In a Parliamentary statement on Monday (October 16), schools minister Nick Gibb announced a “formal review of the quality assurance process surrounding the calculation of the National Funding Formula (NFF), with external and independent scrutiny”.
It comes after the DfE’s notional allocations for the NFF for 2024/25, published in July, contained an error in the forecast of pupil numbers, meaning that the overall cost of the NFF was underestimated.
The DfE issued new NFF allocations earlier this month to correct the mistake but these have resulted in the amount of per-pupil funding being reduced compared to the July allocations.
In numbers, it means that instead of a 2.4% rise in minimum per-pupil funding levels promised by Mr Gibb in July, they are to rise by just 1.9%.
This equates to £45 less per primary pupil and £55 less at secondary level (the new minimum per-pupil funding rates are £4,610 and £5,995).
The core factors in the NFF, such as basic per-pupil funding, and the lump sum that all schools attract, was due to increase by 2.4% according to the July announcement, but will now increase by 1.4%.
Even though the Core Schools Budget has not been reduced, because it is now being spread across more pupils the revisions to the NFF effectively reduced the funding pledged in July by £370m.
The farce has left a bitter taste in the mouth for schools, which have been fighting against real-terms budget cuts for years.
Current increases to school funding were due to ensure that spending per-pupil in England was finally to be higher in real-terms in 2024 when compared to 2010. However, analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies earlier this month said that with school costs still rising faster than inflation, spending power in 2024 will now be 3% lower than it was 2010 in real terms.
Education unions have asked for the DfE to honour the funding levels announced in July, pointing to both 2021 and 2022 when the projected number of pupils varied from the actual number counted in the census but still saw the DfE honour the announced funding rates.
But the DfE has so far ignored this request. In his statement to Parliament on Monday, Mr Gibb said: “I recognise that the correction of the NFF error will be difficult for local authorities and frustrating for some school leaders, which is why the DfE has rectified the error as quickly as possible.
“The DfE is working closely with school stakeholders, including unions, to communicate this change and support schools and local authorities.”
He reiterated that the Core Schools Budget including funding for mainstream schools and for high needs remains at £59.6bn in 2024/25 – “the highest ever in history in real terms”.
He added: “Schools have not yet received their 2024/25 funding and so the correction of this error does not mean adjusting any funding that schools have already received. Likewise, the error will not impact on the publication of the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) in December, or when schools will receive their final allocations for 2024/25.”
Mr Gibb confirmed that NFF average funding will be £5,300 per primary pupil and £6,830 per secondary pupil in 2024/25, up from £5,200 and £6,720 respectively in 2023/24.
His Parliamentary statement followed a letter to education unions on Friday (October 13) in which he also failed to respond to requests to honour the £370m.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the response from Mr Gibb was “very disappointing”. General secretary Geoff Barton warned that schools will now have to “make cuts to their planned expenditure as a result of this adjustment”.
He added: “It seems perfectly reasonable to ask the government to honour the funding commitments it made in July. It is a sad reflection of its priorities that it cannot manage to do even this.”
The DfE has now updated its NFF policy document for 2024/25 and its summary NFF allocation tables (DfE, 2023).
- UK Parliament: Statement: Schools Funding Update, Nick Gibb, October 2023: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2023-10-16/hlws1046
- DfE: The national funding formulae for schools and high needs 2024/25, updated October 2023: https://tinyurl.com/yc8pwp55
- DfE: Guidance: National funding formula tables for schools and high needs: 2024 to 2025, updated October 2023: https://tinyurl.com/aevs58re