ASCL comment on PAC report on pupil premium funding

Responding to a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) examining how funding for disadvantaged children is being spent by schools, Julia Harnden, Funding Specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“School leaders are doing everything they can to support disadvantaged pupils in the most effective way possible. They are also operating within very challenging financial circumstances. If the pupil premium is being used to plug budget gaps, it will be as a last resort and is symptomatic of the inadequacy of school funding overall.

“It is very important that schools retain the flexibility to use funding according to their local context. In order to narrow the disadvantage gap, we also need funding to be both sufficient overall and distributed in a manner that properly reflects the varying levels of disadvantage in communities across the country.

“We support the PAC recommendation for the DfE to work closely with other areas of government within the child poverty taskforce. The responsibility for achieving the government's ‘opportunity mission' cannot be borne by education alone.”