Join the risk protection arrangement (RPA) for schools
How public sector schools can join the risk protection arrangement (RPA), an alternative to commercial insurance, which may save time and money.
Applies to England
This page is for schools that are interested in joining the RPA. There is further information on membership rules, levels of cover summary and how to make a claim if you are already a member.
About the RPA
The RPA provides comprehensive risk protection for public sector schools and is an alternative to commercial insurance for the education sector. Under RPA, the UK government covers the losses instead of commercial insurance.
It covers risks normally included in a standard school’s insurance policy and is priced per pupil or placement regardless of any claims.
Schools may join at any time of year. Multi-academy trusts (MATs) are permitted to join the RPA in a phased manner, where some academies in the MAT still have commercial insurance contracts in place.
The cost is reviewed annually to ensure breadth of cover and value for money are balanced. More information about the RPA can be found in this pre-recorded webinar.
Benefits of membership
Risk management is a continuous cycle that helps ensure strategic priorities and improvements plans for schools and trusts are maintained or met. RPA membership brings many benefits that can help protect your school and staff, including:
- financial protection: the RPA will cover the cost of any losses that your school suffers, within the scope and up to the limits of your membership
- peace of mind: knowing that your school is financially protected within the scope and up to the limits of your membership, so you can focus on teaching and learning
- access to support: the RPA offers a range of support services to its members, including risk management advice and training
Join the RPA
Public sector schools
If your school is classified as a public sector school, you can join the RPA using your DfE Sign-in account.
Converter academies and church schools
If your school is a converter academy, it will have been signed up to the RPA automatically, but you can opt out if you want to.
If your school is a church school and a church organisation allows the school to occupy their property, under RPA membership rules, its trustees:
- are covered for losses and liabilities they may incur through you occupying their property
- can make claims on your behalf for those losses and liabilities
- can have those claims paid directly to them
- can use the complaints and arbitration procedures with regard to those claims
Create or use a DfE Sign-in account to join the RPA
Follow the steps in this section. Each step also includes a video tutorial.
You can sign in to DfE as a local authority or MAT to manage your RPA membership and that of your schools. This will enable you to see all the schools linked to your organisation.
You can sign up these schools or download their certificates from your account. Trusts can also access their trust-level certificate.
Step 1: DfE Sign in
Create a DfE Sign-in account if you do not have one
If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by completing steps 1 to 7 below:
- Access DfE Sign-in page and select ‘Create a DfE Sign-in account’. On the next page, select ‘No account? Create one’.
- Enter your name and email address (use a valid business email address that contains your name. To note, we are unable to accept generic emails, such as ‘admin’ or ‘info’).
- We will send you an email to verify your email address. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.
- Create a memorable password that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 of the following: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers, symbols. Enter your given name and surname.
- Sign in using your new credentials. Request your multi-factor authentication (MFA) verification email by clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.
- We will send you an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.
- Follow the ‘Next step’ instructions outlined in ‘Adding an organisation to your DfE Sign-in account’ below.
You may have noticed the term ‘approver’ when creating your account. An approver is someone at your organisation responsible for controlling who has access to DfE Sign-in and the services within the system. It is usually a senior person, such as an administrator or a manager.
For security reasons, you will need one of your organisation’s approvers authorisation before you can access the form.
If you need further help, you can watch a video tutorial.
Log on to your DfE Sign in account
Step 2: Request access to the RPA
- Request access to your organisation and the RPA form.
- Ask your approver to approve your access to the RPA and the online collection service.
You can view who your organisation’s approvers are after you’ve added your organisation to your DfE Sign-in account. There’s more information about what approvers need to do in step 3.
If you need further help, you can watch a video tutorial.
Step 3: Give access to the RPA form (for approvers)
- Add the RPA to the online collections service.
- Go to the ‘manage users’ page and add a role to each user’s account.
- Choose ‘add services’ from the right-hand list. If a user already has access to the online collections service, choose this on the user’s page and add the role ‘RPA’.
- Choose the services, roles and forms you want the user to have access to and save your changes.
If you need further help, you can watch a video tutorial.
Annual costs
Academies
The annual costs are:
- £25 per pupil
- £25 per place for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units
For academies, this covers the school for the current academic year, 1 September 2024 to 31 August 2025. The cost for the next academic year, 1 September 2025 to 31 August 2026, will increase to £27.
Local authority maintained schools
The annual costs are:
- £27 per pupil
- £27 per place for special and alternative provision academies, special schools and pupil referral units
For local authority maintained schools, this covers the school for the current financial year, 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Additional cover and buying help
If there’s something you need cover for that’s not included in the RPA, use the Get help buying for schools free and impartial procurement service.
The Get help buying for schools blog is a useful source of information for school buyers who want to:
- get the best value for money
- add extra cover not included in the RPA
- comply with procurement regulations
Independent reports
We have published RPA summary provisioning analyses since 2014. From 2023, the March and August provisioning timeline has been revised to June and December. This allows DfE additional time to review findings prior to the new membership year.
Contact
If you have any queries, including about opting in or opting out of the RPA, email RPA.DFE@education.gov.uk.
Updates to this page
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We have updated the 'If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account' section as users are now required to add multi-factor authentication to verify their identity when signing in to their DfE Sign-in account.
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Updated the annual costs for local authority maintained schools for the financial year 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026.
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‘Annual costs’ updated: added RPA membership costs for 2025 to 2026 for academies and local-authority-maintained schools.
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Updated the figures for academies' annual costs and the dates of the coverage period for the 2024 to 2025 academic year.
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First published.