Pupil Premium 2012-13

Monday 12th December 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department for Education (Sarah Teather)]

I am today confirming the funding available for schools in England in 2012-13, through the pupil premium and what this means in terms of funding per pupil. The pupil premium targets additional money at pupils from the most deprived background to help them achieve their full potential.

In 2012-13 the amount available for the pupil premium will double from £625 million in 2011-12 to £1.25 billion. It will further rise to £2.5 billion by 2014-15.

The Government have decided that eligibility for the pupil premium in 2012-13 will be extended to pupils who have been eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the last six years. Earlier this year we consulted on options for extending the coverage of the pupil premium. As a group, children who have been eligible for FSM at any point in time have consistently lower educational attainment than those who have never been eligible for FSM. Up to £50 million of the £1.25 billion will be used to support a summer school programme to help the most disadvantaged pupils make the transition from primary to secondary school. This approach received the highest support with 44% of those responding backing its introduction.

Increasing overall funding for the premium next year to £1.25 billion will enable the coverage of the premium to be extended to a further 500,000 million pupils, while at the same time increasing the level of the premium from £488 to £600 per pupil. This will ensure that a higher proportion of underachieving children are able to benefit from the extra funding provided through the premium.

Schools will have the freedom to spend the premium, which is additional to the underlying schools budget, in a way they think will best support the raising of attainment for the most vulnerable pupils.

We urge schools and local authorities to encourage parents to register their child as eligible for free school meals so that each school receives their maximum pupil premium entitlement.

To ensure transparency and accountability, schools will be required from September 2012 to publish online information about how they have used their pupil premium allocations. New measures will be included in the performance tables that will capture the attainment of pupils covered by the pupil premium.

We will continue to provide the pupil premium for children in care who have been looked after for more than six months, recognising that they need additional support to help them raise their educational achievement.

We will also continue to provide a premium for children of parents in the armed services, who face particular challenges. The level of this service child premium will be £250 in 2012-13, up from £200 in 2011-12.

Annex A

Accompanying documents

These products can be found online at:

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding

Example pupil premium allocations using the Ever 6 indicator applied to the January 2011 school census.