Pupil Premium Grant funding

PPG payments are allocated to schools with eligible pupils on a termly basis.

For pupils who are already in care and who have not changed education settings between terms:

The amount of PPG payable is based on the cost of interventions to support the pupil as recorded on the previous term’s Personal Education Plan (PEP) up to a maximum of £600 per term per pupil. Where the amount of PPG recorded in the previous term’s PEP is less than £600, that figure will be the amount that will be paid.

For pupils who are new into care:

When a child comes into care an initial pupil premium payment of up to £600 will be paid to the most appropriate educational setting for the pupil. This is to provide a working budget to put in additional support at this time. When a child comes into care towards the end of a term, a pupil premium funding allocation will be discussed on a case by case basis.

For children who change education setting during the term:

When a child changes school during a term, that term's pupil premium grant allocation will be reviewed on a case by case basis.

Payments to schools where children have moved away during the term will be reviewed on a case by case basis, but the Virtual School does not operate a policy of recoupment for funding already awarded. It may be appropriate to offer any unspent funding to the child’s new school. The moral imperative is to ensure that this funding advantages the most disadvantaged pupils and transition is a time when they are most vulnerable. If this funding were to be used to support transition it could have a significant impact.

The Virtual School does not operate a policy of recoupment for funding already awarded. It is likely that the child, although no longer in care, is still vulnerable and the expectation would be that the funding is used to support them.

The Designated Teacher should contact the Virtual School and the request will be considered by a member of the Virtual School Leadership Team.

The Personal Education Plan (PEP) should be completed and submitted every term by the Designated Teacher for Children in Care using the online ePEP portal, Welfare Call. PEP submission and subsequent approval by the Virtual School by the submission date in one term will usually trigger a PPG payment in the following term. For example, a PEP submitted and approved in the Autumn Term will trigger funding in the Spring Term for an eligible pupil.

It is important to note that payment of the PPG is subject to a number of conditions. Only PEPs judged by the Virtual School to be of sufficient quality will trigger the following term’s PPG funding and the pupil must still be in the care of Suffolk County Council and attending the same school when the PPG payment is due to be made the following term.

These are set termly by the Suffolk Virtual School. Information on the deadlines will be sent out to schools with eligible pupils and are advertised on the Virtual School webpages.

Children in the care of Suffolk have asked that their PEP meeting is not driven by the paperwork and we have asked Social Workers to facilitate this request by leading the PEP in the format of a person-centred meeting which follows the practice advocated in their chosen practice framework: Signs of Safety and Wellbeing. The meeting can therefore inform how the funding could be used but the meeting is not linked to awarding the funding to the school.

Suffolk County Council maintained schools will be paid by journal. After the journal has been processed an email will be sent to the DT at the school (and the school finance contact or school office email) to notify that a payment has been made. The email will include the initials and year group of the pupils the payment relates to. Journals will usually be processed during the third or fourth week of term for eligible pupils who were on roll at the start of the school term.

A purchase order (PO) will be raised and sent to the email address recorded on Suffolk County Council’s finance system for your school. If this email address changes, please notify the Virtual School Office as soon as possible and we will arrange for it to be updated on the finance system. As soon as the PO has been raised, the Virtual School Office will send an email to the school’s DT, finance officer and/or school office. The email will include the initials and year group of the pupils the payment relates to as well as the PO number.

PPG payments will start being processed by the Virtual School Office from the second or third week of each new term for pupils who were on roll at the start of that term. All payments for these pupils will usually be processed before the half term holiday. If an eligible pupil is new into school or new into care, then authorised payments will usually be processed a couple of weeks after the start date.

Please raise an invoice as soon as possible after receipt of the PO and email to ensure prompt payment. If there are any queries about the PO or invoice please contact the Virtual School Office on 01473 260818.

Invoices should be addressed to Suffolk County Council. The PO number must be included on the invoice otherwise our payments team will not be able to match the invoice to the relevant purchase order and may be unable to make the payment. Please note, names of pupils must not be included on invoices, pupil initials and year group are sufficient for the Virtual School Office to match the payment back to eligible pupils.

The invoice should be sent to Suffolk County Council’s Payments Team, email address: eoce.fin.invoices.2@workflow.mail.em3.oraclecloud.com. Instructions are included on the Purchase Order. If you are unable to email your invoice it can be sent by post: Suffolk County Council, E-PROC C&I - Constantine House, 5 Constantine Road, Ipswich, Suffolk IP1 2DH. On receipt of the invoice, the payment will be processed by the Payments Team.

Payment is not an automatic entitlement but dependent upon authorisation from the Virtual School. It is a requirement of our financial system that a purchase order should be created before the invoice is presented. It also helps to confirm that the correct children are being claimed for. Please contact the Virtual School Office with any queries about the initials or year groups of pupils on the PO and email.

When an invoice is still outstanding two to three weeks after a PO has been raised, the Virtual School Office will contact the school with a reminder. Please note that if there is an open PO for PPG funding, no further POs will be raised by the Virtual School until the outstanding invoice has been received. If the Virtual School Office has not received a response to reminders and an invoice has not been received by a specified deadline, the PO will be closed, and the unclaimed funding may be reallocated.

Queries regarding the payment of an invoice can be made directly to Suffolk County Council’s Payments Team on 0345 850 0989 or to the Suffolk Virtual School Office on 01473 260818.

Please contact the Virtual School Office as soon as possible to advise us of any changes to payment arrangements for your school so that we can ensure that all systems have been updated.

If the query relates to a pupil’s eligibility for a PPG payment, please contact the Virtual School Office.

Please contact the Virtual School in the authority with responsibility for the pupil in care for information on their arrangements for paying PPG for their pupils in care.

The DT may be asked to complete a ‘light touch PEP’ for pupils who have come into care or started at a new school towards the end of term. Although the submission or quality of a ‘light touch’ PEP will not determine the following term’s funding, a DT should still complete as much of the PEP as possible.

Please contact the child’s previous school to discuss whether unspent PPG funding could be transferred to your school.

PPG is also available for adopted children, those on a special guardianship order or a child arrangements order who were previously in care. Please note that these funds come directly to the school and are NOT part of the process for children in care described above. This funding comes directly to the school from central government and should be claimed by recording the pupil in the January school census.