From 7 December 2020, the Department for Education (DfE) has opened a second claims window for previously unclaimed costs incurred between March and July 2020 (only) under its exceptional covid-19 costs scheme.

The criteria for the scheme remains limited to the following​:

• Increased premises costs need to keep the school open during Easter of summer half term holidays for children of critical workers and vulnerable children
• Costs of free school meals for children not attending schools who were not covered by the national voucher scheme
• Additional cleaning due to confirmed or suspected covid-19 cases