Why school funding reforms will hit support for vulnerable pupils
Anne Heavey
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Much has already been said about the new National Schools Funding Formula, but one aspect of the reform has not had quite so much attention - the new central school services block.
In his 2015 Autumn Statement, George Osborne announced that £600m would be cut from the education services grant (ESG). The spending review and autumn statement for 2015 states: "Savings of around £600m will be made on the ESG, including phasing out the additional funding schools receive through the ESG. The government will reduce the local authority role in running schools."
The government recently confirmed the new central school services block, which replaces the ESG, is to be worth £50m - only 8.3 per cent of the old budget. The ESG cut remains a brutal one. Coupled with a significant real-terms reduction in funding for each pupil between 2014/15 and 2019/20, strategies, teams and services that keep vulnerable children and young people engaged in education are at risk of being lost.
Local authorities still have a raft of statutory duties in education, which they must meet from this budget, including school admissions, moderating assessments, safeguarding and supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). So £50m will not go far in meeting the costs of these duties.
What does this mean for children in the classroom? In short, it means that many of the valuable services that supported children to achieve well and stay happy at school will either be reduced, removed or purchased as a traded service.
In some councils, services are being cut, while in others, the "traded service" model is being used so that schools can "buy back" school improvement services from their authority. However, schools often do not have the money to "buy back" the occupational therapist, educational psychologist, behaviour consultant, youth support worker, literacy specialist, or speech therapist when pupils need them.
Enough schools have to buy back a service to make it viable, but we have heard from several councils that they have been unable to secure enough contracts with schools to maintain the business model.
The other problem with the traded services model is that even if the funds are available in a school, a decision has to be taken at senior leadership level to buy back the service, and with so many policy changes happening in schools - around curriculum, assessment, safeguarding and accountability - this may not always be the priority.
The impact of the ESG cut is compounded by the huge strain on school budgets, which the National Audit Office expects to fall in real terms by eight per cent for every pupil by 2020. This means that the support schools provide for pupils who need extra help is also under threat, with support staff being cut or positions remaining unfilled when someone leaves, bigger class sizes and the range of subjects taught being cut in many schools.
Many children who would benefit from individual support from a teaching assistant are missing out and falling behind.
Last year, just 14 per cent of pupils with SEND reached the expected standard at the end of primary school, an attainment gap of 48 per cent when compared to peers with no identification of SEND - the current financial crisis in school will make closing this gap much harder.
Presenting the 2015 Autumn Statement, Osborne said: "We will make local authorities running schools a thing of the past." But the ESG was never used to run schools. It was used to help schools make sure that every child had a fair chance at achieving their potential.
By cutting the ESG, the government has chosen to cut away the safety net.
Anne Heavey is education policy adviser at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL)
