For this academic year, schools can claim for the actual hours of training undertaken by the General Mentor whilst they are supporting a student teacher (from September 2024), up to a maximum of 20 hours, per accredited provider. Information can be found here: General Mentor Training conditions of grant - November 2024
This funding is to support the mentor in being able to undertake up to 20 hours of mentor development. The funding could be used to:
- pay for someone to take over lessons while a mentor is training;
- pay for someone to teach if a mentor takes time off in lieu to train;
- overtime payment to the mentor, if they are training outside normal working hours (teacher workload should be carefully considered in such cases);
- pay for any costs that come from reducing a mentor’s other responsibilities, so they have time to train.
This funding applies to schools that:
- offer placements to student teachers, including special schools, pupil referral units, independent schools, early years settings and further education organisations;
- have General Mentors working with student teachers who started or returned to their training at any time between 1 September 2024 and 31 May 2025;
- have General Mentors that intended to work with student teachers who would have started their training any time between 1 September 2024 and 31 May 2025; however, the student teacher withdrew or took a leave of absence from the programme after the mentor training had started.
Funding Amount
For each mentor that completes the full 20 hours of training, the table below sets out how much a school can claim. If a mentor undertakes fewer than 20 hours of training, the funding is calculated per hour.
For example, if a mentor in a school outside London completed 10 hours of training, the school can claim £438. This is calculated at £43.80 (per hour) x 10 (hours of training).
| Funding available | Funding period | Recipient of funding | How is it paid |
|---|---|---|---|
Up to £876 (£43.80 per hour) — for schools outside London (the rest of England) |
Academic year 2024/25 |
Schools who host ITT trainees |
Payments will be made in arrears based on the number of hours of training. Schools will be able to claim this funding at the end of the 2024/25 academic year |
Timelines for the General Mentor training grant
The following table can be used as an example, for planning, for schools and providers to support applications for the General Mentor training grant. Details can be found here: General mentor training: additional guidance and it is advisable for schools wishing to claim funding for their General Mentors that they make themselves aware of the claiming process on pages 5-8 of this document. In addition, the DfE will be auditing 10% of General Mentor claims by schools, so please also read pages 8-9.
As per the guidance below, LJMU will provide an update of General Mentor training per school to enable schools to meet the first funding deadline of mid-July 2025.
| Activity | Key Dates |
|---|---|
Conditions of grant published. |
April 2024 |
GOV.UK service opens allowing school users to join the service and to review the grant terms and conditions. |
Early 2025 |
Schools submit a claim for General Mentor funding in the GOV.UK service. |
From May 2025 |
First application window closes, to enable September 2025 payments (a second window will open in September 2025). |
Mid-July 2025 |
Payment is made to schools. |
From September 2025 |
At least 10% of claims are audited with evidence required to be provided by schools and providers. |
From December 2025 |