Pupil Premium Plus Post-16 Pilot Support for Local Authorities in England

New funding available to test the extension of financial support to looked-after children and care leavers in general further education (FE) colleges across a spread of LAs.

The Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) post-16 pilot responds to the need for additional financial support by testing proof of concept of extending support to looked-after children and care leavers in general FE colleges.

This will enable the Department for Education (DfE) to build an evidence base of what works, which will be used to inform any future support for this cohort.

The proposed outcomes of the pilot are:

  • Outcome 1 – Raise the profile of looked-after children and care leavers in FE by strengthening close working relationships and sharing expertise on the needs of this cohort
  • Outcome 2 – Improve the attendance of these young people in FE by putting in place tailored interventions to support attendance
  • Outcome 3 – Better support the delivery of Personal Education Plans, pathway plans or equivalent at both an individual and cohort level
  • Outcome 4 – Identify models of good practice used by LAs across the country to respond to individual and cohort level needs, building the evidence base of what works well to support looked-after children and care leavers in general FE colleges.

All local authorities (LAs) in England are eligible to apply.

LAs can only submit one EOI application on behalf of their own organisation.

The DfE has secured £3 million for select LAs to take part in the pilot in the 2021/22 financial year. DfE intend to allocate this funding to a sample of LAs for use across two terms.

Funding will be allocated to successful LAs via a Section 31 grant, with individual allocations calculated using a funding formula based on eligible pupil numbers.

Expressions of interest must be submitted by the deadline of 22 July 2021 (23:59pm).