The Pupil Premium is in the remit of the Department for Education and as such the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has made no such assessment.

DWP is responsible for the Adult Skills Fund (ASF) which supports learners aged 19+. The disadvantage uplift within the ASF rates provides extra funding to support the most disadvantaged learners.

Pupil premium allocations for Broxbourne, Harpenden and Berkhamsted, Hertford and Stortford, Hertsmere, Hitchin, North East Hertfordshire, South West Hertfordshire, St Albans, Stevenage, Watford and Welwyn Hatfield have been published each year since the 2012/13 financial year.

Information about this grant scheme is available at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2026-to-2027.

Information about allocations and conditions of the grant from previous years are available at:

https://www.gov.uk/education/pupil-premium-and-other-school-premiums.

In the 2026/27 financial year, 11% (£5.6 billion) of the schools national funding formula (NFF) has been allocated through deprivation factors, and 18.1% (£9.2 billion) has been allocated for additional needs overall.

The total amount of funding allocated through the deprivation factors, and the proportion this represents of the overall schools NFF for 2026/27, can be found here:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/69417d442d5e7e863253755a/The_national_funding_formula_for_schools_and_high_needs_-_2026_to_2027.pdf.

In addition to the funding provided through the schools NFF, pupil premium rates are increasing by 2.2% in 2026/27. This will take total pupil premium funding to around £3.2 billion in 2026/27, which will improve attainment and wider outcomes of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Pupil premium is not ring-fenced by type of need, and schools determine how it is used. Therefore, the department does not allocate funding to be spent on specific forms of additional support. Guidance for school leaders on how to use pupil premium, including the menu of approaches on which schools can spend their funding, is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/using-pupil-premium-guidance-for-school-leaders#the-menu-of-approaches.

The 16 to 19 funding formula includes extra funding for disadvantaged students across England including Yeovil constituency and Somerset. This is made up of two blocks:

• Disadvantage Block 1 funding recognises that there are additional costs incurred in engaging, recruiting, and retaining young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Disadvantage Block 2 funding accounts for the additional costs incurred for helping students who have low prior attainment to achieve their learning goals. Low prior attainment is defined as not achieving English and/or maths GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 by the end of year 11 (typically age 16).

Institutions are free to choose the best ways to use this additional funding to attract, retain and support disadvantaged students and those with learning difficulties and disabilities.

English and maths funding is also available to help institutions support students who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and/or maths to continue to study those subjects.

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The 16 to 19 funding formula includes extra funding for disadvantaged students made up of two blocks:

• Disadvantage Block 1 funding recognises that there are additional costs incurred in engaging, recruiting, and retaining young people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds.

• Disadvantage Block 2 funding accounts for the additional costs incurred for teaching and supporting students who have low prior attainment to achieve their learning goals. This is defined as not achieving English and/or mathematics GCSEs at grades 9 to 4 by the end of year 11 (typically age 16).

English and maths funding is also available to support students who have not achieved a GCSE grade 4 or above in English and mathematics to participate across all study programmes and T Levels.

For the 2025/26 academic year, the mathematics and English funding rate rose by over 11%, alongside a nearly 7% increase in disadvantage funding and we have allocated over £1 billion for disadvantage block 1, disadvantage block 2 and English and mathematics funding.

Service families make extraordinary sacrifices for our country. The department continues to support Service children in a range of ways, principally through the Service Pupil Premium, targeted funding that state schools in England are allocated so that they can provide pastoral and academic support, tailored to the specific needs of Service pupils to mitigate disruptions from frequent school moves and parental deployments.

The government keeps the Service Pupil Premium under regular review to ensure it is meeting the intended objectives and providing value for money. We will continue to monitor how funding streams support children’s outcomes and consider future funding decisions as part of the normal budget and spending review processes.

