Initial Teacher Education priority subject incentives: guidance for providers 2021 and previous years

This guidance supports academic years 2020 to 2021 and 2021 to 2022.

The Welsh Ministers have powers under sections 14 to 17 of the Education Act 2002 to provide financial help to the recruitment or retention of teachers and non-teaching staff. This grant is in place to support individuals to train, enter and remain in the teaching profession and should not form part of a student finance package.

The Initial Teacher Education priority subject incentives Scheme is a legal scheme (“the Scheme”), made by the Welsh Ministers in the exercise of their powers and is reviewed on an annual basis. Each Scheme makes provision for the Welsh Ministers to pay grants by way of incentives to eligible students to undertake a postgraduate initial teacher education (ITE) programme in specified subjects (priority subjects).

Students undertaking Postgraduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) (full-time and part-time) are eligible for this grant providing they meet the criteria.

Students undertaking any Employment Based Teacher Training Scheme including the Salaried PGCE are not eligible for this grant.

Students undertaking training programmes/courses which enable them to teach in the Post Compulsory Education and Training Sector (PGCE PCET) are not covered under this scheme.

Full information on eligibility and conditions are set out in the legal Scheme, which should be read alongside this information.  

Please reference the appropriate scheme to the academic year of study to check eligibility and criteria. If you have any questions related to previous years please contact ITEIncentives@gov.wales.

2021 to 2022 academic year

The Teacher Training Incentive Scheme (2021 WG20-62) (“the Scheme”) was made by the Welsh Ministers in the exercise of their powers on 21 January 2021. A copy of the Scheme should be read alongside this information.

The 2021 Scheme is effective from 1 September 2021 for students in Wales who, between 1 September 2021 and 31 August 2022, start ITE programmes leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in specified subjects.

2020 to 2021 academic year

The Teacher Training Incentive Scheme (2020 No. WG20-005) (“the Scheme”) was made by the Welsh Ministers in the exercise of their powers on 18 February 2020. A copy of the Scheme should be read alongside this information.

The 2020 Scheme is effective from 1 September 2020 for students in Wales who, between 1 September 2020 and 31 August 2021, start ITE programmes leading to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in specified subjects.

Previous schemes

• Teacher training incentives: guidance for training providers (2019 to 2020 academic year)

ITE Partnerships are responsible for administering and assessing eligibility of students for incentive grants on behalf of the Welsh Ministers.

Students can only claim an incentive grant if they:

• meet the eligibility criteria
• have made an application by completing the relevant declaration forms

If students have any queries in relation to their eligibility, applying for a grant or have any queries relating to these grants, they should contact their ITE partnership.

ITE Partnerships are responsible for:

• identifying students that meet the eligibility criteria
• providing eligible students with access to the declaration forms at the start of the ITE programme
• ensuring students understand the terms of the grant
• collecting all signed declaration forms and returning, in a secure manner, all declaration forms to Welsh Government
• completing termly claim forms
• administering grant payments to students
• dealing with student queries in relation to the grant

Full responsibilities for ITE Partnerships are issued annually in individual grant offer letters and contract letters. If ITE Partnerships have a question related to the grant administration process they should contact ITEIncentives@gov.wales.

ITE priority subject grants are available to eligible students starting appropriate postgraduate ITE programmes in Wales.

ITE priority subject grants are available for both full-time and part‑time Programmes and ITE Partnerships must refer to the scheme linked to the year study is undertaken to check students’ eligibility.

To be eligible for an ITE priority subject grant, a student must:

• meet the degree qualification classifications specified in the Grant amount & degree qualification classifications section for the Scheme and academic year of study
• be undertaking an ITE programme accredited by the Education Workforce Council (EWC) that is run by an ITE Partnership and lead to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)
• be undertaking training in Wales
• be an eligible student who qualifies for support under Regulations made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 currently in force as they apply to that programme
• not already be a qualified teacher
• not be employed to teach at a school or other institution as a teacher
• 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

Subject to eligibility, priority subject grants for postgraduate ITE programmes in Wales are available for students who:

• are studying wholly or mainly one or more of the subjects or phases listed for the academic year of study
• hold at entry to the postgraduate ITE programme a degree or equivalent qualification awarded by a United Kingdom institution, or an equivalent degree or other qualification awarded by a foreign institution, of a classification specified for the academic year of study

The degree or equivalent qualification specified is not required to be in the same subject as that undertaken on the postgraduate ITE programme listed. It is for ITE Partnerships to use their professional judgments to assess a student’s eligibility.

