Pupil premium fails to plug funding drop for disadvantaged schools
Jess Brown
Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Overall funding in the most disadvantaged secondary schools fell by more than five per cent under the coalition, despite the introduction of the pupil premium, the National Audit Office (NAO) has found.
The NAO, which scrutinises government spending, estimates that funding per pupil in the 16 per cent most disadvantaged secondary schools fell by more than five per cent in real terms between 2010/11 and 2014/15.
This is despite the schools receiving additional funding through the pupil premium, first announced in 2010.
The findings are part of research into the effectiveness of the pupil premium, which is available to five- to 16-year-olds who have been eligible for free school meals in the past six years or have been looked after by the local authority.
Funding is worth £1,320 for pupils from reception age to year 6, £935 for pupils in year 7 to year 11 and £1,900 for children who have been in care.
Overall the report states that the pupil premium is yet to make an impact but has "potential".
The NAO report found that:
- While the attainment gap between disadvantaged and other pupils has narrowed, it still remains wide
- Not all disadvantaged pupils are being identified
- Some schools aren’t spending the pupil premium effectively with low-cost interventions being used “too infrequently”
- Schools employing extra teaching assistants through the funding are not always using them effectively.
The report states that the Department for Education currently distributes core funding to local authorities “on the basis of an old formula” that give some parts of the country more funding.
The NAO recommends that this should be changed so distribution is more focused on pupils' needs rather than where they live.
Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, said: “Early signs are that the pupil premium has potential, but it will take time for its full impact to become clear.
"As it takes the policy forward, the DfE will need to review whether spending more in this way would allow it to close the attainment gap more quickly.
“The high degree of local discretion has benefits and costs.
"Some schools don’t appropriately focus funding on disadvantaged pupils, and some spend funds on activities which are not demonstrably effective.”