It should also be noted that schools which experience major changes in their pupil cohort from year to year, including those serving Armed Forces communities, attract additional funding through the “mobility factor” in the schools national funding formula. In the 2026/27 financial year, schools will attract £985 for eligible primary pupils and £1,415 for eligible secondary pupils, above a threshold of 6% of the schools’ pupil numbers, where more than 6% of the school’s pupil numbers are classified as mobile.

Pupil premium and service pupil premium allocations, including at local authority level, can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-allocations-and-conditions-of-grant-2025-to-2026.

The allocations amount in the 2025/26 financial year for Cambridgeshire thus far are as follows:

Quarter 4 pupil premium allocations will be published in late March 2026.

The department is providing £3.2 billion of pupil premium funding in 2026/27 to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

To ensure pupil premium is focused on effective approaches, schools must use their pupil premium in line with the evidence-informed 'menu of approaches'.

Schools with more than 5 eligible pupils must publish a strategy statement annually on their school website using the department template. Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and pupil premium is no exception.

An evaluation of pupil premium and recovery premium, published in March 2025, found that overall schools were positive about the impact of the funding, and 85% agreed that having pupil premium meant they had a better strategy for meeting the needs of disadvantaged pupils. The evaluation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-and-recovery-premium-evaluation.

A report published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in October 2025 found that generally schools’ planned spending of pupil premium aligned with the challenges identified, and that schools used a variety of evidence sources to support their choice of approaches. The report is available here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/pupil-premium-statement-research-project.

The department is providing £3.2 billion of pupil premium funding in 2026/27 to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

To ensure pupil premium is focused on effective approaches, schools must use their pupil premium in line with the evidence-informed 'menu of approaches'.

Schools with more than 5 eligible pupils must publish a strategy statement annually on their school website using the department template. Schools are held accountable for the outcomes they achieve with all their funding, including through Ofsted inspections and by governors and trustees, and pupil premium is no exception.

An evaluation of pupil premium and recovery premium, published in March 2025, found that overall schools were positive about the impact of the funding, and 85% agreed that having pupil premium meant they had a better strategy for meeting the needs of disadvantaged pupils. The evaluation is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium-and-recovery-premium-evaluation.

A report published by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) in October 2025 found that generally schools’ planned spending of pupil premium aligned with the challenges identified, and that schools used a variety of evidence sources to support their choice of approaches. The report is available here: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/projects-and-evaluation/projects/pupil-premium-statement-research-project.

The purpose of pupil premium funding is to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils. It is for schools to decide how to allocate the funding, after assessing the needs of their disadvantaged cohort, including previously looked after children.

To ensure that pupil premium is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils, schools must use their pupil premium in line with the evidence-informed 'menu of approaches'. Under the ‘wider strategies’ category this can include supporting pupil’s social and emotional needs.

Previously looked after children and young people under adoption orders, special guardianship orders and child arrangements orders are eligible for funding for therapy through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

The purpose of pupil premium funding is to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

Pupil premium is not a personal budget for individual pupils. It is for schools to decide how to allocate the funding, after assessing the needs of their disadvantaged cohort, including previously looked after children.

To ensure that pupil premium is focused on effective approaches to raising the educational attainment of disadvantaged pupils, schools must use their pupil premium in line with the evidence-informed 'menu of approaches'. Under the ‘wider strategies’ category this can include supporting pupil’s social and emotional needs.

Previously looked after children and young people under adoption orders, special guardianship orders and child arrangements orders are eligible for funding for therapy through the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund.

This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity so that all our children have the freedom to achieve and thrive in education.

We are providing over £3 billion of pupil premium funding in financial year 2025/26 to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England.

Pupil premium is allocated on the basis of economic disadvantage, using free school meals claims, and to support children looked after or previously looked after by their local authority

Pupil premium will continue to be allocated using the current free school meals threshold of £7,400 for financial year 2026/27.

Over the longer term, we are reviewing how we allocate pupil premium and related funding to schools and local authorities to ensure it is targeted to those who need it most, while maintaining the overall amount we spend on these funding streams.