Guidance

COVID-19 recovery premium 2023 to 2024: conditions of grant for local authorities

Updated 25 March 2024

Applies to England

1. Introduction

The Secretary of State for Education lays down the following terms and conditions on which assistance is given in relation to recovery premium grant (RP) grant payable to local authorities for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

RP grant rates and detailed eligibility criteria for the 2023 to 2024 academic year are set out in the RP grant technical note.

RP grant is part of the government’s package of funding to support disadvantaged pupils with their education recovery following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is a time-limited grant for the 2021 to 2022, 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 24 academic years.

2. Eligibility criteria

RP grant for mainstream schools is distributed directly by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) to local authorities based on pupil premium (PP) grant eligibility. Local authorities must allocate RP grant (at the rates set out in the technical note) to each mainstream school they maintain, based on the number of pupils in year groups reception to year 11 who are:

• recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (FSM Ever 6). This includes eligible children of families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

• previously looked-after children (PLAC): pupils who were looked after by a local authority or other state care immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order). From 1 April 2023, RP grant eligibility for pupils who have been adopted from care or have left care will include children adopted from state care or it’s equivalent from outside England and Wales

RP grant for special schools, special educational needs (SEN) units in mainstream schools, pupil referral units (PRUs) and general hospital schools is allocated to local authorities, who must distribute it (at the rates set out in the technical note) to each school they maintain based on the total number of pupils in reception to year 11, minus those children who are looked after by the local authority (see paragraph below).

RP grant is also allocated to local authorities based on the number of looked-after children (LAC) supported by the authority. LAC are defined in the Children Act 1989 as those who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority. It is for the local authority to decide how much of this funding to pass on to the child’s school.

Local authorities also receive RP grant for any eligible pupils in independent special schools where the local authority pays full tuition fees. It is for the local authority to decide how much of this funding to pass on to the child’s school.

3. Permitted use of RP grant

RP grant must be spent to support eligible pupil cohorts with their education recovery see section 2 - Eligibility criteria following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grant can be spent:

• for the benefit of pupils registered at the school that receives it

• for the benefit of pupils registered at other state funded schools or academies - for example, when hosting summer schools which welcome pupils from other schools

• on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of pupils at the school - for example, where virtual school heads (responsible for LAC RP grant) deem it beneficial to do so, such as art therapy outside of the classroom, or training of local authority staff to raise awareness of LAC

Mainstream schools may use a portion of RP grant funding to support pupils who do not meet any of the RP grant set out in section 2 - Eligibility criteria above where they deem it beneficial to do so. For example, RP grant can be used to support other pupils with identified needs, such as pupils who have or have had a social worker, or pupils who act as a carer. It can also be used for whole class approaches, for example high-quality teaching, which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils.

The local authority can pool any amount of LAC RP grant to fund activities that will benefit a group, or all, of the authority’s LAC. Any RP grant held centrally must not be used to fund services that the local authority is responsible for funding, such as support for foster carers, school uniforms or transport to get the child to school.

Processes for allocating funding that has been passed on to the child’s school should be as simple as possible, to avoid delay.

3.1 The ‘menu of approaches’

To ensure RP grant is focused on effective approaches to raising the attainment of eligible pupils, schools must use their RP grant (and their PP grant – see the PP grant conditions of grant) in line with the ‘menu of approaches’ set by the Department for Education (DfE). The menu of approaches is in the ‘Pupil premium’ guidance.

The menu has been developed in line with the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) 3-tiered approach to help schools allocate spending across the following 3 key areas:

• support high-quality teaching, such as staff professional development

• provide targeted academic support, such as tutoring

• tackle non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour and social and emotional wellbeing

In line with EEF’s recommended approach, schools should particularly prioritise high quality teaching, though the exact balance of spending between tiers will vary depending on the specific needs of their pupils.

Schools are not required to allocate RP grant to every approach on the menu, but any activity funded by RP grant must fall under one of the approaches listed.

Schools must not use RP grant to meet their portion of the costs of tuition provided through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP). Schools are required to meet those costs from other sources of income, such as PP grant. RP grant is additional funding to provide further education recovery support on top of the subsidised NTP offer.

For PLAC, it is the responsibility of the school to ensure that their use of RP grant addresses the specific needs of PLAC attending the school.

