Medr/2026/30: Teacher training incentives in Wales for PGCE (Further Education) guidance academic year 2026/27

Overview

1. Teacher training incentive grants for PGCE (Further Education) initial teacher education aim to promote the recruitment of teachers into the Further Education sector. The grants support students who start either full or part time pre-service PGCE (Further Education) initial teacher education courses leading to a qualification to teach further education.

2. This guidance is issued by Medr, The Commission for Tertiary Education and Research, and provides information on PGCE (FE) incentives for the 2026/27 academic year, funding available, grant eligibility and how payments will be made. These guidance notes should be read as a whole to confirm whether individual students will be eligible for an incentive.

3. In this guidance we use the term “provider” to mean the further or higher education institution where a student is studying the PGCE (FE).

4. This guidance does not cover incentives offered on initial teacher education courses which lead to Qualified Teacher Status. Further information about course incentives is on the Welsh Government website.

Grant amount

5. The incentive is available to both full-time and part-time PGCE students, provided they meet the general eligibility requirements for the programme and student finance. All eligible students will receive a flat-rate incentive grant of £1,500.

6. Additional incentive payments of £1,000 are available to students who meet the eligibility criteria for the Welsh language incentives and/or Global Majority incentives. These payments are made in addition to the core £1,500 grant.

Student eligibility

7. Students can only claim an incentive grant if they:

• meet the eligibility criteria set out below; and
• have made an application by completing the relevant declaration forms.

8. To be eligible for the incentive, students must:

1. on entry to the course hold a first degree (this does not include a foundation degree) of a United Kingdom higher education institution or equivalent qualification
2. qualify for support under regulations made under section 22 of the Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 currently in force as they apply to the course
3. not be in any of the following categories of persons who are not entitled to receive the training grant:
   • students who completed a course of initial teacher training at further education level before 1 September 2025
   • students taking a non-postgraduate Certificate in Education (FE)
   • PGCE (FE) students who study on in-service courses
   • anyone who already holds Qualified Teacher Status (QTS); or
   • anyone employed at any further education college or other education institution in any capacity

9. In addition, those applying for the Welsh language incentive must have Welsh language skills of level 3 or above (based on self-assessment).

10. If students have any queries in relation to their eligibility, applying for a grant or have any queries relating to these grants, they should contact their PGCE (FE) provider.

Global Majority PGCE (FE) Incentive

11. This PGCE (FE) incentive reflects current recruitment priorities within the FE workforce. The aim of the Global Majority PGCE (FE) incentive is to increase the number of teachers from a Global Majority background, so that learners have a more diverse learning experience. This supports our ambition for an Anti-racist Wales.

12. To be eligible, learners must self-declare that they belong to one of the following ethnicities:

Asian: * Bangladeshi or Bangladeshi * BritishChinese or Chinese British * Indian or Indian British * Pakistani or Pakistani British * Any other Asian background Black, Black British, Caribbean, or African: * African or African British * Caribbean or Caribbean British * Any other Black background Mixed or multiple ethnic groups: * White or White British and Asian or Asian British * White or White British and Black African or Black African British * White or White British and Black Caribbean or Black Caribbean British * Any other Mixed or Multiple ethnic background

White: * Gypsy or Irish Traveller * Roma * Jewish Other ethnic group: * Arab * Kurdish

Welsh language Teaching and Learning incentive

13. Students studying any subject through the medium of Welsh (with the exception of Welsh itself) can apply for an additional incentive grant of £1,000.

14. PGCE (FE) providers have committed to provide opportunities up to 40 credits of the course to support the development of Welsh language skills. To be eligible for the incentive, students must successfully complete these 40 credits.

15. A three-way witness statement must be completed by the academic tutor, placement mentor and student teacher. This statement should be aligned to clearly defined targets and provide evidence that the student has met the learning outcomes associated with the 40 credits.

16. Evidence to support achievement of these credits may include (but not limited to):

• Development of Welsh medium resources to support learning and teaching
• Teaching through the medium of Welsh/bilingually whilst on placement
• Development of Welsh language skills of their learners
• Development of the wider Welsh language community within their placement setting
• Development of relationships outside their placement setting, eg and within a community setting or Welsh for Adults

Provider responsibilities for grant administration

17. PGCE (FE) initial teacher education providers are responsible for:

• identifying students who meet the eligibility criteria.
• providing eligible students with access to the declaration forms at the start of the PGCE (FE) programme.
• ensuring students understand the terms of the grant.
• collecting all signed declaration forms and returning, in a secure manner, all declaration forms to Medr if requested.
• completing termly claim forms.
• completing Welsh Language Incentive forms at beginning and end of academic year.
• ensuring evidence for Welsh language incentive is collected.
• ensuring evidence for the Global Majority incentive is collected.
• administering grant payments to students.
• dealing with student queries in relation to the grant.

18. Full responsibilities for ITE Providers are issued annually in individual grant offer letters and contract letters.

Scheduled grant payments

19. PGCE (FE) incentive grant will be paid termly in three instalments, December, March and June of the academic year of study.

20. Those who meet the requirements for the Welsh language grant and/or the Global Majority grant will receive the additional £1,000 alongside their final subject grant payment in June of the academic year of study.

21. Providers will decide the exact dates of payments to students. They should ensure that payments are made before the last working day of the month. In June this will be the last working day of June or, if earlier, the week the programme finishes.