The Welsh Ministers have discretion not to pay an incentive grant to students who have been accepted onto an accredited ITE programme after the intake target for that programme has been reached (as notified by EWC). Students should seek confirmation from their ITE Partnership that they are not affected by this.

The information contained in this section relates to academic year 2021 to 2022 and previous years.

ITE priority subject grants range from £3,000 to £20,000 dependent on subject or phase and qualification levels. Part time students would receive the same amount over the duration of their programme. Please refer to the correct Scheme for the academic year of study.

The degree or equivalent qualification classification specified above is not required to be in the same subject as that undertaken on the postgraduate ITE Programme. 

For the purposes of the qualification classification, honorary degrees of any sort are not recognised as academic qualifications.

Grant amount and degree qualification classifications to teach in the primary sector 2021 to 2022 and previous years

Students undertaking a postgraduate primary programmes maybe entitled to an additional £3,000 supplement in order to support subject specialisms in primary school core subjects.

Students who hold a degree subject specialism in English, Welsh, Mathematics, or core science in addition to the degree classification specified will be eligible to receive this supplement.

For the purposes of the qualification classification, honorary degrees of any sort are not recognised as academic qualifications.

When payments should be made to students

This information relates to academic year 2021 to 2022 and previous years.

Full time programmes; priority subject grants will be paid termly in three instalments, December, March and June of the academic year of study.

Part time programmes; priority subject grants will be paid termly in 6 instalments over two academic years. December, March and June of the two academic years of study.

ITE partnerships will decide the exact dates of payments. They should ensure that payments are made in or around the last week of each month payments are due (save for December where payment may be early). The “last week” of a month means the week which includes the last working day of the month. The “last week” in June will be the week which includes the last working day of June or, if earlier, the week the programme finishes.

Payments should only be made to those students who are attending the programme on the date of payment. If any student has withdrawn or deferred (suspended) a programme prior to the payment date, payment should not be made.

What grants should be paid

These payments are pro rata of the full-time incentive grant payments.

Where a student has received an incentive grant in full or part under any previous scheme, the instalments of this incentive grant will be reduced by the amount of previous payments received. This also applies to grants received under any arrangements applying in England which the Welsh Ministers are satisfied correspond to those made in respect of incentive grants in pursuance of this Scheme.

Eligible students are only entitled to the maximum of the incentive grant value which applied in the academic year the student’s studies initially started, unless the Welsh Ministers agree otherwise in writing.

How the payment will be paid to ITE Partnerships

ITE Partnerships must submit individual delectation forms for each eligible students to the Welsh Government at the start of each academic year. The declaration contains information that the Welsh Government require to administer and evaluate the scheme and ITE Partnerships must share all declarations with Welsh Ministers in a secure manner. The declaration form asks students to confirm that they have read and understood the information contained on these web pages. If this confirmation is not received by Welsh Ministers grant payments cannot be made.

Prior to each termly instalment ITE Partnerships must complete and submit a claim form to the Welsh Ministers to ensure appropriate funds are released. ITE Partnerships will be informed of the submission dates via the grant agreement letter.

Declaration and claim forms will be issued to ITE Partnerships directly. If you are an ITE Partnership and have any questions related to the payment process, please contact ITEIncentives@gov.wales.

How the payment will be paid to students

ITE Partnerships are responsible to making the grant payments to eligible students.

For those eligible to the additional primary supplement, payments are to be made alongside the main incentive grant payable.

All eligible students undertaking a postgraduate ITE programme are required to sign a declaration form to enable incentive grants to be paid. ITE Partnerships are responsible for obtaining these declarations from students at the start of their programme.

This information relates to academic year 2021 to 2022 and previous years.

If a student defers (suspends) their studies during a term, they will not be eligible to receive that termly payment. However, if a student resumes their studies within the same academic year, they will be entitled to receive the missed terms payment, up to the maximum amount of the incentive. Under these circumstances payment will be made on completion of and in addition to the following terms payment.

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

Individuals who withdraw from a programme before its completion and are eligible for an incentive grant, will only be entitled to the termly payment(s), where they have completed the term in full.

