Sign in to access your Salford customer account, or see our other accounts.
Sign in or register for an accountAlternative provision (AP) refers to education that a student receives away from their school, arranged by Local Authorities, or by the schools themselves. For some children and young people in Salford, the pathways to achieving a well-rounded education are not always easy.
School attendance is one of the biggest challenges that COVID-19 has posed to children and young people, impacting on their academic outcomes, wellbeing and safety.
Local Authorities must provide education for children and young people who have been permanently excluded, or who are too ill to attend school for some time. Schools have a duty to provide education for children and young people from the sixth day of a fixed term exclusion.
Sometimes, schools also need off-site education to help children and young people to improve their behaviour, or deal with their anxiety. Alternative Provision may be used for the education of these children and young people.
Our alternative provision strategy aims to ensure all children and young people access quality learning from childhood through to adulthood in the right place, at the right time and in a way that will help them thrive. We will continue to work in partnership with Salford schools and other groups and organisations, to ensure our families and schools get the support they need.
We will work together from the earliest opportunities to help parents and carers support their children to get the most from their education, ensuring their child is understood and well supported.
Download the Salford Alternative Provision Strategy (Adobe PDF format, 231kb)
Some of our goals include reducing exclusions, increasing the number of young people in education, employment and training and increasing the number of children and young people being supported in mainstream provision.
We hope that the Salford Alternative Provision Strategy helps us to realise our vision; that children and young people achieve their full potential in education, learning and future employment.
A programme of alternative education provision may be offered to a pupil if they are experiencing problems with their school's mainstream curriculum offer. This may include issues relating to behaviour and attendance, or where a pupil is seen to not be achieving good academic outcomes. In general, most pupils will access a programme of alternative education provision on a part-time basis (eg half a day, one day a week) alongside the school's core curriculum offer. However, there are some pupils who may be timetabled with an external provider on a full-time basis.
In these circumstances, providers of alternative provision must ensure pupils have access to core curriculum subjects (ie English, mathematics, science, IT) and be given the opportunity to take appropriate and accredited qualifications that help them to progress into further education or training.
Young people that have been permanently excluded from school may also access alternative provision. This will usually be arranged by the local authority and may include a permanent placement in a pupil referral unit.
The local authority provides a dedicated support service to schools to help them arrange suitable alternative provision for their pupils. This is for both primary and secondary schools.
This service is available to the council and schools to refer for support. It is not available for direct referral by parents or carers. In cases where families or other support professionals believe a child needs additional support, they should speak to the child’s school to plan suitable support to meet their needs.
The council will use a flexible procurement system (FPS) to purchase suitable alternative and complimentary provision. The FPS is divided into several parts (Lots) which can be chosen by schools to meet the needs of individual pupils. Lots cover several areas including:
Providers must provide significant evidence of ability to meet need to be accepted to deliver against one of these Lots, and there is no limit to the number of Lots a provider can apply for.
Providers may be approved to deliver provision for some or all the Lots they have applied to. The decision will be based on the quality of the submission received. There will be no limit to the number of providers approved in each lot.
If approved, providers will be required to enter into an FPS agreement with the council. This does not guarantee work or funding but will give providers the opportunity to be commissioned for contracts of work, by appointment or via a competitive tender process.
This page was last updated on 30 April 2025