Memorandum submitted by Mr Tim Loughton
MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families
1. When I gave evidence on looked after children
to the select committee on 15 December 2010 I undertook to provide
further information on the mechanics of how the pupil premium
for looked after children will operate.
2. The Secretary of State for Education announced
the funding arrangements for the pupil premium on Monday 13 December
2010. Technical notes, setting out the detail on how we have
calculated pupil premium for 2011-12, have been published on the
Department's website here.
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/financialmanagement/schoolsrevenuefunding/
settlement2012pupilpremium/a0070272/technical-notes-for-the-2011-12-allocations
3. The looked after pupil premium for 2011-12
is £430, the same as for the main premium. Funding for the
premium will rise from £625m in 2011-12 to £2.5 billion
in 2014-15.
BASIS OF
ALLOCATION TO
LOCAL AUTHORITIES
(LAS)
4. The total looked after children premium allocation
for each local authority is based on the number of children who
at some point in the year to 31 March 2010 were looked after continuously
by that authority for at least six months and who were aged 4
to 15 on 31 August 2009.
5. The looked after premium is allocated to the
local authority which looks after the child rather than the authority
in which his/her school is located. The rationale for this is
that the authority which looks after a child will have the most
up-to-date picture of whether the child is eligible for the premium
(i.e. looked after continuously for six months), where that child
is living and going to school and when he or she moves placements
and, in some cases, schools.
LOOKED AFTER
CHILDREN IN
MAINSTREAM MAINTAINED
SCHOOLS AND
ACADEMIES
6. For each looked after child who at some point
in the year up to 31 March 2011 has been continuously looked after
for six months and who is in Year R to 11 during the 2011-12 financial
year, the pupil premium should be allocated to the maintained
school or academy he or she attends.
7. It is for LAs to decide how they will distribute
the money to reflect the particular circumstances of a looked
after child. Looked after children, for example, are more likely
to move schools. We have therefore allowed flexibility for local
authorities, if they wish, to make allocations on a termly instead
of an annual basis. They may consider doing this because the
child's current care placement is unstable and there is likely
to be a placement move involving a change in school place. Another
reason for deciding on a termly rather than a yearly allocation
could be because the child is coming to a natural transition point
and during the course of the financial year will move from infant
to junior or from primary to secondary school.
8. Some looked after children will attend a school
or academy which is located in a different local authority in
England to the authority which looks after them. Where this is
the case the local authority which looks after the child should
pass the funding to the school or academy which the child attends.
To ensure that the process for doing this works at local level
the Department's technical guidance says that the passporting
of the premium can be done either directly to the school or academy
or via the local authority in which the school or academy is located
for the LA to pass on. Allowing for this flexibility means that
local authorities have more control over how the pupil premium
gets to the right school.
9. When a child becomes looked after continuously
for six months during the financial year the local authority should
allocate to the school a pro-rata allocation from the beginning
of the first school term following the date on which the child
becomes looked after for six months.
10. All maintained schools and academies are
required to have a designated teacher who is a source of expertise
about the barriers to teaching and learning which get in the way
of looked after children achieving their potential. The designated
teacher also plays an important role as the main link (perhaps
through the child's social worker or the virtual school head)
with the local authority which looks after the child and has a
duty under the Children Act 1989 to promote his or her educational
achievement. It will be for the school to decide how best to
use the premium in order to meet the educational needs of the
child. In doing so, schools may want take account of any views
from relevant professionals (e.g. virtual school head) from the
local authority with care responsibility for the child.
CHILDREN EDUCATED
IN NON-MAINSTREAM
SETTINGS
11. Looked after children who are in Year R to
11 but are not being educated in mainstream settings such as non-maintained
special schools and PRUs, are also eligible for the pupil premium.
Grants for looked after children in these settings can either
be:
(a) held by the local authority to spend specifically
on additional educational support to raise the standard of attainment;
or
(b) allocated to the setting in which the child
is being educated.
12. The technical guidance advises that for looked
after children educated in non mainstream settings the virtual
school head or looked after children education service team must
be consulted on how the premium is spent to support the child
in accordance with his or her personal education plan.
December 2010
| 
