Written question WQ87822

In 2020 the Recruit, Recover and Raise Standards (RRRS) funding programme was introduced. This funding has been designed to enable all schools in Wales to recruit additional staff to ensure that they have the capacity needed to support children and young people’s learning and well-being and to ensure that the current and ongoing impacts of the Covid 19 pandemic are minimised.

To date, RRRS funding has increased the number of practitioners across all schools in Wales by an additional 2,452 FTE. Of this increased capacity, 62.2 percent are support staff (1525 FTE) and 29.9 per cent are teachers (733 FTE). On average each school has gained 1.05 FTE support staff member, and a 0.5 FTE teacher. Welsh medium schools are slightly more likely to spend on teachers’ hours (1 FTE teacher per 1.5 FTE support staff) than English medium schools (1 FTE teacher per 2.4 FTE support staff).

RRRS funding has been distributed to all schools in Wales, with an additional weighting for more vulnerable and disadvantaged learners. The RRRS funding allocated to schools in 2020-21 was £59.1million, in 2021-22 £68.9million and in 2022-23 £37.5million. Funding will continue in 2023-24 at £37.5million and £28.5 million has been allocated for distribution to schools in the 2024-25 financial year.

An initial evaluation of the RRRS programme has recently been undertaken by Miller Research and this will be published early in the Summer Term. It is clear from this evaluation that schools have benefitted significantly from the RRRS funding. Headteachers, in particular, have welcomed the flexibility to recruit the right staff to support the needs of their individual learners, within the unique context of their school.