A sting in the tail for schools: Conservatives call on Labour to come clean on £1.5 billion pupil premium cut

Today [Thursday 5^th June 2025], the Conservative Party is calling on the Labour government to come clean about a stealth cut to school funding

Hidden in the detail of their announcement about the future of Free School Meals (FSM) was the fact that Labour is to end the Transitional Protection put in place by the last Conservative Government to protect FSM pupils during the rollout of Universal Credit.

This Transitional Protection currently allows around 1.2 million extra pupils to get free school meals. That in turn attracts around 1.5 billion in funding for their schools, through the "Pupil Premium" for deprived pupils introduced under the last Conservative Government, because the two were linked by the last government.

While the numbers losing FSM will be offset by changes to eligibility, the government has announced that they will break this link, and that those who are newly made eligible for FSM will not attract pupil premium funding.   This breaking of the link means means that as schools lose pupil premium funding from the end of Transitional Protection their losses will not be offset by the changes to eligibility for those on UC made newly eligible.

The pupils premium is worth up to £1,480 per child to primary schools, £1,050 for secondary school pupils and £2,570 for those who have been in care.

The weighted average is around £1,280 pupil premium funding per pupil, and there are thought to be around 1.2 million children eligible for FSM at present because of Transitional Protection. This means they attract around £1.5 billion in extra funding for their schools - funding which will disappear once transitional protection ends in next year.

The same issue applies to other funding linked to FSM, including home-to-school transport, and holiday clubs and food.

Experts in the sector have also raised the alarm about this decision. Dr. Tammy Campbell, Director at the Education Policy Institute stated “there does not appear to be a clear rationale from government as to why the new free school meal eligibility criteria will not be reflected in pupil premium eligibility”. 

Carl Cullinane, Director of Research and Policy at the Sutton Trust warned that: “The government's decision not to extend pupil premium eligibility to those newly qualifying for free school meals under the expanded criteria risks undermining the support available to disadvantaged pupils”.  

Neil O'Brien MP, Shadow Education Minister, said: 

“It turns out there is a very nasty sting in the tail for school funding hidden in today's announcement on Free School Meals.

“The decision to break the link to pupil premium funding for those who are newly eligible, taken together with the decision to end Transitional Protection means schools will lose £1.5 billion worth of funding. Education experts are already criticising the decision to break the link to pupil premium funding, and the government has provided no justification at all for this stealth cut."

“The government already broke their promise to fully fund the national insurance tax increase for schools, creating a £400 million funding gap which is leading to teacher redundancies right now. They must now come clean about this further stealth cut to schools and stop trying to conceal cuts with smoke and mirrors.”

ENDS 

Notes to Editors

The Conservatives delivered free school meals for those who truly needed them, backed up with the funding for schools to deliver them:

• The Conservative Government introduced transitional protections in 2018 to protect those eligible from becoming ineligible while Universal Credit is being rolled out. Transitional protections for free school meals have been in effect since 1 April 2018, meaning that pupils becoming eligible for free meals under the benefits-based criteria have continued to receive this entitlement, even if their household circumstances have changed (DfE, Guidance: Free School Meals, June 2025, link).

• The percentage of students using transitional protections for free school meals in England has doubled from 13.6 per cent to 25.7 per cent, delivering free school meals for more pupils. This has meant more children are receiving free school meals today (Institute for Fiscal Studies, Comment, 4 June 2024, link).

• The Conservative Government introduced pupil premium funding, supporting schools to close attainment gaps for disadvantaged pupils. In April 2011, the Conservative Government introduced the pupil premium, giving schools £625 million of extra funding to close attainment gaps for disadvantaged pupils. This has increased year on year and is worth £1,480 per pupil in primary schools and £1,050 per pupil in secondary schools (DfE, Policy Paper: 2010 to 2015 Government Policy: Education of Disadvantaged Children, 8 May 2015, link).

Labour are not only taking away support from children, but are leaving schools to face a £1.5 million shortfall:

• Labour are abolishing transitional protections in September 2026, meaning that children who were protected will no longer be eligible for free school meals. Labour have extended transitional protections until the end of 2024-25 but it will then be their ‘intention' to end these transitional protections alongside the change in the threshold that delivers free school meals for all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit (DfE, Guidance: Free School Meals, June 2025, link).

• Labour are also now breaking the link between pupil premium funding and free school meal eligibility, meaning schools will be faced with a £1.5 billion shortfall in funding. With 1.2 million pupils on transition protection, bringing with them about £1,200 each, schools are going to lose the £1.5 billion currently going to them in pupil premium funding (Hansard, 5 June 2025, link).

Labour's lies of lifting out 100,000 children from poverty next year have been denounced:

• The IFS have called out Labour's lies, commenting that ‘today's announcement will not see anything like 100,000 children lifted out of poverty next year'. Christine Farquharson, Associate Director of the IFS, said: ‘Transitional protections introduced in 2018 have substantially increased the number of children receiving free school meals today - so in the short run, today's announcement will both cost considerably less (around £250 million a year) and benefit considerably fewer pupils (the government's estimate is 500,000 children). This also means that today's announcement will not see anything like 100,000 children lifted out of poverty next year' (Institute for Fiscal Studies, Comment, 4 June 2024, link).