‘students attracting the lower rate’ + ‘students attracting the FTE rate’
• if you have T Level students: + ‘students attracting the T Level rate’

Minimum top-up, if applicable

If the total disadvantage funding (‘total block 1 funding’ + ‘total block 2 funding’ or ‘total block 2 funding including T Levels’) for an institution is less than £6,000, we top up the disadvantage funding up to £6,000.

Total disadvantage funding

We calculate total disadvantage funding by:

• ‘total block 1 funding’ + ‘total block 2 funding’ or ‘total block 2 funding including T Levels’ + ‘minimum top-up’

13. Large programme uplift

This section explains how we have calculated the large programme uplift factor in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information, please refer to our large programme uplift guidance and funding rates and formula guide.

13.1 Students meeting large programme uplift criteria

This is the number of students meeting the large programme uplift criteria for the 10% uplift and 20% uplift respectively. Numbers are based on the Young People’s Matched Administrative Dataset (YPMAD) for 2021 to 2022.

13.2 Funding uplift per student per year

This is 10% or 20% of the band 5 funding rate.

13.3 Total large programme uplift (2 years)

This is the total uplift for the 2 years – that is double the funding uplift per year. We calculate this by:

• ‘students meeting large programme uplift criteria’ × ‘funding uplift per student per year’ × 2

13.4 Total large programme uplift

We calculate this by:

• ‘total large programme uplift (2 years)’ at 20% + ‘total large programme uplift (2 years)’ at 10%

14. Maths and English CoF

This section explains how we have calculated the maths and English CoF adjustment in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information, please see our condition of funding interactive tool and 16 to 19 funding maths and English condition of funding guidance.

14.1 Funding rate in 2022 to 2023

We use the 2022 to 2023 funding rates to calculate the CoF adjustment.

14.2 Total students (2022 to 2023 S05)

This is the total number of students in 2022 to 2023, as recorded in your autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data, split by each funding band. This table excludes 19+ continuing students. Therefore, the total may differ from the student numbers shown in the ‘breakdown by funding band’ table.

14.3 Funding rate applied to total students (2022 to 2023 S05)

This is the student funding associated with the total students, calculated by:

• ‘total students (2022 to 2023 S05)’ (FTE for band 1) × ‘funding rate in 2022 to 2023’

14.4 Students not meeting CoF (2022 to 2023 S05)

This is the number of students not meeting the CoF in 2022 to 2023, as recorded in your autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data, split by each funding band. You can identify these students in your ACT.

14.5 Funding rate applied to CoF non-compliant students

This is the student funding associated with the students not meeting the COF. We calculate this by:

• ‘students not meeting the CoF’ (FTE for band 1) × ‘funding rate in 2022 to 2023’

14.6 Total

This shows the total of bands 5 to 1 for ‘total students (2022 to 2023 S05), ‘funding rate applied to total students (2022 to 2023 S05)’, students not meeting CoF (2022 to 2023 S05) and ‘funding rate applied to CoF non-compliant students’.

14.7 The 5% of rate funding for total 2022 to 2023 S05 students

This is the 5% tolerance before any adjustment will be applied, calculated by:

• 5% of total ‘funding rate applied to total students (2022 to 2023 S05)’

14.8 Funding for non-compliant students less 5% of funding

This is the resulting adjustment following the 5% tolerance, calculated by:

• total ‘funding rate applied to CoF non-compliant students’ - ‘5% of rate funding for total 2022 to 2023 S05 students’

14.9 Final CoF adjustment (at 50% of the per student funding rate)

In order to mitigate the effect of the CoF adjustments, the final adjustment is at 50%. We calculate this by:

• 50% of ‘funding for non-compliant students less 5% of funding’

15. Advanced maths premium funding

This section explains how we have calculated the advanced maths premium in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. We give institutions additional funding to increase the number of students studying for certain advanced maths qualifications. The funding will help institutions remove barriers to advanced maths study and build their capacity to deliver this provision.

