The government has introduced several funding incentives to support and increase participation in level 3 maths qualifications.
Increasing participation in level 3 maths is a key part of the government’s Industrial Strategy to equip more young people with important maths skills and create a more productive economy. Professor Sir Adrian Smith’s review of post-16 mathematics recommended more funding and incentives to increase uptake of maths post-16. In 2017 the DfE announced changes to the Large Programme Uplift (LPU) and introduced the Advanced Maths Premium (AMP). In August 2019, the government announced an additional £400 million of funding for 16-19 education, and introduced the High Value Courses Premium (HVCP).
If your school or college has students studying level 3 maths, you may be eligible for additional funding.
- If you have students studying 2 or more maths and other STEM A levels, you will be eligible for the High Value Courses Premium.
- If you are increasing student participation in any of the advanced (i.e. level 3) maths qualifications, including Core Maths, you may be eligible for the Advanced Maths Premium.
- If you have students studying A level Mathematics or Further Mathematics as part of a four (or more) A level programme, you may be eligible for the Large Programme Uplift
This funding is designed to encourage greater participation in the advanced maths qualifications, including Core Maths, AS and A level Mathematics and Further Mathematics. A brief summary of the details is provided below. For full details, refer to the DfE’s guidance for schools and colleges, which was last updated on 9 January 2023.
- The premium was first included in 16-19 funding allocations for academic year 2019-20. It has been paid to schools/colleges in 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23. The January 2023 update means that the AMP will continue to be funded in academic year 2023-24.
- The premium is £600 per year per additional student, above a baseline, studying an advanced maths qualification.
- The baseline years have changed. The baseline is calculated from the mean number of your students studying advanced maths qualifications in academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21 within your school/college.
- For new providers (with the exception of maths schools), including those that do not have 16-19 student numbers for academic years 2019-20 and 2020-21, the baseline is determined from a national average.
- Eligible advanced maths qualifications include: Core Maths, AS/A level Mathematics, AS/A level Further Mathematics, and AS/A level Statistics. The 16 to 18 qualifications and discount codes: 2018 to 2024 performance tables provides a full list of eligible maths qualifications.
- The Eligible qualifications Advanced Maths Premium 2023 to 2024 document provides a full list of eligible maths qualifications.
- Students studying A level Mathematics alongside A level Further Mathematics are counted twice for each year of the two-year course.
Here’s an example of how the premium is calculated:
| Qualification | 2019-20 | 2020-21 | Baseline | 2022-23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AS level Mathematics only | 30 | 28 | 29 | 15 |
| A level Mathematics | 23 | 15 | 19 | 35 |
| AS level Further Mathematics | 4 | 0 | 2 | 4 |
| A level Further Mathematics | 1 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| Core Maths | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 |
| Total | 58 | 48 | 53 | 73 |
The figures include students in Year 12 and 13 of A level courses and Year 12 of AS level courses.
In this example, the increase in level 3 maths student qualifications is 20, and so the Advanced Maths Premium for payment in the 2019-20 funding allocation is 20 x £600 = £12,000.
The 16-19 funding allocations have included the additional Advanced Maths Premium since 2019-20. In 2022-23, £16 million in additional funding was paid to over 900 providers. The amount paid ranged from £600 to £280,000, with a median amount of £9,600. (In October 2022, the DfE published 16 to 19 allocation data: 2022 to 2023 academic year and the AMP allocations can be seen in column P of the spreadsheet on the ‘Allocations’ tab.)
The Advanced Maths Premium offers schools and colleges an excellent opportunity to increase participation in level 3 maths. For example, introducing Core Maths with a group of 15 students would be worth £9,000 in additional funding through the AMP. This would be enough to pay for the staffing to teach this extra course.
The ESFA have not yet announced whether there will continue to be Advanced Maths Premium funding after 2023-24. The AMSP will update this page as soon as details of any future funding is known.
Many schools and colleges now limit most students to studying three A level subjects in both Year 12 and 13. However there is an additional funding uplift of 10% for students who are studying four A level subjects (or 20% for five A level subjects). To be eligible, students must achieve grade B or higher in all their A level subjects (except for Further Mathematics – see below).
This additional funding means that schools and colleges can continue to provide challenging programmes of study of four or more A levels for their more able students. It is particularly helpful where students wish to study A level Mathematics and Further Mathematics. Further Mathematics is commonly studied as part of a four A level programme (44% of students entered for Further Mathematics in 2017 took it as part of a four or more A level subject programme of study).
In order to encourage schools and colleges to continue to offer students the opportunity to study A level Further Mathematics alongside 3 other subjects, the eligibility criteria for the Large Programme Uplift was changed in 2018-19. Now when students study A level Further Mathematics as part of a four (or more) A level programme, their school or college qualifies for the additional 10% (or 20%) funding uplift provided they achieve a grade C or better in Further Mathematics, rather than a grade B or better which is required for their other subjects.
Full details of the Large Programme Uplift are available in the DfE guidance. Guidance on offering Further Mathematics as part of a four (or more) A level programme is available here.
This is additional funding to encourage and support the teaching of selected level 3 courses in subjects that research indicates lead to higher salaries. The aim is to increase participation in these, mainly STEM, subjects. This is part of the Government’s Industrial Strategy, providing an additional £400 million of funding for 16-19 education, to enable a more productive economy.
A level Mathematics, Further Mathematics and Statistics are all included in the list of qualifications that attract the HVCP, alongside other science A levels and some level 3 vocational qualifications with 360 or more Guided Learning Hours, (GLH). Core Maths, with only 180 GLH, is not a qualifying qualification for HVCP, however it does count towards the Advanced Maths Premium.
Students enrolled on at least 2 of the selected A levels are eligible for the premium. For academic year 2022-23, the amount increased from £400 to £600 per student for each year the student is on their study programme. This is in addition to any Advanced Maths Premium funding that the school/college may be eligible for. The HVCP allocation for 2023-24 will be calculated based on eligible students in academic year 2021-22. Further details of how the HVCP is calculated and paid is on the DfE website.
In 2022-23, over £130 million in additional funding was paid to 2144 providers, an average of £61,000 per provider. (In October 2022, the DfE published 16 to 19 allocation data: 2022 to 2023 academic year and the AMP allocations can be seen in column Q of the spreadsheet on the ‘Allocations’ tab.)