For LAC, it is the responsibility of the virtual school head in the local authority that looks after the child, in consultation with the child’s school, to ensure that RP grant is used to support the child’s educational needs. This should be in accordance with their personal education plans and in line with the menu of approaches.

Local authorities may allocate RP grant to independent special schools or spend the funding themselves on additional educational support to raise the attainment of the eligible pupils. Local authorities must consult the schools about how to use RP grant to support eligible pupils.

See the ‘Pupil premium’ guidance (which can also be used to support the use of RP grant) for further information.

4. Use of evidence

As set out at section 3.1 The ‘menu of approaches’, DfE introduced the menu of approaches to ensure that RP grant (and PP grant – see PP grant conditions of grant is focused on effective approaches to raise the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Schools must be able to demonstrate in their published strategy statement see section 5. Accountability how they have considered the evidence and an understanding of the needs of their pupils when using the menu to plan how they will use their RP grant.

5. Accountability

Schools whose PP grant allocation for the financial year 2023 to 2024 is based on 6 or more eligible pupils are required to publish an updated PP strategy statement annually. Those whose allocation is based on 5 pupils or fewer are not required to publish a PP strategy statement. Schools are required to include information on how they have used their RP grant in their strategy statement.

All schools that are required to publish a strategy statement for the 2023 to 2024 academic year must do so by 31 December 2023, using the template available in the ‘Pupil premium’ guidance page. The template is designed to help schools develop their PP (and RP) strategy and to demonstrate that their use of the funding meets the requirements of the conditions of grant for both grants.

DfE will review a sample of schools’ published strategy statements to ensure that PP grant and RP grant have been spent in line with the relevant conditions of grant.

Given their role in ensuring that schools spend funding appropriately, and in holding schools to account for educational performance, they should scrutinise schools’ strategy statements, including governors plans for use of their RP grant and the outcomes achieved in the previous academic year.

Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors, and the RP grant is no exception.

All eligible schools are required to declare that the RP grant they have spent during the 2023 to 2024 academic year has been spent in line with the conditions set out in this document. A tick-box declaration will be added to the 2023 to 2024 year-end statement for NTP.

 6. Allocation and payment schedule

DfE will publish allocations shortly before each instalment of RP grant is paid.

ESFA will pay the RP grant to local authorities in quarterly instalments as follows:

• 29 September 2023
• 29 December 2023
• 28 March 2024
• 28 June 2024

Where the number of eligible pupils in a school results in its allocation being below the relevant floor amount see the technical note, the allocation will be increased to the floor amount. The floor payment does not apply to pupils in independent special schools where the local authority pays full tuition fees.

If a school opens or closes during the academic year, the local authority shall allocate RP grant for the proportion of the academic year the school is open.

Local authorities must make the grant available to their schools irrespective of any deficit relating to the expenditure of the school’s budget share. RP grant is not part of schools’ budget shares and is not part of the individual school’s budget. It is not to be counted for the purpose of calculating the minimum funding guarantee.

7. Carrying RP grant forward

Schools must spend all of the RP grant they receive in the 2023 to 2024 academic year. RP grant must not be carried forward to future academic years. Funding will be recovered where ESFA has identified that a school has not spent all of its RP grant.

Local authorities must not carry forward funding held centrally into the 2024 to 2025 academic year. Centrally held LAC premium that has not been spent, or allocated to the child’s education setting, by 31 August 2024 will be recovered.

8. Certification

Local authorities will be required to certify that they have passed on the correct amount of funding to schools or, where funding has been spent centrally, that it has been spent in line with these conditions of grant. DfE will issue a certification form in spring 2024.

9. Variation

The basis for allocation of grant may be varied by the Secretary of State from that set out above, if so requested by the local authority or school.

10. Non-compliance

If the local authority or a school fails to comply with the terms and conditions set out in this document, the Secretary of State may recover some or all of the RP grant that has been allocated. The local authority or school will be notified of this in writing.

11. Overpayments

If a local authority or school identifies that it has been overpaid, it must contact the ESFA to arrange repayment of the excess. Where ESFA identifies an overpayment, it may seek to recover the excess. The local authority or school will be notified of this in writing.

12. Further information

The books, other documents and records relating to the recipient’s accounts must be made available for inspection by the Secretary of State and by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

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.

The local authority or school must provide such further information as may be required by the Secretary of State for the purpose of determining whether, or to what extent, it has complied with these terms and conditions. Failure to provide this information may result in the Secretary of State withholding subsequent instalments of RP grant.