The Secretary of State for Education lays down the following terms and conditions on which assistance is given in relation to the recovery premium grant (RP) grant payable to academies (including free schools) for the 2023 to 2024 academic year.

The following terms and conditions apply to single trusts and multi-academy trusts (MATs).

RP grant rates and detailed eligibility criteria for the 2023 to 2024 academic year are set out in the RP grant technical note.

RP grant is part of the government’s package of funding to support disadvantaged pupils with their education recovery.

This is a time-limited grant for the 2021 to 2022, 2022 to 2023 and 2023 to 2024 academic years.

2. Eligibility criteria

RP grant for academies is distributed directly by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) based on pupil premium (PP) grant eligibility. RP grant is allocated to mainstream academies (at the rates set out in the technical note) based on the number of pupils in year groups reception to year 11, who are:

• recorded as eligible for free school meals (FSM) or have been recorded as eligible in the past 6 years (FSM Ever 6). This includes eligible children of families who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

• previously looked-after children (PLAC): pupils who were looked after by a local authority or other state care immediately before being adopted, or who left local authority care on a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (previously known as a residence order). From 1 April 2023, RP grant eligibility for pupils who have been adopted from care or have left care will include children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales

RP grant for special academies, special educational needs (SEN) units in mainstream academies, and alternative provision (AP) academies is allocated (at the rates set out in the technical note) based on the total number of pupils in reception to year 11, minus those children who are looked after by the local authority (see paragraph below).

RP grant is allocated to local authorities based on the number of looked-after children (LAC) supported by the authority, including those who attend academies. LAC are defined in the Children Act 1989 as those who are in the care of, or provided with accommodation by, an English local authority. It is for the local authority to decide how much of this funding to pass on to the child’s academy.

3. Permitted use of RP grant

RP grant must be spent to support eligible pupil cohorts with their education recovery see section 2. Eligibility criteria above following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The grant can be spent:

• for the benefit of pupils registered at the academy that receives it

• for the benefit of pupils registered at other state funded schools or academies - for example, when hosting summer schools which welcome pupils from other schools

• on community services whose provision furthers the benefit of pupils at the academy - for example where virtual school heads (responsible for LAC RP grant) deem it beneficial to do so, such as art therapy outside of the classroom, or training of local authority staff to raise awareness of LAC

Evidence is listed within our PP strategy