LGA responds to NAHT report on schools’ COVID-19 recovery fund ‘wiped out’

Responding to analysis by school leaders’ union NAHT showing that the £6,000 average funding allocated to primary schools through the ‘recovery premium’ has been “wiped out” for many schools due to changes in how government calculates the number of children eligible for pupil premium funding, Cllr Judith Blake, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said:

“It is imperative that no school should lose out in receiving Pupil Premium funding as a result of this administrative change, particularly in the context of the pandemic and the need to ensure pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are supported to recover lost education.

“There will be many schools with children who will have become eligible for Pupil Premium between October and January who will now not qualify for this extra funding for a whole year.

“Schools need certainty that they will not lose out as soon as possible to ensure that no child is left behind.”