Schools: Databases

(asked on 23rd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reason he changed the census date for schools from January 2021 to October 2020 for the financial year beginning April 2021.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 1st March 2021

The move to using the October census for pupil premium funding will provide both schools and the Department with greater certainty around future funding levels earlier in the year. The majority of schools’ funding is already calculated by using data from the October census.

Per pupil funding rates for the pupil premium in the 2021-22 financial year will be the same as in the 2020-21 financial year, which is expected to increase pupil premium funding to more than £2.5 billion in 2021-22 as more children have become eligible for free school meals.

Pupil premium will continue to be based on “Ever6 FSM”, whereby all pupils eligible for free school meals at the time of the October census, or at any point in the previous 6 years, will attract pupil premium funding. As a result, we expect a typical school to see an increase in pupil premium funding from 2020-21 to 2021-22 as more children have become eligible for free school meals as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Further information on this administrative change can be found on gov.uk under “allocation changes from 2021 to 2022” on: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium.

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