Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what was the criteria for schools accessing the COVID-19 workforce fund; how many schools applied; and of those schools, what was the average amount of funding received.

To claim to the COVID-19 workforce fund, schools need to meet the pre-requisite, financial reserves and absence criteria set out in the guidance for schools, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-workforce-fund-for-schools.

We received claims to the 2020 COVID-19 workforce fund from 974 schools, and made payments to 902 schools. All eligible schools were paid, and school level data on payments made to schools is published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-data-on-funding-claims-by-institutions-2020-to-2021. The average amount of funding received was £6,190. The claims window for the current round of the COVID-19 workforce fund, which covers absences from 22 November 2021 until 18 February 2022, will open in the spring.