Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Priority Subject Incentive: guidance for students 2024 to 2025

The Initial Teacher Education (ITE) Priority Subject Incentive Scheme provides a £15,000 grant to students who:

• study on a postgraduate ITE programme in specific subjects (priority subjects)
• meet the eligibility criteria

This guidance relates to the 2024 to 2025 academic year. You can apply for this grant if you’re on an ITE programme leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) between 1 September 2024 and 31 August 2025. 

You should read this guidance in conjunction with the legal scheme. 

This ITE incentive grant reflects current recruitment priorities within the teaching workforce in Wales.

You must:

• hold a degree qualification of 2.2 or higher
• be on a postgraduate ITE programme in Wales leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
• study a priority subject as your main subject
• meet the eligibility criteria for the payment instalments

Priority subjects

• Biology
• Chemistry
• Design & Technology
• Information Technology
• Mathematics
• Modern Foreign Languages (MFL)
• Physics
• Welsh

The grant is available to both full-time and part-time students. Your first degree qualification does not have to be in the same subject as the postgraduate ITE programme. 

Eligibility criteria for payment instalments

In-programme payment

To get the in-programme payment, you must meet all of the following criteria:

• be undertaking an eligible postgraduate ITE programme in Wales. This must start on or after 1 September of one academic year and before 1 September of the following academic year
• be an eligible student who qualifies for financial support under regulations currently in force made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 as they apply to that course
• not already be a qualified teacher
• not be employed to teach at a school or other institution as a teacher on entry to their eligible postgraduate ITE programme
• not be a participant in training organised under an employment-based teacher training scheme, including the Salaried PGCE
• not be undertaking a further education course of any kind

QTS payment

To get the QTS payment you must meet all of the following criteria:

• you must have completed an eligible ITE programme
• you must have obtained Qualified Teacher Status in accordance with the School Teachers' Qualifications (Wales) Regulations 2012
• you must have received the in-programme payment (or 2 payments if you are part-time)

Final incentive payment

To get the final incentive payment you must meet all the following criteria:

• you must have received all in-programme payments
• you must have received the QTS payment
• you must have successfully completed induction within 3 years of award of QTS in a maintained secondary setting in Wales
• you must have been awarded with an induction certificate

Funding might not be available to students who have been accepted onto an ITE programme after the intake allocation has been reached. Check with your ITE Partnership whether you are affected by this.

Persons not eligible for this grant

• Students with Honorary degrees. These are not recognised as academic qualifications for the purposes of this grant. 
• Students undertaking any employment-based teacher training scheme. This includes the ‘Salaried PGCE scheme’.
• Students undertaking training programmes which enable them to teach in the Post Compulsory Education and Training Sector (PGCE PCET).

Your ITE partnership will let you know whether you are eligible for this incentive.

They will give you guidance on the application process and the registration documentation. The registration form asks you to confirm that you have read and understood the conditions of this grant. If this confirmation is not received, grant payment cannot be made. You must return the signed registration form to your ITE partnership.

Your ITE partnership will share your registration documents with Welsh Government. This enables payments to be made.

How you will get paid

Full-time students

The incentive payments totalling £15,000 will be made in 3 instalments. 

You will be paid at the following points during your ITE programme and early career:

• £6,000 in January following completion of the first term of your PGCE (In-programme payment)
• £6,000 in July or August on successful completion of your PGCE and award of QTS. Where assessment by a resubmission exam board is required, payments will be made prior to 31 December (QTS payment)
• £3,000 on successful completion of your induction in Wales (Final incentive payment)

Part-time students

The incentive payments totalling £15,000 will be made in 4 instalments. 

You will be paid at the following points during your part-time ITE programme and early career:

• £3,000 in January following completion of the first term of your PGCE (In-programme payment 1)
• £3,000 in January following completion the first year and the first term of the second year of your PGCE (In programme payment 2)
• £6,000 in July or August on successful completion of their PGCE and award of QTS. Where assessment by a resubmission exam board is required, payments will be made prior to 31 December (QTS payment)
• £3,000 on successful completion of your induction in Wales (Final incentive payment)

In-programme payment

Full-time students will receive one in programme payment. Part-time students will receive 2 payments. Your ITE partnership is responsible for making the in-programme payments to students. They will determine the exact payment date. Any issues should be directed to them.

QTS payment

Your ITE Partnership are responsible for making the QTS payment. They will determine the exact payment date. Any issues should be directed to them.

If you fail to achieve QTS, you will not be entitled to receive the QTS payment. It is your responsibility to check with your ITE provider to ensure you are eligible to claim this grant payment.

Final incentive payment

The Welsh Government are responsible for making the final incentive payment. They will determine the exact payment date. They will contact you during your induction period to ensure they have all relevant details to process the payment. Any issues should be directed to ITEIncentives@gov.wales

You must claim the final incentive within one year of completing your induction period or payment cannot be made. It is your responsibility to ensure you have made this claim within the allocated timeframe. 

If a student resumes an ITE programme they will need to complete a 'Deferment and resumptions form'. This form will be provided by ITE Partnerships and shared with Welsh Government. Any payments made to students who resume an ITE programme will take into account any payments previously received.

Where a student resumes an ITE programme in a different academic year, payments will continue to be made at the same rate (if any) which applied in the academic year the student’s studies initially started or deferred. This applies unless the Welsh Government agree otherwise in writing. 

