Teachers in key shortage subjects in the first five years of their career in the poorest schools will be eligible for payments of up to £6,000 from this September.
After announcing a doubling of the current levelling-up offer, the government has this week confirmed which teachers will be eligible for the payment and when they can apply.
The doubling comes amid a spiralling recruitment and retention crisis, with the Department for Education missing its target for recruiting secondary teacher trainees by 50 per cent last year, and almost 44,000 teachers leaving the state-funded sector in the academic year 2021-22.
Who is eligible for the levelling-up fund?
Eligible secondary teachers in state-funded schools teaching shortage subjects chemistry, computing, mathematics and physics will be able to claim the bonus.
The DfE has also expanded eligibility for next year to further education teachers teaching early years, building and construction, digital, engineering, manufacturing and transport engineering and electronics.
The department has said that the levelling-up payments will be offered to teachers in the schools in the poorest areas with a high need for teachers, and those in an Education Investment Area (EIA) will receive the highest payment of £6,000.
Early career teachers who completed their initial teacher training course in the 2019-20 academic year or later will be eligible to apply for the payments from 2024.
How much can teachers receive?
As part of the premium, eligible teachers will be able to receive two payments of up to £6,000 each, meaning a teacher receiving the maximum payment in both years will receive £12,000 in total.
Payments will be offered to teachers in disadvantaged schools nationally. The highest payments will be made to teachers in eligible schools in EIAs.
Teachers in the most disadvantaged 30 per cent of schools - the definition of which is based on the proportion of pupils eligible for pupil premium - will receive the full annual sum of £6,000 in an EIA, or £4,000 if their school is outside an EIA.
Teachers in the next most disadvantaged 20 per cent of schools in an EIA will receive £5,000, or £3,000 outside of an EIA.
Teachers in a further 20 per cent of the next most disadvantaged schools in EIAs will receive £4,000.
The DfE has said that £200 million will be invested over the next two years to deliver on this pledge, and that it is committed to paying all teachers who are eligible.
When can teachers apply for the levelling-up fund?
The DfE has said that eligible teachers will be able to claim levelling-up premium payments from autumn 2024 to 31 March 2025.
If successful, teachers will receive the payment in the same academic year that they apply for it, resulting in two payments in total if eligible and paid in both years.
When was the expansion of the offer first announced?
The doubling of the current offer was announced as part of plans for the Advanced British Standard (ABS), which was unveiled by prime minister Rishi Sunak at the Conservative Party conference last October.
In October, the DfE said that as part of “laying the groundwork” for the new qualification, the government would invest in teacher recruitment and retention by providing payments of up to £6,000.
Why has the government doubled levelling-up payments?
Education secretary Gillian Keegan said the payments would ensure that schools and colleges “can support the recruitment and retention of dedicated teachers in high priority subjects and in the areas that need them most”.
She added: “This will make a real difference to schools and colleges across the country, allowing them to provide world class education for all ahead of the Advanced British Standard, whilst giving businesses the skilled workers they need to drive economic growth.”
What is the Advanced British Standard?
The ABS - announced by the prime minister last year - is part of a plan to “bring together A levels and T levels into a new, single qualification for our school leavers” and “finally deliver on the promise of parity of esteem between academic and technical education”.
The announcement also built on the prime minister’s plans for all students to study maths until age 18 and added English to a list of required subjects.
As part of the proposals, students would complete studies as part of a major and minor model.
‘Half-baked proposals’ will not fix supply crisis
School leaders have said that while investment in the teaching profession is welcome, a much more radical approach is needed to fix teacher shortages.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “The government has tinkered around with a number of schemes that are supposed to improve teacher recruitment, including this one, but last year’s dire trainee teacher recruitment figures show that its half-baked proposals simply aren’t working.”
Mr Whiteman added that the expansion of the scheme could have “some localised benefits”, but it will be just a “sticking plaster approach” and ”does not begin to get to the bottom of the severe recruitment and retention crisis facing schools”.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, echoed Mr Whiteman’s misgivings, and warned that the scheme is “an attempt to patch up a system that is already broken”.
Mr Di’Iasio was also concerned that such targeted approaches could ”further demoralise those who are not eligible for pay incentives, particularly those working in subjects where teacher shortages are just as severe”.
He said: “Reactionary, short-term measures that appear to primarily be in service of the prime minister’s Advanced British Standard, are just not going to cut it.”
And Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, also argued that the scheme “does nothing to retain existing teachers”.
Earlier this month, NEU members voted against moving to a formal ballot for strike action over pay and funding next term, with members of the country’s largest teaching union opting to wait until a formal pay offer is made by the government.
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