The Government’s planned cuts to school budgets in the
Liverpool City Region are disproportionately concentrated on the poorest areas.
This is the major outcome of a review of the latest Government announcement on
school funding that purported to protect schools in the poorest areas.
Analysis carried out by the Liverpool City Region Child
Poverty and Life Chances Commission reveals that the overall level of funding
for the City Region’s schools in 2018/19 (set out in the Department for
Education’s new National Funding Formula) is set to be lower (1.5% increase on
the year before) than inflation (2.1%). This is before additional cost
pressures, such as staff pay and pension contributions, are taken into account.
The analysis finds that across the City Region:
- Nearly 60% of all primary and secondary schools
have a notional funding allocation that is lower than the forecast level of
inflation.
- Almost half of those schools are located in the
poorest fifth of areas in the whole country.
- Almost two thirds of City Region schools located
in England’s poorest 5% of areas have been given a notional allocation that is
lower than the forecast level of inflation.
The Commission’s Chair, Frank Field MP said: ‘Why has the
Government singled out schools in the poorest areas of the Liverpool City
Region for a disproportionate share of real cuts to school budgets? Schools
across the Region are doing their utmost to offer the best opportunities for
children from all backgrounds, but this wave of real terms cuts for many
schools will strike them like a hammer, especially when we take into account
the challenging circumstances faced by children growing up in some of our most
disadvantaged communities. The Commission will be challenging the Government to
think again about this proposed funding settlement, to ensure that the life
chances of children from our poorest communities are not disadvantaged further
during their school years.’
Whilst the overall level of funding set out for
the City Region is set to increase by 1.5% in 2018/19, the Office for Budget
Responsibility’s most recent inflation forecasts indicate that prices are
likely to have risen by 2.1% during the 2018/19 financial year.
The inflation forecast of 2.1% is sourced from
the Office for Budgetary Responsibility’s economic and fiscal outlook –
November 2017, CPI forecast for 2018/19.
School level allocations published by the Department
for Education are notional, and final allocations to each school will
depend on each local authority’s own local formula to distribute the funding
until the NFF is fully rolled out in 2020/21.