Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 10
10
Deferred
Pupil Premium funding declined in real terms despite its stronger evidence base
Conclusion
The Department considers it has better evidence of pupil premium effectively supporting disadvantaged children, assessing this evidence as strong, compared to that available for the disadvantage and deprivation elements of the national funding formula.27 Despite this, there has been a 3% real–terms reduction in pupil premium funding over the period 2018– 19 to 2023–24, with per–pupil funding falling by 9%.28 The Department confirmed that pupil premium funding had not kept up with inflation.29 Over the same timeframe, disadvantage and deprivation funding within the national funding formula increased by 10% in real terms, despite the evidence for effectiveness of pupil premium funding being stronger than 21 Qq 8, 9 22 IEDO0020 23 Qq 8, 9 24 Q 12 25 C&AG’s Report, para 2.7 26 C&AG’s Report, para 10, para 2.7 27 C&AG’s Report, para 12 28 Q 25; C&AG’s Report, para 13, para 2.14 29 Q 25 10 it is for funding provided through national funding formula.30 In 2023–24 the Department spent £2.8 billion on pupil premium, and £4.1 billion on the disadvantage and deprivation elements of the National Funding Formula.31
Government Response Summary
The department is reviewing the allocation of core funding for schools, looking at the operation of the schools national funding formula (NFF), including the operation of “additional needs” funding in the NFF, with decisions for 2026-27 onwards informed by this review.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: September 2025 2.2 The department is reviewing the allocation of core funding for schools. This review is looking at the operation of the schools national funding formula (NFF), including the operation of “additional needs” funding in the NFF. The NFF targets funding to areas with larger proportions of pupils with additional needs, including deprivation. The deprivation factors in the NFF act as broader proxy measures for schools that are most likely to need extra resources to support their pupils to reach their full potential – including pupils with special educational needs and disability (SEND). 2.3 The department is reviewing the operation of the additional-needs factors within the NFF, including the weightings that they have within the formula. This will look at the evidence 28 base for these funding decisions, including the extent to which the factors used correlate with incidence of additional needs, including SEND. The interaction between pupil funding and NFF funding will be considered as part of this review. The NFF allocations and pupil premium funding rates for 2025-26 have already been published, and so the focus of the review will be on future funding years. This review will inform decisions on the NFF and pupil premium for 2026-27, and the following years of the spending review period.