Guidance

Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium: conditions of grant for academic year 2020 to 2021 for local authorities

Updated 26 May 2021

This guidance was withdrawn on 27 September 2023

This has been withdrawn as it is out of date.

Applies to England

1. Introduction

1.1 The Secretary of State for Education is providing financial assistance to local authorities for their maintained schools and for pupils that local authorities place in independent special settings, in the form of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium for the financial year beginning 1 April 2020.

1.2 The Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) paid the first instalment of the catch-up premium to local authorities, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education, on 30 September 2020.

1.3 The following terms and conditions apply to the catch-up premium paid on 30 September 2020, 26 February 2021 and 28 May 2021.

1.4 The catch-up premium rates and eligibility are set out in the COVID-19 catch-up guidance.

2. Allocation and payment to maintained schools

2.1 The first payment of the catch-up premium is 25% of an initial academic year allocation calculated:

for maintained primary, middle, secondary and all-through schools	£80 for each pupil aged 4 and over recorded in reception to year group 11 in the October 2019 school census
for maintained special schools, pupil referral units and hospital schools	£240 for each high needs place recorded on their local authority’s section 251 budget return statement for 2019 to 2020

2.2 The second payment of the catch-up premium is 33% of an initial academic year allocation calculated:

for maintained primary, middle, secondary and all-through schools	£80 for each pupil aged 4 and over recorded in reception to year group 11 in the October 2020 school census
for special educational needs (SEN) units in mainstream schools	£240 for each pupil in SEN units in mainstream schools as recorded on the 2020 to 2021 authority proforma tool (APT)
for maintained special schools, pupil referral units and hospital schools	£240 for each high needs place recorded on their local authority’s section 251 budget return statement for 2019 to 2020

2.3 The third payment of the catch-up premium is 42% of an initial academic year allocation calculated:

for maintained primary, middle, secondary and all-through schools	£80 for each pupil aged 4 and over recorded in reception to year group 11 in the October 2020 school census
for special educational needs (SEN) units in mainstream schools	£240 for each pupil in SEN units in mainstream schools as recorded on the 2020 to 2021 authority proforma tool (APT)
for maintained special schools, pupil referral units and hospital schools	£240 for each high needs place recorded on their local authority’s section 251 budget return statement for 2019 to 2020

2.4 Local authorities must pay to each:

• maintained primary, middle and secondary school
• all-through maintained school
• maintained special school
• maintained pupil referral units
• maintained hospital school

for which they are responsible for maintaining the amounts shown in column L of the ‘maintained schools’ tab for each school in the Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium provisional allocations table.

2.5 Local authorities must comply with condition 2.4, irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share.

2.6 The catch-up premium is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual schools budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee for schools or the special schools protection (also referred to as the minimum funding guarantee).

3. Permitted use of catch-up premium funds by maintained schools

3.1 Local authorities must ensure that their maintained schools only spend catch-up premium funds in the following ways:

• for the purposes of the school; or
• for the benefit of pupils registered at other maintained schools, special schools, pupil referral units or hospital schools

3.2 Catch-up premium funds do not have to be spent by maintained schools, special schools pupil referral units or hospital schools, in the financial year beginning 1 April 2020.

3.3 Maintained schools, special schools, pupil referral units and hospital schools may carry some or all catch-up premium funds forward to future financial years.

4. Allocation and payment for pupils placed in independent special settings

4.1 For the 30 September 2020 payment, local authorities have been paid 25% of a provisional academic year allocation of £240 per pupil using the number of pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan, or SEN support, educated in an independent special setting, as recorded on the local authority’s January 2020 alternative provision census.

4.2 For the 26 February 2021 payment, local authorities have been paid 33% of an updated academic year allocation of £240 per pupil using the number of pupils with an EHC plan, or SEN support, educated in an independent special setting, as recorded on their January 2021 alternative provision census.

4.3 For the 28 May 2021 payment, local authorities have been paid 42% of an updated academic year allocation of £240 per pupil using the number of pupils with an EHC plan, or SEN support, educated in an independent special setting, as recorded on their January 2021 alternative provision census.

4.4 The payments are shown in the column F of ‘local authority summary’ tab of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium updated allocations table.

4.5 The 2020 to 2021 academic year allocations for pupils with an EHC plan, or SEN support, placed in independent special settings will be updated in May 2021 based on the number of such pupils recorded on the local authority’s January 2021 alternative provision census.

4.5 For the 2020 to 2021 academic year local authorities must allocate to each independent special setting, where they place a pupil with an EHC plan, or SEN support, £240 per such pupil as recorded on the local authority’s January 2021 alternative provision census.

5. Certification

5.1 Each local authority will be required to certify to ESFA that they have complied with these terms and conditions.

5.2 ESFA set out the arrangements for certification in May 2021.

6. Variation

6.1 The basis for allocation of this grant may be varied by the Secretary of State for Education from those set out above.

7. Overpayments

7.1 Any overpayment of catch-up premium by ESFA to a local authority shall be repaid by the local authority upon on such terms and conditions as ESFA or the Secretary of State for Education shall determine.

8. Further information

8.1 Books and other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts shall be open to inspection by the Secretary of State for Education and by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

8.2 The Comptroller and Auditor General may, under section 6 of the National Audit Act 1983, carry out examinations into the economy, efficiency and effectiveness with which the recipient has used its resources in discharging its grant-aided activities.

8.3 Schools and local authorities shall provide information as may be required by the Secretary of State to determine whether it has complied with these conditions