How to Spend Pupil Premium Plus on Reading for Care-Experienced Children

Pupil Premium Plus can be spent on reading for care-experienced children, and Virtual School Heads have direct control over how it's allocated, provided the spend is tied to a child's personal education plan (PEP) [1].

The Money and Who Controls It

For the 2026 to 2027 financial year, schools receive £2,690 for every child who is currently looked after or who has left care through adoption, a special guardianship order, or a residential order [2][3]. This is higher than the rate for FSM-linked pupil premium, reflecting the additional and often more complex barriers care-experienced children face [1]. Virtual School Heads, not individual schools, are responsible for managing this funding: they can pass on the full amount to a child's school, pass on less, pass on more, or pool a portion to fund activities that benefit a wider group of looked-after children across the authority [4]. Whatever the school receives must be agreed through discussion with the VSH and used to meet needs identified in the child's PEP, usually in consultation with the school's designated teacher [4].

Why Reading Belongs in a PEP, Not Just a Reading Plan

It's tempting to treat PP+ reading spend purely as an academic catch-up tool, but the strongest evidence base treats reading, and books more broadly, as a wellbeing and identity intervention as much as an educational one. NICE's guideline on looked-after children and young people recommends developing children's interests, including through funded and facilitated activities such as school clubs, explicitly citing the pupil premium grant as a legitimate funding route for activities that address emotional health and wellbeing needs, not only attainment [5]. The same guideline places strong emphasis on life story work, a structured, ongoing process to help a child make sense of their identity, relationships and journey through care, which should begin as early as possible and continue on a scheduled basis [5][6]. Books that reflect a child's ethnicity, culture, family structure or care experience can support exactly this kind of identity work, sitting alongside more formal life story sessions rather than replacing them [5][6].

NICE is also explicit that looked-after children from groups already facing additional disadvantage, including children from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, disabled children, and unaccompanied asylum-seeking children, need their specific needs met without further marginalisation [5][6]. A PP+ reading strategy that only offers generic, unreflective book choices risks missing this requirement entirely.

Building the Case Into the PEP

A defensible PP+ reading spend should be visible in the child's PEP as a named activity, not a background purchase. It should state what the books or reading support are for, whether that's building a sense of identity, supporting a transition between placements or schools, or targeting a specific attainment gap, and how progress or engagement will be reviewed at the next PEP meeting. NICE's guidance on school transitions is relevant here too: the virtual school is expected to plan bespoke, individual transition support for children moving between schools, including catch-up support and continuity between designated teachers, and a stable reading routine can be part of that continuity plan [5].

Ofsted's inspection framework for services for looked-after children requires VSHs to produce an annual report showing how PP+ has been managed and what evidence exists that spending has supported the children's achievement, so a paper trail linking reading spend to specific children and specific PEP goals is not optional extra effort, it's the accountability requirement itself [4].

A Quick Defensibility Check for Budget-Setting

• Is the spend named in the child's PEP, with a clear purpose linked to either attainment, wellbeing or identity?

• Does the book choice reflect the child's cultural, ethnic or care-experienced identity, rather than defaulting to generic reading lists?

• Is there a plan for reviewing engagement or progress at the next PEP review, not just at year end?

• If the funding is pooled rather than passed to a single school, is it clear which group of children benefits and how?

If any answer is unclear, that's the gap most likely to be questioned in an Ofsted review or an annual VSH report.

Choosing Books That Feel Safe

Reading support for care-experienced children works best when it's trauma-aware from the start. That means avoiding books that introduce unexpected loss, abandonment or family breakdown without warning, and instead choosing stories that offer safety, continuity and characters who reflect the child's own background and experience.

Good intentions do not spend PP+ well. Evidence does.

Before your next PEP review, take three minutes to find out where your current reading offer for looked-after children is strong, and where it is quietly failing the children it is meant to protect.

HEC's Reading Equity Scorecard gives designated teachers and Virtual School Heads a clear, honest view of their reading provision. Fifteen questions. Three minutes. Completely free.

Take the Reading Equity Scorecard →

Your answers show you exactly where the PP+ spend would make the biggest difference, and give you the paper trail an Ofsted review or annual VSH report will ask for.

 

References

1. Department for Education. Pupil premium: overview. GOV.UK [Internet]. London: DfE; 2026 [cited 2026 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium 

2. Virtual School Kent. Pupil premium for previously looked after children [Internet]. Kent County Council; 2026 [cited 2026 Jul 21]. Available from: https://virtualschool.lea.kent.sch.uk/vskat/previously-looked-after-children/pupil-premium-for-previously-looked-after-children/ 

3. CBICT. Pupil premium funding rates 2026/27 [Internet]; 2026 [cited 2026 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.cbict.org.uk/pupil-premium 

4. Department for Education. Pupil premium: virtual school heads' responsibilities. GOV.UK [Internet]. London: DfE; 2015 [updated 2015 Mar 19; cited 2026 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/pupil-premium-virtual-school-heads-responsibilities 

5. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Looked-after children and young people. NICE guideline NG205 [Internet]. London: NICE; 2021 [cited 2026 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng205/chapter/recommendations 

6. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Social Care Institute for Excellence. Promoting wellbeing and positive identity for a child or young person who is looked after: a quick guide [Internet]. London: NICE; 2022 [cited 2026 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.nice.org.uk/Media/Default/About/NICE-Communities/Social-care/quick-guides/qg-promoting-wellbeing-and-positive-identity.pdf