Pupil Equity Fund: national operational guidance 2022

What is Pupil Equity Funding?

Pupil Equity Funding (PEF) is additional funding allocated directly to schools and targeted at closing the poverty-related attainment gap. The Scottish Government has committed to this funding as part of the Scottish Attainment Challenge (SAC) programme from 2017/18 up until 2025/26.

Pupil Equity Funding is part of the Attainment Scotland Fund (ASF).

In November 2021, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills set out plans for a refreshed Scottish Attainment Challenge from April 2022. The mission of this refreshed Challenge is:

to use education to improve outcomes for children and young people impacted by poverty, with a focus on tackling the poverty-related attainment gap.

This national guidance is intended to help schools plan how they will most effectively invest their Pupil Equity Funding allocation to improve the educational outcomes of children affected by poverty. Local authorities are advised to issue specific complementary guidance about how the funding will operate locally.