Returning to an ITE programme 

Students who started an ITE programme prior to September 2022 and defer (suspend) their studies until after September 2024, will revert to the payment structure as set out in this guidance. In this case termly payments will no longer be made. The total incentive amount will remain as per amounts set out under the Initial Teacher Education priority subject incentives: guidance for students 2021 and previous years, minus any payments already received.

How deferment affects in-programme payments

If a full-time student defers (suspends) their studies during the first term, they will not be eligible to receive the payment. However, if a student resumes their studies within the same academic year, they will be entitled to receive the missed payment on award of QTS. Payment will be made following award of QTS and in addition to the QTS payment.

If a part-time student defers (suspends) their studies during the first term, they will not be eligible to receive the payment. However, if a student resumes their studies within the same academic year, they will be entitled to receive the missed payment following the first term of their second year. Payment will be made following the completion of their first year and in addition to the second in-programme payment.

If a part-time student defers (suspends) their studies between the second term of their first year and the first term of their second year, they will not be eligible to receive the second in-programme payment. However, if a student resumes their studies within the second academic year of study, they will be entitled to receive the missed payment on award of QTS. Payment will be made following award of QTS and in addition to the QTS payment.

Full-time students who withdraw from a programme before the end of the first term and are eligible for an incentive grant, will not be entitled to any payment.

Part-time students who withdraw from a programme during the first term of the first year will not be entitled to any payment. Part-time students who complete the first term of the first year (and receive the first payment) but withdraw between the second term of their first year and the first term of their second year will not be entitled to any further payment.

How deferment effects the QTS payment

If a student defers (suspends) their studies after receiving in-programme payments and prior to achieving QTS, they will not be eligible to receive the QTS payment. However, if a student resumes their studies and achieves QTS, they will be entitled to receive the QTS payment on award of QTS. Under these circumstances payment will be made following completion of an eligible postgraduate ITE programme in Wales leading to QTS (on award of QTS) and in line with these conditions.

A 'Deferment and resumptions form' will need to be completed.

Students who withdraw from a programme after the first payment has been received but before achieving QTS and are eligible for an incentive grant, will only be entitled to the payment already received.

Students who do not achieve QTS at the end of their ITE programme and are eligible for an incentive grant, will not be entitled to the QTS payment.

Induction and the final incentive payment

Students who achieve QTS and are eligible for an incentive grant but do not complete their induction period within the specified period within a maintained school in Wales, will not be entitled to the final incentive payment.

Induction must be successfully completed within 3 years of achieving QTS within a maintained setting in Wales to remain eligible to receive the final incentive payment.

The Welsh Government have powers to recover incentive grants paid, in whole or in part. They have discretion about whether to exercise those powers and will consider all cases on their merits.

The Welsh Government may exercise these powers where:

• after receiving any instalment of an incentive grant, the recipient fails to meet any eligibility criteria adopted by the Welsh Government and set out in the schedule or information guide in relation to a subsequent instalment
• the recipient has provided in, or in connection with, his or her application for an incentive grant, information which is false or materially misleading, or there is firm evidence that the recipient had never intended to complete their ITE programme or, having completed it, to enter teaching

Information which students submit as part of their claim under The ITE Priority Subject Incentive scheme, is subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “FOIA”), the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (the “EIR”) the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (the “DPA”).

In submitting this information students acknowledge that the Welsh Government is responsible for determining in our absolute discretion whether:

• to disclose any information which we have obtained under or in connection with the Funding to the extent that we are required to disclose such information to a person making a disclosure request under the FOIA or the EIR and/or
• any information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA or the EIR
• to undertake checks for the purposes of preventing fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity. These checks are required to process personal data about you to third party fraud prevention agencies

Welsh Government is the data controller for the personal information it receives. Any personal data we collect will be managed in accordance with our privacy notice and our 'Privacy notice: Welsh Government grants'.

The Welsh Government provides 3 incentive schemes that are available to ITE students.

ITE Partnerships will work with their students to help identify who meets the eligibility criteria for each scheme.

You may be eligible for more than one scheme. Eligibility under one scheme does not impact your eligibility for other ITE incentive scheme. It is possible to receive grant funding under all 3 incentive schemes providing you meet the eligibility criteria for each individual scheme.

You will need to complete an incentive registration form for each scheme you want to apply for. This confirms eligibility and enables payments to be made under the relevant scheme.

Tax

Incentive grants are not normally taxable for full-time students.

The final incentive payment may be taxable for those individuals in employment.

You should seek advice from His Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) regarding your own individual circumstances.

Student financial assistance

An incentive grant is not considered part of household income for student finance provisions. Grants should not be included when working out taxable unearned income. You should seek advice from your student finance provider on your individual circumstances.

Student loan repayments

For full-time students, the grant will not trigger student loan repayments.

For part-time students in employment, liability will depend on whether your work salary is high enough to trigger student loan repayments.

Student loan repayments may be triggered, for the final incentive payment. Liability will depend on whether your work salary is high enough to trigger student loan repayments.

Effect on benefits

This will depend on your personal circumstances. You should seek advice from the Department for Work and Pensions.

Effect on pensions

The incentive grant is not pensionable.

If you have any further questions, contact your ITE partnership.

If you have any further questions relating to the induction payment, contact ITEIncentives@gov.wales.