ASCL responds to Sutton Trust research on Pupil Premium funding

Responding to research published by the Sutton Trust which finds that over a third of heads are using Pupil Premium funding to plug general gaps in their school’s budget, Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“Every school wants to use all its Pupil Premium funding to support disadvantaged children. But the reality is that many schools lack the basic level of funding they need for day-to-day running, and Pupil Premium money ends up having to be used for their core provision.

“This situation has worsened over the past year because of the government’s abject failure to provide sufficient financial support to schools for Covid-associated costs such as the extensive safety measures they have had to put in place.

“Education funding is a confusing morass of various pots of money but the problem is pretty simple – there isn’t enough funding.”