Pupil premium plus (PP+)
Pupil Premium Plus provides additional funding for education settings to support the progress and educational attainment of children in care.
The funding is provided by the Department of Education and the Virtual School devolves it to education settings.
All children in care to West Northamptonshire Council enrolled in school from reception to year 11 are eligible.
Conditions of PP+ funding
If a school completes an adequate termly Personal Education Plan (PEP) for the child the Virtual School will devolve the PP+ payment for the next term.
The Pupil Premium Plus (PP+) is grant funding from the DfE to raise the achievement of looked after children and to close the gap with their peers.
For the financial year 2026 to 2027, the Virtual School will receive £2,690 of PP+ funding for eligible pupils from Year R to 11 who are looked after by North and West Northamptonshire Local Authorities.
The current conditions of grant are set out in the Department for Education guidance.
These arrangements are for children who are looked after by North Northamptonshire Council and West Northamptonshire Council, wherever they are living. Other arrangements will apply to children looked after by other local authorities, even if they are attending Northamptonshire registered schools.
ESFA will allocate to local authorities in June 2026 a provisional amount of £2,690 per child looked after for at least one day, as recorded in the March 2025 children looked-after data return (SSDA903), and aged 4 to 15 on 31 August 2024.
ESFA will update and finalise this allocation in December 2026, based on the number of children looked after for at least one day during the year ending March 2026, as recorded in the March 2026 children looked-after data return (SSDA903), and aged 4 to 15 on 31 August 2025.
Virtual School Head
The Children and Families Act 2014 requires all Local Authorities to have a Virtual School Head (VSH) who has the responsibility of ensuring the local authority’s duty to promote the education achievement of looked after children is discharged.
VSHs are responsible for managing pupil premium funding for the children they look after and for allocating it to registered schools.
VSHs, working with registered schools, should implement PP+ arrangements for all looked-after children in need of support for whom the authority is responsible, in accordance with the latest conditions of grant published by the department and any supplementary departmental advice it issues.
VSHs have considerable flexibility in the use of PP+ funding to maximise its impact for individual looked-after children as well as the looked-after cohort.
Eligible schools
- State funded, DfE registered schools are eligible for PP+
- Independent, and independent special schools are not eligible
Conditions of PP+ funding for eligible schools
If a school completes an adequate Personal Education Plan (PEP) for the child, the Virtual School will devolve the PP+ payment. The Virtual School will ordinarily withhold PP+ funding from schools whose plans are quality assured as ‘inadequate’.
The Virtual School also reserves the right to withhold future payments in exceptional circumstances (for example, where schools are not evidencing spend within the PEP or not spending committed funds).
It is not possible to apply for extra funding in addition to that already devolved.
Other eligibility
Where children in care aren’t routinely in receipt of PP+, exceptional funding may be devolved.
2026/27 financial year
As per the previous year, the Northamptonshire Virtual School will divide the total amount of £2,690 into three instalments:
- £890 in the summer term
- £900 in the autumn term
- £900 in the spring term
Schools and settings who have not previously received payments from us will be contacted for their financial details. It is the responsibility of schools and settings to inform us if your details have changed.
Email [email protected] to request a bank details amendment form.
Early Years Pupil Premium
The Early Years Pupil Premium (EYPP) gives providers additional funding to support disadvantaged three- and four-year-old pupils.
The Virtual School Head is responsible for informing a provider that a child in care to Northamptonshire is attending their setting. The setting is responsible for applying for EYPP to the local authority in which the setting is based.
Further information
PP+ for previously looked after children
In addition, schools receive PP+ (£2,690) for previously looked after children. This grant is not distributed by the Virtual School and is outside its remit.
Children are eligible if they were in care to a local authority, or other state care, and then left care because they were:
- adopted
- subject to a special guardianship order (SGO)
- subject to a child arrangements order
Schools should record any eligible previously looked-after children on the October census to receive funding from central Government in the following April. The Virtual School has no role in the distribution of PP+ funding for previously looked-after children.
The funding is not a personal budget and should be spent for the benefit of the previously looked-after cohort. Schools should encourage parents and guardians to participate in discussions about how PP+ funding can support their child.
Children who were in care and returned to birth parents are not eligible for PP+ funding unless they left care with a child arrangements order.
The Virtual School automatically transfers the full amount of PP+ funding to education settings. This is given in termly instalments and the Virtual School devolves £2,630 annually per eligible child.
| Term | Value of PP+ payment |
|---|---|
| Summer 2026 | £890 |
| Autumn 2026 | £900 |
| Spring 2027 | £900 |
How to best use PP+ funding
PP+ funding should be used to promote the education (in the widest sense) of the child.
You may wish to consider expenditure which addresses:
- academic achievement and progress
- social, emotional and mental health
- wider achievement, perhaps in an area where the child is talented
- transition to the next Key Stage
- transition to a new education setting
- extra-curricular activities
PP+ for previously looked-after children
Schools also receive PP+ funding for each eligible previously looked-after child on their roll. They are eligible if they were in care to a local authority, or other state care, and then left care because one of the following applied.
They were:
- adopted
- subject to a special guardianship order (SGO)
- subject to a child arrangements order
Schools should record any eligible previously looked-after children on the October census to receive funding from central Government in the following April. The Virtual School has no role in the distribution of PP+ funding for previously looked-after children.
The funding is not a personal budget and should be spent for the benefit of the previously looked-after cohort. Schools should encourage parents and guardians to participate in discussions about how PP+ funding can support their child.
Children who were in care and returned to birth parents are not eligible for PP+ funding unless they returned to parents with a child arrangements order.
Last updated 15 April 2026