Are your staff eligible for the levelling up premium payment?

For secondary schools in ‘high need’ for teachers the levelling up premium payment might help by supporting existing staff

The levelling up premium payment is available for eligible teachers of the following subjects in state-funded secondary schools: 

• chemistry;
• computing;
• mathematics;
• physics. 

The payment will be between £1,500 and £3,000 and will be offered in schools identified as having a high need for teachers. If the eligible school is in an education investment area, the teacher will receive a higher payment.

Who is eligible?

To claim the payment, applicants must have completed at least one of the following: 

• an initial teacher training course specialising in mathematics, physics, chemistry or computing;
• a UK undergraduate or postgraduate degree related to mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing;
• an equivalent non-UK degree.

They must also have either:

• qualified teacher status; or
• qualified teacher learning and skills statu,s and membership of the Society for Education and Training;

They must be employed as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England. State-funded secondary schools include:

• local authority-maintained secondary schools;
• academies, free schools or multi-academy trusts;
• special schools (local authority-maintained or non-maintained).

Teachers applying for the payments must have spent at least 50% of their contracted teaching hours on one more of the eligible subjects at the time of the application. If a teacher has had some breaks in normal employment, they can still apply for the payment. Examples of breaks include: 

• sickness, maternity, paternity, parental or adoption leave;
• annual leave;
• time between unfair dismissal and an employee being reinstated;
• military service – for example, with a reserve force;
• temporary lay-offs.

They must not currently be subject to any:

• formal performance measures as a result of continuous poor teaching standards;
• disciplinary action.

How the payment will be received 

The Department for Education will make the payment in one lump sum. Teachers can only claim one additional payment in each academic year, even if they are eligible for more than one. For example, applicants may be eligible for both the levelling up premium payment and early-career payments but will only be able to claim one of these additional payments in the same academic year. However, if the applicant is eligible to claim back their student loan repayments, they will be able to claim this as well as a levelling up premium payment. 

Teachers can apply from September in the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years.