The pupil premium is additional funding for publicly funded schools in England to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils of all abilities and to close the gaps between them and their peers.

Pupil premium funding is available to:

• schools maintained by the local authority, including:
  • special schools, for children with special educational needs or disabilities
  • pupil referral units (PRUs), for children who can’t go to a mainstream school
• academies and free schools, including:
  • special academies, for children with special educational needs or disabilities
  • alternative provision (AP) academies, for children who can’t go to a mainstream school
• voluntary-sector AP, with local authority agreement
• non-maintained special schools (NMSS), for children with special educational needs as approved by the Secretary of State for Education under section 342 of the Education Act 1992