CYP Now - School funding shifting towards more affluent areas, NAO finds

Schools in the most deprived areas of England saw a real terms reduction in funding over the last three years compared with a real terms funding increase for the most affluent schools, new analysis shows.

Researchers have called for a review of school funding. Picture: Adobe Stock

The National Audit Office (NAO) has now called on government to review its school funding methods.

The report by the NAO on school funding in England found that in recent years there has been a "relative re-distribution of funding from the most deprived schools to the least deprived schools" due to how the Department for Education has allocated schools block funding to local authorities and how local authorities have distributed funding to maintained schools and academy trusts.

Between 2017/18 and 2020/21, average per-pupil funding for the most deprived fifth of schools fell in real terms by 1.2 per cent to £5,177; over the same period, average per-pupil funding for the least deprived fifth increased by 2.9 per cent to £4,471.

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