The Welsh Ministers 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.

These powers may be exercised by the Welsh Ministers where:

1. 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 or
2. 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 the programme or, having completed it, to enter teaching

Information which student submits as part of their claim under the Initial Teacher Education 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 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Data Protection Act 2018 (the “DPA”).

Students also acknowledge that the Welsh Government is responsible for determining in our absolute discretion whether:

1. 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
2. any information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA or the EIR
3. to undertake checks for the purposes of preventing fraud and money laundering, and to verify your identity. These checks are require 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 (PN00000374) and 'Privacy notice: Welsh Government grants'

Is the incentive grant taxable?

Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is a non-ministerial department of the UK Government responsible for the collection of taxes. Incentive grants are not normally taxable for full-time students, however, students should seek advice from HMRC on their individual circumstances.

What will be the effect of the incentive grant on other student support?

An incentive grant is not considered part of your income for student finance provisions based on household income. Therefore they should not be included when working out your taxable unearned income, however students should seek advice from their student finance provider on their individual circumstances.

What will be the effect of the incentive grant on benefits?

The Department for Work and Pensions is a UK Government department responsible for welfare and pension policy, you should seek advice from them on your individual circumstances.

Will the incentive grant trigger student loan repayments?

No, not if you are undertaking a full time programme. However, if you are undertaking a part-time programme, your liability will depend on whether you are also earning a salary (through work not related to ITE) that is high enough to trigger student loan repayments. 

Loan repayments may be triggered when you have completed your programme, gained QTS and are earning a salary as a teacher. 

Will I be entitled to the Iaith Athrawon Yfory incentive grant?

Eligibility to the incentive grants under this scheme does not impact your eligibility for the Iaith Athrawon Yfory incentive grant. It is possible to receive grant funding under both incentive schemes. Further information can be found on the Iaith Athrawon Yfory incentive scheme page. 
 

A student is starting an ITE programme, however they have completed and are waiting for confirmation of their Masters Degree result due later in the academic year. Is the student eligible for the incentives and if so which incentive amount are they entitled to?

Yes, students that have completed their masters and are awaiting degree results are eligible to claim the incentives. Students in this situation would be entitled to the amount based on the degree classification the student holds when their ITE programme commences. 

Once the confirmation of their master’s degree has been received, if they are entitled to a higher incentive amount, they will be entitled to the difference between the amount the student has received and the amount the student is entitled to now they hold a master’s degree. This should be backdated to when the student started their ITE programme.

Note: Section 3.3 (vii) of the teacher training incentives guidance states
(vii) To be eligible for an incentive grant, a person must not be undertaking a further education course of any kind. Therefore if a student has not submitted their thesis by the start of their ITE programme, it is highly likely that the individual are still undertaking their master’s and as stated above this would preclude the individual from claiming the teacher training incentives. 

However it would be down to ITE Partnerships as part of their role administering the teacher training incentives to determine whether or not an individual has completed their master’s degree and decide whether the individual would be eligible to claim the incentives.

Based on the information provided a student is not entitled to the incentives, such as the primary additional supplementary incentive for core subjects, however they advise that their degree entailed large amounts of a subject that does entitle them to receive the incentives; are they entitled to anything?

ITE Partnerships are responsible for administering the incentives including determining student’s eligibility for the incentives. If the individual claims their degree contained significant amounts of a subject that would entitle them to an incentive, for example Mathematics, the student would need to make a case to the ITE Partnership and evidence this. The final decision on whether the individual would be entitled to the incentive would rest with the ITE Partnership.

In this situation the Welsh Government will not be involved in determining the eligibility of students that claim the teacher training incentives, this is the sole responsibility of ITE Partnership who are best placed to assess academic transcripts and make a fair assessment on whether a student would be eligible.

Are non UK nationals eligible to claim the teacher training incentives?

Should a student meet all the criteria and not fall under an exemption then they would be eligible. ITE Partnerships should use their professional judgment to establish a student’s eligibility.

The main point to consider for a non UK National is whether they qualify for support under the Student Support Regulations currently in force in Wales.

Please refer to the legal scheme and Grant amount and degree qualification classifications section.

ITE Partnership’s that have a question related to or not covered in this information, please contact ITEIncentives@gov.wales

Student’s that have a question related to incentives will be directed to their ITE Partnership directly.