The DfE has updated its guidance on how much PE and sport premium funding schools receive and given advice on how it should be spent
Carried forward unspent PE and sport premium grant funding
As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic the DfE relaxed the ring-fencing arrangements for the PE and sport premium in the 2019-20 academic year, to allow any unspent grant to be carried forward into the 2020-21 academic year. As the pandemic is still with us, this arrangement has also been applied to any unspent funding for the 2020-21 academic year.
Any unspent funding that has been carried forward must be spent in full by 31 July 2022. Schools will need to factor this into spending plans for their 2021-22 PE and sport premium allocation. The conditions of grant reflect this.
What your funding should not be used for
You should not use your funding to:
employ coaches or specialist teachers to cover planning preparation and assessment arrangements – this should be funded from your core staffing budgets;
teach the minimum requirements of the national curriculum – apart from top-up swimming lessons after pupils’ completion of core lessons (or, in the case of academies and free schools, to teach your existing PE curriculum);
fund capital expenditure – DfE does not set the capitalisation policy for schools. If you are in any doubt as to whether your proposed spending is deemed as capital expenditure, you should first speak with your school business manager or school accountant and their auditors
Accountability
School compliance
You are accountable for how you use the PE and sport premium funding allocated to you. You must spend the grant for the purpose it was provided – to make additional and sustainable improvements to the PE, sport and physical activity offered. Schools and local authorities must follow the terms and conditions in the conditions of grant.
Online reporting
You must publish details of how you spend your PE and sport premium funding by the end of the summer term, or by 31 July 2022 at the latest.
Online reporting must clearly show:
the amount of PE and sport premium received;
a full breakdown of how it has been spent;
the impact the school has seen on pupils’ PE, physical activity, and sport participation and attainment;
how the improvements will be sustainable in the future.
You are also required to publish the percentage of pupils within your Year 6 cohort in the 2021-22 academic year who met the national curriculum requirement to:
swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres;
use a range of strokes effectively – for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke;
perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations.
Attainment data for Year 6 pupils should be provided from their most recent swimming lessons. This may be data from Years 3, 4, 5 or 6, depending on the swimming programme at your school. It is essential to retain attainment data from swimming lessons in Years 3 to 5 in order to be able to report this accurately in Year 6.
To help you plan, monitor and report on the impact of your spending, partners in the physical education and school sport sector have developed a template; this can be accessed through the Association for PE and Youth Sport Trust websites. It is recommended that the template is used to record your activity throughout the year, as well as for publication at the end of the school year.
Review of online reports
School online reporting will be monitored by DfE. The DfE will sample a number of schools in each local authority to review what they have published on their use of the funding and their swimming attainment.
Eligibility
Most schools with primary-age pupils receive the PE and sport premium in the academic year 2021-22, including:
schools maintained by the local authority;
academies (includes free schools);
special schools (for children with special educational needs or disabilities);
non-maintained special schools (schools for children with special educational needs that the Secretary of State for Education has approved under section 342 of the Education Act 1996);
city technology colleges (CTCs);
pupil referral units (PRUs provide education for children who cannot attend a mainstream school);
general hospitals.
The following types of schools do not receive this funding:
nursery schools;
studio schools;
university technical colleges (UTCs);
independent schools (except for non-maintained special schools, which do receive the funding).
How the DfE calculate funding
Schools receive PE and sport premium funding based on the number of pupils in Years 1 to 6. In cases where schools do not follow year groups (for example, in some special schools), pupils aged 5 to 10 attract the funding. In most cases, the DfE determines how many pupils in your school attract the funding by using data from the January 2021 school census.
If you are a new school, or a school teaching eligible pupils for the first time in the academic year 2021-22, the DfE will base your funding on data from the autumn 2021 school census.
Funding for 2021 to 2022
Schools with 16 or fewer eligible pupils receive £1,000 per pupil.
Schools with 17 or more eligible pupils receive £16,000 and an additional payment of £10 per pupil.
Maintained schools, including PRUs and general hospitals
Maintained schools, including PRUs and general hospitals, do not receive funding directly from DfE. The DfE gives the funding to your local authority and they pass it on to you. The DfE give local authorities PE and sport premium funding for maintained schools in two separate payments. They receive:
7/12 of your funding allocation on 29 October 2021;
5/12 of your funding allocation on 29 April 2022.
If you are a new maintained school, or if you are teaching eligible pupils for the first time in the 2021-22 academic year, local authorities receive:
7/12 of your funding allocation on 28 February 2022;
5/12 of your funding allocation on 29 April 2022.
Academies, free schools and CTCs
The DfE send academies (including free schools) and CTCs their PE and sport premium funding in two separate payments. You receive:
7/12 of your funding allocation on 2 November 2021;
5/12 of your funding allocation on 3 May 2022.
If you are a new academy (includes a free school) or CTC, or if you are teaching eligible pupils for the first time in the 2021-22 academic year, you receive:
7/12 of your total funding allocation on 1 March 2022;
5/12 of your total funding allocation on 3 May 2022.
Non-maintained special schools
The DfE send non-maintained special schools their PE and sport premium funding in two separate payments. You receive:
7/12 of your funding with the first payment you have scheduled with us after 1 November 2021;
5/12 of your funding with the first payment you have scheduled with DfE after 4 May 2022.
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