Pupil premium policy for children and young people in care

Allocation and recoupment of funding to schools in and out of county

Allocation of funding to Lincolnshire schools and recoupment policy

The initial payments of  pupil premium plus grant will be allocated to schools by 31 May 2024 or within one month of a young person coming into care after 30 April 2024.

Where there is a need to clarify what funding a school is providing from its own resources, the school may need to provide evidence before pupil premium plus grant can be allocated. Pupil premium plus will not be recouped where a child moves during the term.

The virtual school reserves the right to recoup pupil premium plus funding if there is evidence that it is not being used to address the child in care’s needs.

Allocation of funding to out of county (non-residential) schools and recoupment policy

An out of county school will need to be set up on Lincolnshire finance system and a delay in providing the necessary details may result in a delay in funding being allocated. Once the setting has been set up, additional requests can be submitted for further funding based on the child’s specific needs as above.

The grant will be transferred directly to the schools via Lincolnshire Schools Finance Team (see Appendix 1). Where there is a need to clarify what funding a school is providing from its own resources, the school may need to provide evidence before the  pupil premium plus grant can be allocated. The virtual school reserves the right to recoup  pupil premium plus funding if there is evidence that it is not being used to address the child’s needs or if the child moves to a different setting. The virtual school will have a discussion with a setting before making a decision to recoup funds.

Allocation of grant to out of county residential providers and recoupment policy

We will provide pupil premium plus funding to independent providers only in exceptional circumstances, because these are already funded at a high level by central budgets.

Any  pupil premium plus grant allocation will have to be approved by the virtual school headteacher, on receipt of a high quality ePEP.

We reserve the right to recoup the funding if there is evidence that it is not being used to address the individual needs of the child in care.