Last month, I wrote to you setting out the details of the government’s significant investment in schools over the next three years. Today, I have announced what this means for schools and local authorities.
We are levelling up funding across the country to ensure schools have the right investment to deliver an outstanding education. A total additional investment of £14 bn across three years – the largest funding boost in a decade – will allow for a cash increase of £2.6bn to core schools funding next year, with increases of £4.8bn and £7.1bn in 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively, compared to 2019-20. This is in addition to the £1.5bn per year we will continue to provide to fund additional pension costs for teachers over the next three years. Taken together, this means that by 2022-23 we will be providing an additional £150m a week to our schools.
There can be no “winners or losers” when it comes to our children’s futures. That is why this funding will ensure that every school can receive an increase to their per pupil funding at least in line with inflation, while those that have been historically underfunded will see the greatest gains – ending the injustice of the school funding gap.
At a minimum, every secondary school will receive at least £5,000 per pupil and every primary school will receive at least £3,750 per pupil next year, rising to £4,000 per pupil the following year. To ensure that schools fully benefit from this pledge, we will require local authorities to pass on these minimum per pupil funding levels to schools, as a first step towards a ‘hard’ National Funding Formula – where schools’ budgets are set on the basis of a single, national formula.
Our additional investment also includes an increase of £780m next year alone to support children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) – an increase of over 12% compared to 2019-20.
What this means for your constituency
Today, we have published provisional allocations for 2020-21 at school and local authority level under the schools and high needs National Funding Formulae. You can find the full provisional National Funding Formula allocations here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-tab… – demonstrating how this investment benefits all schools across the country.
I have also attached a spreadsheet which allows you to see the increases that schools in your constituency are attracting.
This will be the third year that funding is allocated through the schools National Funding Formula – a historic reform to the school funding system which moves towards funding schools based on pupils’ needs and characteristics, not accidents of history or geography.
Our continued investment will help to ensure that every child can benefit from a superb education, no matter where they grow up. Coupled with a bold reform agenda and the work of Ofsted, it will supercharge the ongoing rise in school standards and support our mission to build a world class education system. I look forward to working with you and teachers up and down the country to continue delivering this.
The Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP, Secretary of State for Education
Funding for South Dorset
Average per pupil funding in 2020-21 at primary = £4,214 per pupil.
Average etc at secondary = £5,472 per pupil.
Total funding for all schools in South Dorset = £39,273,517.