Levelling up premium payments for teachers

The levelling up premium payment can be between £1,500 and £3,000 depending on the school you teach in.

Teachers can apply from September in the 2022 to 2023, 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 academic years.

When to apply

Use the table to find out when you can apply for a levelling up premium payment.

For postgraduates, use the academic year when your initial teacher training (ITT) course started. For undergraduates, use the academic year when your ITT course finished.

ITT course start or finish	Academic year to apply
2017 to 2018	2022
2018 to 2019	2022 and 2023
2019 to 2020	2022, 2023 and 2024
2020 to 2021	2022, 2023 and 2024
2021 to 2022	2022, 2023 and 2024
2022 to 2023	2023 and 2024
2023 to 2024	2024

The academic year runs from 1 September to 31 August. Applications open in September of the year shown.

Eligibility criteria

You must meet the eligibility criteria to be able to claim any additional payments.

From September 2022, you will be able to answer some questions to find out what additional payments you are eligible to claim.

You will only be able to claim either an early-career payment or levelling up premium payment per academic year, even if you are eligible to claim for both payments.

Learn more about what additional payments are available.

School eligibility and payment amount

Levelling up premium payments will be offered in schools identified as having a high need for teachers. If you teach in an eligible school in an education investment area, you will receive a higher payment.

List of eligible and non-eligible schools for levelling up premium payment (ODS, 319314 KB).

Methodology

We have produced a methodology document (PDF, 130 KB, 2 pages) which explains our funding approach.

Qualifications

To claim, you must have completed at least one of the following:

• an ITT course specialising in mathematics, physics, chemistry or computing
• a UK undergraduate or postgraduate degree related to mathematics, physics, chemistry and computing on the JACS 3.0 principal subject codes or with a relevant higher education classification of subjects (HECoS) code (ODS, 9.589.27 KB)
• an equivalent non-UK degree

If you were awarded qualified teacher status (QTS) through assessment only or overseas recognition in an eligible academic year, you will also be eligible.

QTS and QTLS

You must have either:

• QTS
• qualified teacher learning and skills (QTLS) status and membership of the Society for Education and Training (SET)

Employment

You must be employed as a teacher in a state-funded secondary school in England when you apply for the payment. State-funded secondary schools include:

• local authority-maintained secondary schools
• academies, free schools or multi-academy trusts
• special schools (local authority-maintained or non-maintained)

This includes middle-deemed secondary schools.

You must have spent at least 50% of your contracted hours allocated to teaching one or more of the eligible subjects at the time of the application.

Supply, private school and sixth-form college teachers

If you are a supply teacher, you must:

• be employed directly by the school
• have been working for at least one term before applying

You cannot come from a private agency.

If you teach in a private school or sixth-form college, you are not eligible.

Part-time teachers

If you are a part-time teacher, you are eligible for the same levelling up premium payment amounts as full-time teachers.

You still need to meet the same eligibility criteria in full.

Breaks in teaching

You are allowed to have some breaks in your normal employment which include:

• sickness, maternity, paternity, parental or adoption leave
• annual leave
• time between unfair dismissal and an employee being reinstated
• military service, for example with a reserve force
• temporary lay-offs

Performance

You must not currently be subject to any:

• formal performance measures as a result of continuous poor teaching standards
• disciplinary action

Payments and deductions

Number of payments

The Department for Education makes the payment in one lump sum.

You can only claim one additional payment in each academic year, even if you are eligible for more than one type of additional payment.

For example, if you are eligible for both the levelling up premium and early-career payments, you can only claim one of these additional payments in the same academic year.

However, if you are eligible to claim back your student loan repayments, you will be able to claim this as well as a levelling up premium payment or early-career payment.

Taxable income and National Insurance

The Department for Education will pay Income Tax up to basic rate (currently income of £12,571 to £50,270, taxed at a rate of 20%) and National Insurance for the payment on your behalf.

If you become or already are a higher rate taxpayer, any additional Income Tax and National Insurance contributions for this payment over the higher rate will remain your responsibility. The higher rate is currently income of £50,271 to £150,000, taxed rate 40%.

The Department for Education is not liable to reimburse tax at the higher rate.

Review the tax bands updated on Income Tax rates and personal allowances.

The payment is not part of your salary from your employer. You, your employer, or the government will not make a contribution to your pension as part of this payment.

You should consider any other benefits or tax credits that could be affected if you claim this payment.

Student loan deductions

If you have a student loan you are currently paying off, a deduction will go towards repaying your student loan. This is taken from your payment automatically.

Contact

If you have any questions about the levelling up premium payments, email levellinguppremiumpayments@digital.education.gov.uk.