22. Payments should only be made to those students who are attending the programme on the date of payment. If any student has withdrawn or deferred (suspended) a programme prior to the payment date, payment should not be made.

Summary of payment timings

PGCE (FE) Incentives grant payments (full-time study)

Incentive grant amount	Autumn payment to be paid in December	Spring payment to be paid in March	Summer and final payment to be paid in June
£1,500	£300	£300	£900
£1,000 (Welsh Language)	£0	£0	£1,000
£1,000 (Global Majority)	£0	£0	£1,000

PGCE (FE) Incentives grant payment (part-time study)

Academic year	Incentive grant amount	Autumn payments to be paid in December	Spring payment to be paid in March	Summer and final payment to be paid in June
Year 1	£1,500	£150	£150	£450
Year 2		£150	£150	£450
	£1,000 (Global majority)	£0	£0	£1,000
	£1,000 (Welsh language)	£0	£0	£1,000

23. For part-time PGCE (FE) students, the grant amount of £1,500 is paid in full, ensuring parity with the full-time offer. Payments are spread across two academic years, with three payments made in each year (December, March and June) at half the standard full‑time rate. The Welsh language and Global Majority incentives are additional, one‑off payments and, where eligibility criteria are met, will be paid in June of the second academic year.

24. If a student eligible for the PGCE (FE) incentive, but has also received;

1. some or all of a PGCE (FE) incentive under this or any previous scheme in Wales prior to 1 September 2025
2. or received at any time any amount of any grant payable in respect of equivalent schemes in England
   the payment of PGCE (FE) incentive to which they are entitled will be reduced by the amount of previous grant payments received.

25. Eligible students are only entitled to the maximum of the incentive grant value which applied in the academic year the student’s studies initially started, unless Medr agree otherwise in writing.

How funding will be paid to PGCE (FE) Initial Teacher Education Providers

26. Providers must collect declaration forms for each eligible student at the start of each academic year (Annex A to this guidance). The declaration contains information that Medr have indicated is required to administer the scheme and providers must be able to share all declarations with Medr, in a secure manner, if requested.

27. The declaration form asks students to confirm that they have read and understood the information contained in this guidance. If this confirmation is not received by providers grant payments cannot be made.

28. Prior to each termly instalment, providers must complete and submit a claim form to Medr to ensure appropriate funds are released. Providers will be informed of the submission dates via the grant agreement letter.

29. Declaration and claim forms will be issued to providers directly by Medr.

Deferment (suspension), withdrawal and resumptions

30. If a student defers (suspends) their studies during a term, they will not be eligible to receive that termly payment. However, if a student resumes their studies within the same academic year, they will be entitled to receive the missed term’s payment, up to the maximum amount of the incentive. Under these circumstances payment will be made on completion of and in addition to the following term’s payment.

31. Where a student resumes a PGCE (FE) in a different academic year to when they initially started or deferred, payments will be continue to be made at the same rate (if any) which applied in the academic year the student’s studies initially started, unless Medr agrees otherwise in writing.

32. Individuals who withdraw from a programme before its completion and are eligible for an incentive grant, will only be entitled to the termly payment(s), where they have completed the term in full.

Recovery of incentive grants

33. Medr has powers to recover incentive grants paid, in whole or in part. They have discretion about whether to exercise those powers and will consider all cases on their merits.

34. These powers may be exercised by Medr where:

1. after receiving any instalment of an incentive grant, the recipient fails to meet any eligibility criteria adopted by Medr and set out in the schedule or information guide in relation to a subsequent instalment; or
2. the recipient has provided in, or in connection with, his or her application for an incentive grant, information which is false or materially misleading; or there is firm evidence that the recipient had never intended to complete the programme or, having completed it, to enter teaching.

Data Protection and Freedom of Information

35. Information which student submits as part of their claim under the Teacher training incentives in Wales for PGCE (FE) scheme, is subject to the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the General Data Protection Regulation, and the Data Protection Act 2018.

36. Medr will process all personal data in accordance with its published privacy policy.

Guidance for providers: applications and claims

37. The student application and declaration forms must be signed and collected to claim for that student. Medr can request sight of these forms at any time and can request return of funds if no form can be produced.

38. Alongside this document is the provider claim form (Annex B). Providers should submit a copy of this form by 30 October 2026 as an indication of what amount their claim will be. This will be done by completing column B-F and column I and L on the master list tab. Grant Offer Letters will then be issued based on this amount.

39. An additional 12% of providers’ initial application amount will be added to the total. This is made up of 10% contingency for additions and/or changes of amounts, and a 2% administration amount.

40. Following return of your signed Grant Offer Letter, providers’ December payment will be authorised on the amounts in the grant claim form submitted by 30 October 2026.

41. Provider claim forms should then be submitted on

• 25 January 2027 for the March payment, and
• 26 April 2027 for the June payment

42. Medr’s Workforce Team will contact providers in advance of each claim deadline to ensure that all required documentation and arrangements are in place.

43. When submitting the claim for June providers must have confirmation that students eligible for the Welsh language incentive have completed the necessary requirements to receive the funding. Column I on the provider claim form should be updated accordingly.

44. Please note once a claim is submitted, if any errors or additions have occurred, the amounts must be updated on the claim form for the next payment. Also, a note of this change should be made on the respective tabs. (Change of allocation/added or removed from claim).

45. For any further information, please contact [email protected].