Pupil Premium
Purpose
The Government believes that the Pupil Premium, which is additional to main school funding, is the best way to address the current underlying inequalities between children eligible for free school meals (FSM) and their peers by ensuring that funding to tackle disadvantage reaches the pupils who need it most. It is for schools to decide how the Pupil Premium, allocated to schools per FSM pupil, is spent, since they are best placed to assess what additional provision should be made for the individual pupils within their responsibility.
Schools are free to spend the Pupil Premium as they see fit. However they will be held accountable for how they have used the additional funding to support pupils from low-income families. New measures are included in the performance tables that will capture the achievement of those deprived pupils covered by the Pupil Premium.
The Pupil Premium is allocated to children from low-income families who are currently known to be eligible for FSM in both mainstream and non-mainstream settings and children who have been looked after continuously for more than six months.
The level of the premium in 2021-22 is £1345 per pupil for pupils eligible for free school meals (FSM) and £2345 for pupils who have been looked after or cared for continuously for six months.
Eligibility for the Pupil Premium now includes pupils who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last 6 years.