15.1 Baseline students

This is the average number of students studying an eligible level 3 maths qualification in academic years 2019 to 2020 and 2020 to 2021. We used the autumn census 2020 full year 2019 to 2020 data and the autumn census 2021 full year 2020 to 2021 data to determine this number. 

15.2 Eligible students

This is the number of students studying an eligible level 3 maths qualification in academic year 2023 to 2024 taken from the autumn census 2023.

15.3 Eligible minus baseline

We calculate the eligible minus baseline by:

• ‘eligible students’ - ‘baseline students’, or zero, whichever is higher

15.4 Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2024 to 2025 is £900. 

15.5 Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘eligible minus baseline’ x ‘rate’

15.6 Adjusted 2022 to 2023 advanced maths premium funding

This is your 2022 to 2023 advanced maths premium allocation without core maths qualifications.

15.7 Advanced maths premium transition funding

Transition funding is 50% of the difference between the adjusted 2022 to 2023 and 2024 to 2025 funding when the decrease is £20,000 or more. We will apply this protection for academic year 2024 to 2025 only.

15.8 Advanced maths premium total

We calculate the advanced maths premium by:

• ‘advanced maths premium funding’ + ‘advanced maths premium transition funding’

16. Core maths premium

This section explains how we have calculated the core maths premium in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. For more information, please refer to our core maths premium guide.

16.1 Eligible students

This is the number of eligible students studying a core maths qualification in the first year of their 16 to 19 programme. Second year core maths students will not attract the funding. We take this data from the autumn census 2023. 

Students are eligible for the core maths premium if they:

• are 16 to 19 funded
• have prior attainment equivalent to GCSE grade 9 to 4 in maths
• pass a qualifying period of either 6 weeks for a qualification with a planned length of 24 weeks or more, or 2 weeks for a qualification with a planned length of less than 24 weeks
• are studying an eligible core maths qualification

16.2 Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2024 to 2025 is £900.

16.3 Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘eligible students’ x ‘rate’

17. High value courses premium

This section explains how we have calculated the high value courses premium (HVCP) in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation. HVCP supports institutions to increase the number of students studying substantial programmes in particular subjects.

17.1 Qualifying students

This is the number of qualifying students in your autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data.

17.2 Rate

The rate of funding per student for 2024 to 2025 is £600.

17.3 Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘qualifying students’ × ‘rate’

18. T Level industry placements funding

This section explains how we have calculated T Level industry placements funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement. This table is displayed if you have T Level students.

18.1 Number of funded T Level students

This is the funded T Level students in the allocation.

18.2 Rate

The funding rate for a T Level industry placement is £550. As T Levels are designed to be 2-year programmes, we pay £275 in year 1 and £275 in year 2 of a student’s T Level.

18.3 Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘number of funded T Level students’ × ‘rate’

19. High needs students

This section explains how we have calculated high needs funding for academies in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement.

We have based allocations of high needs place funding on the outcomes of the 2024 to 2025 local authority place change notification process.

For all school sixth forms and maintained special schools, you will need to discuss and agree your 16 to 19 high needs funding directly with your local authority because this funding is allocated to local authorities in the dedicated schools grant. For further information, please refer to our high needs funding arrangements: 2024 to 2025.

19.1 High needs funding

This is the number of high needs students split by age groups 16 to 19 and 19 to 24.

19.2 Total students

We calculate this by:

• ‘16 to 19 students’ + ‘19 to 24 students’

19.3 Rate

For mainstream and alternative provision academies, the rate of funding per student is £6,000.

For special academies, the rate of funding per place is £10,000.

19.4 Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘total students’ × ‘rate’

20. Student financial support funding

This section explains how we have calculated student financial support funding in the 16 to 19 revenue funding allocation statement.

We have published financial support advice for institutions on the support young people may be able to access to help them participate in education and training.

20.1 Discretionary bursary fund

Number of funded students/Number of funded T Level students

For ‘element 1: financial disadvantage’ and ‘element 2a: student costs – travel’, the ‘number of funded students’ is the ‘total student numbers for 2024 to 2025’ shown in the ‘student numbers’ table.

For ‘element 2b: student costs – T Level industry placements’, we use your funded T Level student number.

Instances per student

For ‘element 1: financial disadvantage’, we use student postcodes from the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data return and the IMD 2019 to determine the number of instances per student.

For ‘element 2a: student costs – travel’, we use student postcodes and delivery location postcode from the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data return and the IMD 2019 to determine the number of instances per student.

The student-level data used to determine the instances per student value for all elements of 16 to 19 bursary funding can be found in the programme tab in your ACT file.

The maximum ‘instances per student’ value is 1.00000.

If historic institution-level data is not available to complete the calculation, we use local authority averages for the relevant institution type.

Proportion of students from 60% most deprived areas

For ‘element 2b: student costs – T Level industry placements’, we use student postcodes from the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data return and the IMD 2019 to determine an institution-level instance per student average. We use this average to gauge the proportion of students on T Level industry placements who are likely to be from the top 60% most deprived areas.

Number of instances

For ‘element 1: financial disadvantage’ and ‘element 2a: student costs – travel’, we calculate the number of instances by:

• ‘instances per student’ x ‘number of funded students’

For ‘element 2b: student costs – T Level industry placements’, we calculate the number of instances by:

• ‘proportion of students from 60% most deprived areas’ x ‘number of funded T Level students’

Rate

This is the funding rate for each element of the discretionary bursary for 2024 to 2025. Bursary funding rates are subject to change year on year.

Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘number of instances’ x ‘rate’

Bursary adjustment in respect of free meals

The following applies to maintained schools, academies and free schools that only deliver provision to 16 to 19 students.

We calculate each institution’s percentage share of the adjustment proportionally, using data which will inform an institution’s free meals in FE allocation in 2024 to 2025. That is the number of students eligible for and in receipt of free meals in FE in either the autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data return or the autumn census 2022 full year 2021 to 2022 data return if no students were flagged as supported with free meals in FE in 2022 to 2023.

The total adjustment amount is £15 million. For example, if there are 100,000 free meals for FE students who inform 2024 to 2025 free meals in FE allocations, and institution A recorded 1,000 of those students in their autumn census 2023 full year 2022 to 2023 data return, then institution A will be in scope for an initial adjustment of:

• 1,000 ÷ 100,000 = 1%
• 1% x £15 million = £150,000

Protection is then applied so that no institution:

• experiences a reduction of greater than 25% of their 16 to 19 bursary fund allocation
• experiences a reduction that is greater than the reduction applied in 2023 to 2024
• has a 16 to 19 bursary fund allocation of less than £500

Discretionary bursary fund sub-total

We calculate the discretionary bursary fund sub-total by:

• ‘element 1: financial disadvantage total’ + ‘element 2a: student costs travel total’ + ‘element 2b: student costs T Level industry placements’ - ‘bursary adjustment in respect of free meals’

Bursary adjustment by exception

This is an increase or decrease applied to your discretionary bursary funding. This could relate to a merger, conversion to an academy or other exceptional situations.

Discretionary bursary fund total

We calculate the discretionary bursary fund total by:

• ‘discretionary bursary fund sub-total’ + ‘bursary adjustment by exception’

If ‘discretionary bursary fund sub-total’ is greater than £0 but less than £500, then we will uplift the allocation to £500.

20.2 Residential support scheme

Institutions receiving residential support scheme funding will see the total amount allocated for the academic year.

For institutions without an allocation, there will be no residential support scheme information shown on the statement.

Total students

This is the total number of confirmed eligible students following ESFA verification checks of substantial level qualifications.

Rate

The funding rate per student for institutions outside of London is £3,458.

The funding rate per student for institutions in London boroughs, eligible for a London weighting, is £4,079.

