Consultation launched on school improvement monitoring and brokering grant

A consultation on proposals to attach conditions to the local authority school improvement monitoring and brokering grant has been launched by the Department for Education.

The DfE says that it may be necessary to support schools and pupils overcome any adverse impacts of the pandemic on their education by attaching conditions to the grant to ensure that it is only spent on urgent school improvement priorities.

The consultation document states:

The purpose of this consultation is to seek views on the impacts of our intention to attach conditions to the payment of the grant, with the aim of ensuring that the grant is ring-fenced so that it can only be spent on Local Authority’s School Improvement (SI) functions and that, as part of delivering their SI functions, LAs in receipt of the grant are taking active steps to support the successful and sustained return of all pupils to school and in addressing any adverse impacts of the pandemic on their education.

The document outlines several of the conditions that may be attached:

1. The grant can only be used by for School Improvement functions, for which the grant was intended.
2. LAs take active steps to support the successful and sustained return of all pupils to school and in addressing any adverse impacts of the pandemic on their education.
3. Secretary of State to enforce these conditions in the event of non-compliance with these conditions, including, as a last resort, the right to claw back grant or withhold future funding.

Commenting on the proposals, Steve Thomas , Prospect national secretary said:

“Prospect welcomes confirmation of the April to August 2021 SI monitoring and brokering grant.  Throughout the pandemic we have consistently championed the impact of SI professionals, working in partnership with schools and pupils and the DfE in incredibly challenging circumstances.

“The DfE clearly recognise the importance of the profession in supporting a return of all pupils to school, a priority that should not be underestimated or underfunded given the impact of the pandemic on hardest hit families, statutory assessments for SEND, increases in referrals for PRUs and Alternative Provision.”

Prospect will respond to the consultation proposal that in ‘exceptional circumstances’ the grant should be ring-fenced and conditions attached to the grant.

We welcome comments from members to help inform our response, please email [email protected].

The consultation, via an online survey, can be accessed on the DfE website and closes at 11.45pm, 26 May 2021.