Evaluation of the Pupil Premium Plus Post-16 Programme

The Rees Centre is working in partnership with Cordis Bright on an evaluation for the Department for Education of its Pupil Premium Plus Post-16 programme.

The Pupil Premium Plus Post-16 programme aims to improve outcomes for looked after children and care leavers in post-16 education, with a particular focus on improving attendance, retention and attainment. The Rees Centre previously completed a six-month pilot evaluation of the programme in 30 local authorities between September 2021 and March 2022. The Programme was subsequently extended to a further 28 local authority areas in September 2022 and is being rolled out across all local authorities in England from September 2023.

The evaluation will use a mixed methods approach, involving secondary analysis of national datasets, an annual survey of Virtual School Heads, interviews and focus groups with stakeholders in six case study areas and a cost benefit analysis.

The current evaluation will initially run until March 2025.

The report of the pilot study completed by the Rees Centre can be found at: (Evaluation of the virtual school heads extension and the pupil premium plus post-16 pilot – GOV.UK).

Download the report.

Cordis Bright team: Dr Stephen Boxford, Bethan Peach, Emma Anderson, Alex Cahill, Madeleine Morrison

Project advisors: Dr Alun Rees (Consultant), Professor Steven McIntosh (University of Sheffield)