Decision details

To request approval to consult local authority maintained special schools and academies and pupil referral units within North Yorkshire on the allocation methodology for the DfE Teachers Pay Additional Grant for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years.

to approve consultation to be undertaken with Special Schools and Alternative Provision (AP) Schools on the methodology to be used by the local authority for the distribution of the TPAG to these establishments for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 financial years

The DfE have announced the provision of £525 million to support schools with the September 2023 teachers’ pay award, with a further £900 million in the 2024/2025 financial year. This funding is being split between mainstream schools, special schools and alternative provision (AP), early years, and 16 to 19 provision. The split reflects relative pupil numbers, and core funding amounts, across these different types of provision. The funding is being allocated through the Teachers’ Pay Additional Grant (TPAG).

The TPAG funding allocation for Special Schools and AP (both LA maintained and academies) is paid to local authorities by the DfE. Local authorities have flexibility in how they pass on the funding allocations for special schools and AP schools to individual providers. This flexibility recognises that the teachers’ pay costs faced by special schools and AP schools may vary between individual providers, depending in part on the complexity of the pupil needs that they serve. However, the DfE require local authorities to comply with the following requirements in setting their local methodologies for how they will pass on the additional funding to schools they currently maintain, academies they previously maintained and free schools located in their area. Local authorities must:

• pass on 100% of TPAG funding to individual eligible schools
• ensure that all eligible schools receive a funding allocation through TPAG in 2023/2024
• have transparent criteria to distribute funding to individual schools, treating academies and mainstream schools the same
• consult with eligible schools before deciding their methodology for allocating TPAG funding