Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
The Department told us that funding allocations were now catching up with changing levels of...
Conclusion
The Department told us that funding allocations were now catching up with changing levels of deprivation—some areas remained very deprived but were not as deprived as they had been in the early 2000s, while other areas remained less deprived but were significantly more deprived than they had been. This situation had created what on the face of it looked like a slightly peculiar pattern of some areas that were less deprived having larger funding uplifts than other areas that were more deprived.11
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
2.2 The national funding formula (NFF) distributes funding for schools fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupils. This includes targeted funding for schools which have higher numbers of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and other additional needs. The introduction of the NFF fixed a broken system that had not reflected changes in need since the early 2000s. The shifting pattern of deprivation funding seen in the NFF significantly reflects schools’ funding catching up with changes in the pattern of deprivation since that time. The lower than average increases in funding in London, for example, reflect significant decreases in deprivation levels from 2005 to 2017, whereas areas where deprivation levels increased over this period have benefited from larger than average funding increases through the NFF.