SECONDARY schools with the most disadvantaged pupils have been hit the worst by funding cuts over the past decade, damning new research shows.
They suffered a real-terms cut of 12 per cent from 2010 to 2021 — more than double the 5 per cent faced by the least-deprived schools, a study by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found.
The think tank’s researchers also found that the extra funding boost for early-years providers in the most disadvantaged areas has dropped too, the core hourly funding rate falling from 60 per cent in 2017 to 38 per cent now.
General secretary of the National Education Union Daniel Kebede said: “While the Prime Minister [Rishi Sunak] speaks regularly of wanting to create a world-class education system, the policies of his government are resulting in the exact opposite.
“There is no end in sight for the perilous funding situation in our schools, sixth-form colleges and early-years education.”
Mr Kebede said that an increase in school funding of £1.7 billion is needed over the next two years but warned that even that sum would be a “sticking plaster.”
General secretary of the Association of School & College Leaders Geoff Barton said the report showed “the reality behind the government’s boasts about record funding for schools.
“Investment has in fact failed to keep pace with school costs.”
He warned: “Nothing in the Chancellor’s recent autumn statement addressed this dire situation, and it is therefore inevitable that more spending cuts will be needed and the room for meaningful pay awards that address the staff recruitment and retention crisis will be severely constrained.”
The IFS report author Luke Sibieta said: “Rising inflation and costs are eroding the real-terms value of budgets across the early years, schools, colleges and universities alike.
“We also see that schools serving the most disadvantaged children have faced the biggest spending cuts over time, and support for disadvantaged students in colleges and sixth forms is still relatively modest.”
It comes just weeks after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt used his autumn statement to offer support to businesses and cut the main rate of National Insurance while also pencilling in sharp curbs in public spending beyond the next general election.
The Department for Education claimed: “This doesn’t tell the whole story. Overall school funding is rising to its highest level in history, in real terms, next year, totalling £59.6bn.”
