Schools to receive pupil premiums for taking poorest children

In a document outlining the impact of the Pre-Budget Report on schools, the Department for Children, Schools and Families said the pupil premium would mean "extra deprivation money follows the poorest pupils, based on a system decided and distributed locally".

Schools secretary Ed Balls said that the pupil premium would ensure schools taking on children from deprived backgrounds would get the additional resources they need.

But he added: "We will let schools and local authorities, working together, decide how to make it work best for them and their pupils, and how much extra those pupils should get, with the full amount nationally being passed on for deprivation."

A pupil premium has already been proposed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

But a report published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies earlier this month said the Conservative and Liberal Democrat plans were unlikely to "significantly reduce social segregation" in schools.

Luke Sibieta, senior research economist at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, said the DCSF plans for a local pupil premium was effectively a "re-badging of existing local authority funding for deprivation".

But he added: "It doesn't change much in the funding system but, on the positive side, it's further encouragement to local authorities to increase the amount they provide for deprivation. However, it depends on how local authorities respond to this."

Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: "ATL supports targeting funds to disadvantaged pupils, and plans for a local pupil premium should ensure that the poorest pupils get extra deprivation funding as local authorities are best placed to know the full details of pupil needs in their area.

"But the decision to continue with a minimum funding guarantee for each school will seriously limit the ability of local authorities to target funds to the poorest pupils."

Last week, Balls revealed details of £300m worth of cuts to the education budget that would see education quangos' budgets slashed by £135m, extended service support by £100m and funding for so-called "golden hellos" to attract applicants to teaching by £50m.