Closing the Gap: How the Education Endowment Foundation Wants Schools to Spend Pupil Premium Funding in 2026

The attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers has widened since the pandemic. The Education Endowment Foundation has spent a decade and more building the evidence base on what actually works to close that gap, and in 2026 it has refreshed its guidance for schools spending Pupil Premium funding. The headline message is uncomfortable for some school leaders but profoundly important: a great deal of Pupil Premium spending does not work. The schools that close the gap are the ones that follow the evidence.

The Scale of the Gap

Disadvantaged pupils, defined as those eligible for free school meals at any point in the previous six years, have always lagged behind their peers in attainment. The gap was narrowing slowly through the 2010s. The pandemic widened it again, and despite recovery efforts the most recent national data show that disadvantaged pupils at GCSE are now around 18 to 19 months behind their peers in average attainment terms.

This is not just a statistic. It is hundreds of thousands of children whose life chances are being shaped by where they were born, what their parents earn and what their school does about it.

What Pupil Premium Is

Pupil Premium is additional funding given to schools for each pupil eligible for free school meals at any point in the past six years, plus children who are looked after, adopted from care or have parents in the armed forces. In 2026 the rate is approximately £1,500 per primary pupil and £1,000 per secondary pupil. For a typical secondary school of 1,000 pupils with 30% on Pupil Premium eligibility, that is around £300,000 of additional funding annually.

The expectation is that schools spend this funding on closing the attainment gap. They are required to publish a Pupil Premium strategy explaining how. The challenge is that for many schools, the strategy is more aspirational than evidential.

What the EEF Evidence Says Actually Works

The EEF Toolkit, the most thoroughly developed evidence summary in education globally, identifies a clear hierarchy of effective interventions. The 2026 guidance reaffirms and refines this hierarchy. The five highest-impact areas are:

1. High-quality teaching for everyone

The single most important thing a school can do for disadvantaged pupils is improve the quality of teaching they receive. Better teaching helps every child, but it helps disadvantaged children most. CPD for teachers is therefore one of the most effective uses of Pupil Premium funding. Our piece on why schools should invest in CPD instead of recruitment sets out the wider case in detail.

2. Targeted academic support

One-to-one and small-group tuition is among the highest-impact, best-value interventions in the EEF Toolkit, worth around five months of additional progress per year. The 2026 guidance encourages schools to use Pupil Premium to fund tuition specifically aimed at disadvantaged pupils.

3. Reading and oracy

Reading fluency and oracy are powerful predictors of long-term attainment. EEF guidance specifically highlights structured reading interventions and oracy programmes as high-leverage uses of Pupil Premium.

4. Wider strategies

Attendance, behaviour, parental engagement and wellbeing all underpin academic progress. Investing in these areas is now formally recognised in EEF guidance as a legitimate use of Pupil Premium where the link to attainment is clear.

5. Transition support

Year 6 to Year 7 transition. Year 11 post-16 transition. Sixth form to higher education or apprenticeship transition. These are the moments when disadvantaged pupils are most likely to lose ground. Targeted support at transition can be transformative.

What the Evidence Says Does Not Work

Equally important is what the EEF guidance pushes back against. Some of the most common Pupil Premium spending categories show weak or no evidence of impact. These include:

• Teaching assistants used for general classroom support. The evidence shows TAs make a positive difference only when deployed in structured, evidence-based intervention programmes, not as general helpers in the classroom.
• Trips and enrichment alone. Cultural enrichment is valuable but not a substitute for academic support. Pupil Premium spent solely on trips is unlikely to close the attainment gap.
• Reduced class sizes (modest reductions). Going from 30 to 25 produces only small effects. Going from 30 to 15 produces meaningful effects, but the cost is rarely justifiable.
• Performance-related pay for teachers. The evidence suggests this does not improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

The Schools That Close the Gap

The schools that successfully close the disadvantage gap, identified in EEF research and Sutton Trust analysis, share five characteristics.

For Madrasahs and Supplementary Schools

Pupil Premium is a mainstream schools funding stream and does not flow to madrasahs directly. But the EEF evidence applies equally to Islamic supplementary education. Madrasah teachers training their own pedagogy, using small-group intervention, focusing on oracy and reading, and engaging parents systematically will close the attainment gap in their context too.

This is exactly the territory our Madrasah Teacher Training Masterclass covers. Effective teaching is effective teaching, whether in a mainstream classroom or a madrasah. The evidence base does not change.

For Parents of Pupil Premium Children

If your child is eligible for Pupil Premium funding, you can ask the school how the money is being spent and what difference it is making for your child specifically. Schools are required to publish their Pupil Premium strategy. Read it. Ask questions. Insist on accountability.

Many Muslim families do not realise their children are eligible for Pupil Premium funding. Our companion piece on Pupil Premium and Muslim families explains how to check eligibility and access the support your child is entitled to.

The Long Game

Closing the attainment gap is one of the most important pieces of work in education. It is also one of the most stubborn problems, resistant to quick fixes and easy spending. The EEF’s 2026 guidance is a discipline imposed on the system: stop spending on what does not work, start spending on what does, sustain it for years, and trust the evidence over the latest fashion.

Schools that take this seriously will be the ones whose disadvantaged pupils succeed. Schools that do not will continue to publish Pupil Premium strategies that look impressive on paper while delivering little on the ground.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Pupil Premium funding allocated?

Schools receive approximately £1,500 per primary pupil and £1,000 per secondary pupil eligible for free school meals at any point in the past six years, plus additional rates for looked-after children and service children.

Are schools required to publish how they spend Pupil Premium?

Yes. Every school must publish an annual Pupil Premium strategy on its website, explaining how the funding will be spent and what impact is expected. Parents have a right to see this.

What is the most effective use of Pupil Premium?

The EEF Toolkit consistently identifies high-quality teaching, targeted academic support like one-to-one or small-group tuition, and structured reading interventions as the highest-impact uses.

Does Pupil Premium make a measurable difference?

Where it is spent on evidence-based interventions, yes. Where it is spent on weak or generic activity, often not. The evidence base is now strong enough that schools have no excuse for spending poorly.

Can madrasahs access Pupil Premium funding?

Pupil Premium is a mainstream schools funding stream. Madrasahs do not receive it directly. However, the underlying evidence on what closes the attainment gap applies equally in supplementary education settings.