Funding distribution promotes inequality

The government’s distribution of school funding disproportionately benefits pupils from more affluent backgrounds, resulting in schools with pupils from poorer backgrounds losing out, the NEU education union has warned.

The union said poorer pupils receive hundreds of pounds less in funding, something borne out in analysis by think tank the Education Policy Institute (EPI). The EPI reveals that the way the government is distributing its 2020 funding increase means bigger increases are going to schools with fewer disadvantaged students.

The NEU published data in October 2019 which showed that, even taking into account the planned funding increases for 2020, schools serving the poorest students had suffered most under the Conservatives.

Primary schools serving the most deprived intakes had seen their annual funding per pupil fall, on average, by £382 in real terms since 2015, compared to £125 for those with the least deprived intakes.

The figures for secondary schools were even greater, with those serving the most deprived intakes losing £509 in real terms per pupil compared to £117 for those with the least deprived intakes.

Avis Gilmore, NEU deputy general secretary, said: “The cuts schools and colleges have suffered to their budgets since 2015 have impacted greatly on children and young peoples’ education.”

https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/school-funding-allocations-2021-22

https://neu.org.uk/press-releases/epi-school-funding-analysis