Pupil premium cash used to plug budget cuts

The government maintains that the pupil premium of £600 per child is additional cash, provided on top of basic schools funding.

But according to a survey by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), which questioned more than 2,000 heads, a third said the premium cash equalled losses in their budgets and more than half said it had not made up for wider budget cuts.

Just 14 per cent said the pupil premium money had surpassed financial losses elsewhere in their budgets.

The head teachers in the survey questioned whether the pupil premium will actually benefit the poorest pupils, with just over a third saying they did not think it would make a difference to a pupil's achievement.

NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said: "The pupil premium seems to us to be the right thing to do as a concept. But in today's climate it is simply redistributing funds in the system, not adding more."

A Department for Education spokeswoman argued that the overall schools budget has been protected in cash terms, so there should be no need for schools to use the pupil premium on anything other than supporting disadvantaged pupil.

“From September, schools will have to publish information showing how they have spent the premium and what the impact of that spend was,” she said. “Schools tell us they have used this extra money to pay for catch-up lessons, one-to-one tuition or after-school clubs.”

But Stephen Twigg, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the pupil premium “is merely a fig leaf for the biggest cuts to education funding since the 1950s”.

“With more than half of head teachers saying it doesn’t even make up for the cuts they have had in their budget, it is clear that deprived pupils are suffering under this Tory-led government,” he said.

“The government needs to introduce far clearer accountability measures to ensure resources are targeted and effective at helping those pupils who need it most.”