,
Labour’s Shadow Schools Minister, responding to data
showing schools could be losing out on pupil premium funding for
103,900 pupils, said:
“This data confirms warnings from Labour, school leaders and
teachers that the government are wilfully cutting support for
those children who are most likely to have struggled with
learning during the pandemic.
“The Pupil Premium stealth cut will see schools losing out on an
estimated £119million in funding which should be providing extra
support to over 103,000 children, helping them achieve at school.
“Stripping away funding to support the kids who need it most is
unacceptable – doing so during a pandemic is a disgrace. Unlike
the Tories, Labour will do everything it takes to make this
country the best place in the world to grow up in. Labour’s
recovery plan commits to reversing this cut and delivering the
opportunities every child needs to bounce back from the
pandemic.”
ENDS
Notes to editor
· Department for Education statistics released today confirm that
the number of pupils eligible for free school meals has risen
from 1,633,698 in October 2020 to 1,737,598 in January 2021 – an
increase of 103,900
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics
(January 2021)
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/free-school-meals-autumn-term/2020-21-autumn-term(October
2020)
· Pupil Premium is the mechanism by which schools get extra
government funding to help them improve the outcomes of pupils
classed as disadvantaged (including pupils eligible for free
school meals). Schools receive £1,345 for every primary age
pupil, or £955 for every secondary age pupil who claims free
school meals or who has claimed free school meals in the last 6
years, and £2,345 for every pupil who has left local authority
care through adoption, a special guardianship order or child
arrangements order: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium
· The government have moved the date for calculating pupil
premium eligibility back from January to October, meaning schools
are missing out on additional funding for any child who started
claiming free school meals for the first time after
1st October 2020: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium
· Using £1,150 as the average of the disadvantage pupil premium
rate for primary and secondary, the total impact of the cut is as
follows:
o £1,150 x 103,900 = £119,485,000 (£119.5
million)
Waiting this to account for higher numbers of primary age pupils
on free school meals this cut could be up to £129millon https://schoolsweek.co.uk/more-than-1-in-5-pupils-on-free-school-meals-after-covid-surge/
· Labour has repeatedly warned about the stealth cut to Pupil
Premium funding, but these warnings were dismissed by the
government: https://schoolsweek.co.uk/gibb-brushes-off-125m-pupil-premium-stealth-cut-complaints/
· Labour’s Children’s Recovery Plan: https://labour.org.uk/childrens-recovery-plan/
