More cash to help teachers with training hit by Covid

State schools to receive up to £1,500 per newly qualified teacher to compensate for disruption to their training during the pandemic

21st June 2021, 2:09pm

Amy Gibbons

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Schools employing new teachers whose training or induction has been disrupted by the pandemic are set to receive a “one-off payment” to devote extra time to their development.

All state-funded schools with newly qualified teachers (NQTs) due to complete their induction this summer are eligible for the payment of up to £1,500, which will cover a further 5 per cent of time off-timetable - equivalent to 44 hours - over the next academic year.

The cash is intended to ensure new recruits have “additional time to invest in their development”, the Department for Education said.

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The extra 5 per cent of time off-timetable is not statutory, but “has been designed to be used flexibly so that as many new teachers as possible can benefit from this additional support”, the department added.

The DfE guidance, updated today with details of the additional provision, states: “We trust schools and their leaders to know what works best for them and their staff.

“Time off timetable can be grouped together in different ways, for example, taken as whole days or half days off.”

New teachers outside London will each attract payments of £1,200, rising to £1,300 in the “fringe area”, £1,400 in Outer London and £1,500 in Inner London.

Payments will be made in arrears, in the summer term of 2022, to ensure they are “as accurate as possible” and to “avoid issues around teachers having moved schools”, the DfE said.

The department added that schools employing NQTs who move following their induction will still be eligible for the cash.

“The process by which these NQTs will be identified and how payments will be made will be confirmed in due course,” it said.

The new funding package is separate from a cash injection for incoming early career teachers, announced back in March, to cover time spent training away from the classroom.

The payments outlined by the government today are for those who will complete their induction this summer, at the end of the 2020-21 academic year, whereas the investment announced in March - also worth up to £1,500 per teacher - is earmarked for those who start their training from 2021-22 onwards, under the new Early Career Framework.