Grant funding for early career training programme for mentors (ECTPM)

This guidance is for:

• local authorities
• school leaders
• school teachers
• governing bodies and their representatives

Grant funding for mentor training - September 2025 onwards

ECTPM grant funding for mentor training is available to settings who use one of the DfE funded training providers to deliver training to early career teachers (ECTs) for early career teacher entitlement (ECTE).

Mentors will be given up to 20 hours to undertake mentor training for 1 year. Settings will be funded to support the mentor to undertake the training.

This will be through 1 payment in arrears at the end of each academic year. Payments will be based on evidence as confirmed by the training provider.

Please find payment breakdown table in section 3.1 Calculation of the ECTPM conditions of grant for 2025 to 2026 academic year

Grant funding for those mentors who start their training prior to September 2025

Eligible schools using one of the DfE funded training providers to deliver ECF mentor training will receive backfill payments to cover 36 hours of mentor time off timetable for training per mentor, over a 2 year period. Year 1 and year 2 refer respectively to the first year and second year of ECF training for a mentor.

Funding will be paid as 1 payment up to the maximum of 18 hours for each academic year.

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Payment schedule and conditions of grant

Settings do not need to make an application for this funding. Payments will be made in arrears as one amount after the end of each academic year to eligible settings who use a training provider to deliver the mentor training as set out in the relevant conditions of grant. Payments will be based on evidence as confirmed by the training provider. Mentors can continue to complete their training even if their ECT transfers school or withdraws part way through their training, mentors can only do this training programme once.

Mentor training funding for September 2025 onwards

The conditions of grant for mentors who begin training on or after September 2025 will be made available before the 2025 to 2026 academic year starts.

Mentors who started their training before September 2025

For mentors who began training prior to September 2025 the conditions of grant for academic year 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025 and 2025 to 2026 are applicable.

All payments are made in arrears and as 1 payment after the end of each academic year.

The table below shows the schedule for backfill payments for time off timetable for ECF mentor training.

The table below shows the schedule for ECTPM.

Payments will be made to local authorities for maintained schools and directly to academies and other eligible institutions in accordance with the schedule below. Local authorities will receive a payment remittance which will include a school allocation list for the maintained schools relevant to them. Grant funding allocations will be published each year prior to payments being made. Any corrective payments will be made in accordance with the payment schedule as well.

The table below provides information on payment schedule.

Grant funding allocations

At the top of this page, you can viewview:

• ECTPM conditions of grant for academic year 2025 to 2026
• conditions of grant for academic years, 2023 to 2024, 2024 to 2025 and (second year only) 2025 to 2026
• the grant allocations spreadsheet for academic year 2023 to 2024. Please note the Instructions tab provides information on how pro rata allocations are paid.
• the grant allocations spreadsheet for academic year 2022 to 2023 which includes all corrective allocations.
• the grant allocations spreadsheet for academic year 2021 to 2022 which includes all corrective allocations.

For any further enquiries you can contact: continuing-professional-development@digital.education.gov.uk