Key Information

Key Information List

Pupil Premium

What is the Pupil Premium?

The pupil premium grant provides funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

The grant also provides support for children and young people of service families, referred to as service pupil premium (SPP). This has been combined into pupil premium payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending. Pupils that the SPP intends to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

what are the funding criteria?

Pupil premium funding is allocated to eligible schools based on the number of:

  • pupils who are recorded as eligible for free school meals, or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (referred to as Ever 6 FSM)
  • children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils, and schools do not have to spend pupil premium so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. It can be used:

  • to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer
  • for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils

Pupil premium funding is allocated to local authorities based on the number of:

  • looked-after children, supported by the local authority
  • pupils who meet any of the eligibility criteria and who attend an independent setting, where the local authority pays full tuition fees

For pupils who are looked-after children, funding should be managed by the local authority’s virtual school head (VSH)  in consultation with the child’s school.

FUNDING FOR 2025-2026

This table shows how the pupil premium grant is allocated to schools and local authorities in the 2025 to 2026 financial year, based on per pupil rates.

Funding criteria Amount of funding for each primary-aged pupil per year Amount of funding for each secondary-aged pupil per year Funding is paid to
Pupils who are eligible for free school meals, or have been eligible in the past 6 years £1,515 £1,075 School
Pupils previously looked after by a local authority or other state care £2,630 £2,630 School
Children who are looked after by the local authority £2,630 £2,630

Local authority

 

Providing support for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces

The portion of PP grant for children and young people with parents in the regular armed forces is referred to as service pupil premium (SPP). It has been combined into PP payments to make it easier for schools to manage their spending, but the group of pupils that SPP is intended to support are not necessarily from financially disadvantaged backgrounds.

SPP is allocated to academies based on the number of pupils who meet the following criteria:

Pupils are eligible if they meet the following 2 criteria:

  • one of their parents is serving in the regular armed forces, including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service – this includes pupils with a parent who is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England
  • they have been registered as a ‘service child’ on any school census in the past 6 years

They would also be eligible if:

  • one of their parents died whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme

Permitted use of PP grant

PP grant must be spent to deliver the objectives and support eligible pupil cohorts as described above.

The grant can be spent:

  • for the benefit of eligible pupils registered at the academy who meet the funding criteria
  • for the benefit of pupils who meet the funding criteria and are registered at other state funded schools - for example, when hosting summer schools which welcome pupils from other schools
  • on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of eligible pupils at the academy

Academies do not have to spend PP so that it solely benefits pupils who meet the funding criteria. PP can be used to support other pupils with identified needs, such as those who have or have had a social worker, or who act as a carer. It can also be used for whole class interventions which will also benefit non-disadvantaged pupils.

How PP grant is used

To ensure PP grant is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational attainment of eligible pupils, academies must spend their PP grant (excluding SPP) on evidence-informed activities in line with the ‘menu of approaches’ set by the Department for Education (DfE). 

The menu aligns with the Education Endowment Foundation’s (EEF’s) evidence-informed tiered approach, which helps schools allocate spending across 3 key areas:

  • developing high-quality teaching, for example through professional development and recruitment and retention
  • providing targeted academic support, such as one-to-one or small group tuition
  • tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour and social and emotional wellbeing

When considering the balance of spending within the 3-tiered model academies should bear in mind that the EEF recommends that approaches which support and promote high-quality teaching in academies should be a top priority for pupil premium spending. However, the exact balance of spending between categories will vary depending on the specific needs of pupils and the relative size of the school’s PP cohort.

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

Accountability

Academies whose PP grant allocation for the financial year 2024 to 2025 is based on more than 5 eligible pupils are required to publish an updated PP strategy statement annually.

All academies that are required to publish a strategy statement for the academic year 2024 to 2025 must do so by 31 December 2024.

Please see the Woolmer Hill Pupil Premium Strategy Statement and Pupil Premium Policy below: