Pre-16 education grants

Our pre-16 education grant funding is made up of 4 funding elements:

1. School standards.
2. Equity.
3. Reform.
4. Cymraeg 2050.

School standards

The School Standards funding is to support standards in schools and settings across Wales. It includes funding which will be distributed to schools using a national formula. It also includes funding for early education in non-maintained settings and funding for local authorities to support schools and settings in raising standards.

Equity

This element consists of funding which supports equity in education policy. Outcomes will support equity policy objectives including:

• pupil development grant (PDG)
• care-experienced children
• attendance
• Minority Ethnic and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller learners
• home-educated learners
• community focused schools

Reform

This element consists of funding which will support education-reform initiatives. It will support outcomes for:

• Curriculum for Wales
• professional learning and leadership
• additional learning needs (ALN)
• the whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing

Cymraeg 2050 

This element consists of funding which supports schools, settings and local authorities with the Cymraeg 2050 objectives.

All 4 funding elements will be awarded to local authorities via the Local Authority Education Grant (LAEG). Local authorities will be required to delegate most of this funding onto schools and settings. We will ask local authorities to do this as soon as possible in the 2025 to 2026 financial year. 

Distribution

The School Standards funding is worth a total of £168.8 million. Of this:

• 92% will be distributed to schools and for education other than at school provision, this will be called ‘the School Standards Grant’
• 5% will be allocated to local authorities for Early Education, this will include funding for non-maintained settings
• the remaining funding, along with local authorities own (match) funding, will be used to support standards in education

The funding to support standards in education relates to the additional support local authorities give to schools and other settings. This additional support is used to:

• deliver school improvement measures
• raise school standards

The School Standards Grant

How the grant will be set

The School Standards Grant will be based on a national formula. The funding values will change each year in line with pupil level annual school census (PLASC) data. With this in mind, we intend to publish the details of the formula every January, before the start of the new financial year. This will help schools with their budget planning.

Grant allocations for the 2025 to 2026 financial year

The formula is based on 2024 PLASC data. 

The allocations are as follows:

• for every learner from nursery to Year 11 schools will receive £89.64
• for every learner in a rural school in rural urban classifications 1, 2 or 3, schools will receive an additional £89.64

Special schools will receive:

• an additional £179.28 for every learner
• an additional lump sum of £10,500

To support foundation learning ratios:

• for every nursery learner schools will receive an additional £613.09
• for every reception learner schools will receive an additional £1,226.18
• for every Year 1 and Year 2 learner schools will receive an additional £613.09

To support 14 to 16 learning pathways:

• for every Year 10 and Year 11 learner schools will receive an additional £193.11

What this means for schools

Schools will receive the School Standards Grant. The total amount schools and settings will be receiving for this is £155.3 million.

Some parts of the Equity and Reform funding elements have funding which will also be delegated to schools and settings.

Equity funding elements

PDG 

This is allocated based on the number of learners eligible for free school meals (eFSM) using 2024 PLASC data. It is allocated at a rate of £1,150 per learner. The total amount delegated for this is £108.4 million. A further £5.7 million is being allocated for Children Looked After.

For the 2025 to 2026 financial year, additional PDG funding will be available. This additional funding will be allocated to local authorities for them to decide how it will be distributed. However, we have told local authorities that the full £13.1million additional funding available must be delegated to schools and settings.

Reform funding elements

Curriculum for Wales 

This is allocated to local authorities for them to decide how it will be distributed to schools and settings. The total amount for this is £6 million.

Professional learning 

This is allocated based on the number of qualified teachers using 2023 SWAC data. For special schools, this number includes some additional staff members. The total amount for this is £13.5 million.

ALN quality and delivery 

This is allocated as a lump sum for each school or setting. There is a further allocation based on the number of learners from nursery to Year 11 using 2024 PLASC data. The total amount for this is £10.4 million.