Guidelines state that the Education Improvement Grant element of the grant has to be at least 80% delegated to schools.

Following the decision of the 6 local authorities, we have now finalised the figures for the GwE region and I am pleased to inform you that schools will receive a minimum of 89.68% of the EIG. 

You will have already received confirmation of the amount your school will receive from your local authority finance team (this will be transferred directly into your school budgets).  In addition to this, a further 5.48% of the budget is committed to direct provision in targeted schools (e.g. support for EAL and Gypsy/Traveller pupils) and is being managed by the local authorities.  A further 0.78% is currently allocated to local authorities in order to deliver targeted activities locally whilst a final 3.34% is allocated to the delivery of the HLTA Scheme and support of the statutory Induction of NQTs, along with funding for regional priorities in providing targeted support for Literacy and Numeracy & the regional coordination of the Foundation Phase – all being delivered by GwE.  That leaves a final 0.73% for GwE and the Authorities to administer the Grant.

Welsh Government guidance for regional consortia and Local Authorities clarifies that individual school-level grant spending plans are not required and that “..Consortia Challenge Advisers will provide support and challenge to schools to ensure their school development plans appropriately reflect their improvement journey and expected outcomes in line with the grant terms and conditions and consortia business plans.” There is a clear expectation for schools to “provide a breakdown of their Education Improvement Grant for Schools allocation in their school development plan.”

In order to support schools in complying with this expectation, we have put together the attached table which lists the range of “grant purposes” and, therefore, the categories of eligible expenditure. You are requested to complete the attached table as part of your school improvement planning process and to share it with your Supporting Improvement Adviser, with a copy to be sent to your local authority finance team. For all grant funding apart from the Foundation Phase, you have flexibility to allocate it in accordance with the need you have identified via your self-evaluation and in order to progress any relevant activities you have identified in your School Development Plan.

If you have any queries about the EIG, please contact the following in the first instance: 

• For any queries regarding the allocation of funding and how you should access it, please contact the finance team in your local authority;
• For any queries relating to eligible spend activities, monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of your EIG funded activities in terms of improved learner outcomes, please contact your school’s allocated Supporting Improvement Adviser.

DOWNLOADS:

EIG Guidance 2019-2020