Pupil Premium, Free School Meals & Recovery Grant
Introduced in 2011, the pupil premium is a sum of money given to schools each year by the Government to improve the attainment of disadvantaged children.
This is based on research showing that children from low income families perform less well at school than their peers. Often, children who are entitled to pupil premium face challenges such as poor language and communication skills, lack of confidence and issues with attendance and punctuality. The pupil premium is intended to directly benefit the children who are eligible, helping to narrow the gap between them and their classmates.
Children qualify for free school meals – and accordingly pupil premium – if their parents receive any of the following benefits:
- Universal credit (provided you have a net income of £7400 or less)
- Income support
- Income-based jobseekers’ allowance
- Income-related employment and support allowance
- Support under Part IV of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of state pension credit
- Child tax credit, provided that you are not also entitled to working tax credit and have an annual gross income of £16,190 or less
These benefits have now been rolled into a single benefit, called Universal Credit.
Universal Credit is being rolled out, with an expected completion date of March 2022. All pupils who were eligible for free school meals up to April 2018 will continue to receive free school meals during this period.
Once Universal Credit is fully rolled out, any existing claimants who no longer meet the eligibility criteria will still qualify for free school meals until the end of their current stage of education (i.e. primary or secondary).
Children who are or have been in care, and children who have a parent who is or was in the armed forces, are also entitled to pupil premium.
Schools are responsible for recording the children who are eligible for pupil premium in their annual school census – you don’t have to do anything yourself, other than making sure you return any paperwork that relates to the benefits you receive or your child’s entitlement to free school meals.
If your child qualifies for free school meals, it’s important that you tell Scarborough UTC as this enables us to claim pupil premium.
You can see how this year’s pupil premium is allocated in the attached document.
Scarborough-UTC-Pupil-Premium-Strategy-Statement 2024-25
Free School Meals
From 1 April 2018 the Government introduced new regulations for people claiming free schools meals who receive Universal Credit. The change means that if your net annual earnings are more than £7,400 you will not be eligible to claim free school meals.
Students who received free school meals before 1 April 2018 and students who are assessed as eligible after 1 April 2018 will continue to receive free school meals until the end of the universal roll out period, which is expected to be March 2022. This applies even if they no longer meet the eligibility criteria at a subsequent point during the roll out period.
At the end of the Universal Credit roll out period, any existing student who no longer meets the eligibility criteria will continue to receive free school meals until the end of their current phase of education, i.e. primary or secondary school.
Qualifying for free school meals
To qualify for free school meals you must fulfil one of the following criteria:
- Universal Credit, provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods (£616.67 per month);
- Income Support;
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance;
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance;
- Support under part six of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999;
- The guarantee element of Pension Credit;
- Child Tax Credit, provided you are also not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual household gross income that does not exceed £16,190 (as assessed by HMRC); or
- Working Tax Credit run-on, paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit.
Please note that contributions-based benefits, including contribution-related Jobseekers’ Allowance do not entitle you to claim free school meals.
Free School Meals
We now aim to check eligibility for free school meals for all students when they start at the school to ensure we can provide free school meals to all who qualify.
We use the Online Free School Meal (OFSM) system which checks and confirms to you and the school whether you are eligible or not. Even if your child is not eligible now, the system continues to check and will notify you and the school if your child becomes eligible in the future.
If you do not believe you have provided the relevant details to enable us to check eligibility on your behalf, you can apply yourself.
To apply for free school meals visit the link below and search for the school to start your application:https://apply.cloudforedu.org.uk/
This online process replaces the paper application form that parents used to have to send to complete and send to North Yorkshire Council.
Scarborough UTC used the coronavirus (COVID-19) catch-up premium grant in the academic year 2021/ 2022 for one to one tutoring for students in English, Maths and Science to close the knowledge gaps. At 16 – 19 students who did not achieve GCSE Maths also received tutoring on a one to one basis.
In the academic year 2021 -22 the college used 16- 19 catch up funding to support students who did not achieve a GCSE grade 4 or above in their Maths. These students had missed significant amounts of curriculum time due to the first lockdown during their GSCE studies due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Students received individual weekly coaching sessions from a maths tutor who worked through misconceptions about mathematical problems, key numerical problem-solving techniques and exam paper practice. These students had also received the tuition online with the same tutor when the college had to close due to the Coronavirus pandemic and national lockdown restrictions. The sessions were 1:1 and for 1 hour each week during term time.
The impact of the grant on the educational attainment of pupils was assessed by student voice and student attainment tracking throughout the year. Please see Testimonials.