Funding

We calculate this by:

• ‘total students’ x ‘rate’

Residential support scheme administration

We calculate this by:

• 5% of ‘total students’ x ‘rate’

Residential support scheme total

We calculate this by:

• ‘residential support scheme funding’ + ‘residential support scheme administration’

20.3 Free meals in FE funding

The following applies to maintained schools, academies and free schools that deliver provision to 16 to 19 students only.

Total students

This is the number of 16 to 19 students recorded in either the autumn census 2023 or the autumn census 2022 data return if no students were recorded as supported with free meals in FE in the autumn census 2023 data return.

Free meals students

This is the number of students recorded as being eligible for and in receipt of free meals in FE in either the autumn census 2023 or the autumn census 2022 data return if no students were recorded as supported with free meals in FE in the autumn census 2023.

Proportion of students on free meals

We calculate the proportion of students on free meals by:

• ‘free meals students’ ÷ ‘total students’

Total students in 2024 to 2025 funded for free meals

This is the total number of students that will attract free meals funding in 2024 to 2025:

• ‘proportion of students on free meals’ × ‘total student numbers for 2024 to 2025’ (student numbers table)

Free meals higher rate, lower rate and FTE rate

We calculate ‘free meal students’ at higher, lower and FTE rates by taking the proportions from ‘breakdown of funding by band’ table and applying the percentage proportions to the ‘total students in 2024 to 2025 funded for free meals’:

• higher rate: ‘band 4 and upwards proportions used in 2024 to 2025 allocation’
• lower rate: ‘band 3 proportions used in 2024 to 2025 allocation’ + ‘band 2 proportions used in 2024 to 2025 allocation’
• FTE rate: (band 1 proportions used in 2024 to 2025 allocation × total students in 2024 to 2025 funded for free meals’) × (‘band 1 FTE student numbers for 2022 to 2023’ ÷ ‘band 1 student numbers for 2022 to 2023’)

Free meals funding

We calculate free meals funding by:

• ‘free meals students’ (higher, lower and FTE) × ‘free meals rates’

The free meals in FE funding rates are subject to change.

Free meals sub-total

We calculate free meals sub-total by:

• ‘free meals higher funding’ + ‘free meals lower funding’ + ‘free meals FTE funding’

Free meals administration/Free meals administration and minimum top-up

We calculate free meals administration by:

• 5% of ‘total free meals funding’

Free meals adjustment by exception

This is an increase or decrease applied to your free meals in FE funding. This could relate to a merger, conversion to an academy or other exceptional situations.

Total free meals funding

We calculate total free meals funding by:

• ‘free meals sub-total’ + ‘free meals administration’ + ‘exceptional adjustment’

Total student financial support funding

We calculate total support funding by:

• ‘discretionary bursary fund total’ + ‘residential support scheme total’ (if applicable) + ‘total free meals funding’

21. Start-up and post-opening grant

Those academies receiving a start-up grant or post-opening grant that do not receive this funding through their pre-16 allocation will see this table. This section explains the information in this table of the 16 to 19 revenue funding statement.

21.1 Start-up grant – part A

We pay the start-up grant to converting academies with the route of project shown as ‘full sponsored’. This a flat rate allocation that we pay in the first year of opening. Any funding applicable to the 2024 to 2025 academic year will be shown in this line.

21.2 Start-up grant – part B

We pay the start-up grant to converting academies with the route of project shown as ‘full sponsored’. Part B is a formulaic allocation that is intended to contribute to costs, such as leadership, as a new academy grows towards full capacity. Consequently, we may pay part B over a number of years as the academy grows.

21.3 Post-opening grant – per pupil resources

For free schools, UTCs and studio schools, this is the total of the resource element of the post-opening grant.

21.4 Post-opening grant – leadership diseconomies

For free schools, UTCs and studio schools, this is the total of the diseconomies element of the post-opening grant.

21.5 Total start-up grant and post-opening grant

• ‘start-up grant part A’ + ‘start-up grant part B’ + ‘post-opening grant per pupil resources’ + ‘post-opening grant leadership diseconomies’