Earlier this month I wrote to you outlining some of this government’s plans on school standards and funding, as part of our vision to unleash Britain’s potential and level up opportunities across the country. I wanted to update you on some further developments on school funding.
We know that our ambitious vision for education must be backed by strong investment in schools. That is why we announced the biggest funding boost for schools in a decade. A total additional investment of £14bn across three years will allow for a cash increase of £2.6bn to core schools funding from April 2020, 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.
For 2020-21, we published local authorities’ school funding allocations in December through the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) here. Every school has been funded for an increase to their per-pupil funding at least in line with inflation, while those that have been historically underfunded attract the greatest gains.
In addition, as we promised in our manifesto, every secondary school, wherever they happen to be in England, is being provided with at least £5,000 per pupil, and every primary school at least £3,750 per pupil – on the path to £4,000 from 2021-22. These funding increases are a crucial part in delivering our plans to level up schools’ funding, so that every pupil can benefit from an excellent education, regardless of where they live. Over 5,000 schools will be brought up to at least the minimum levels in 2020-21 – with all others already above these amounts.
To guarantee that this commitment is delivered in every part of the country, today we have laid legislation that requires local authorities to provide the minimum per pupil funding levels to every school. As well as delivering on a key government pledge, this marks an important step towards our commitment to deliver a ‘hard’ National Funding Formula (NFF), whereby school funding is determined by a single formula, so that it is fair and equitable for every school in the country, and none are disadvantaged.
The Department for Education has also launched a new website which will allow parents to find out how much extra funding the NFF has provided for their local schools next year. The national formula directs money where it is most needed, based on schools’ and pupils’ needs and characteristics. Compared to 2019-20, every school is attracting at least a per-pupil increase in line with inflation, with an average increase of over 4% per pupil. The new, user-friendly tool is available to use from today here.
In addition, today we have confirmed that all Pupil Premium rates, which are funded outside the NFF, will increase in line with inflation in 2020-21. This will ensure that this targeted funding can continue to support the most disadvantaged children in our schools.
Finally, the department has published an official statistics report on school funding over the past decade. This reaffirms our commitment to transparency and aims to support public understanding of school funding by providing a consistent and comprehensive set of statistics.
I look forward to continuing to work with you to transform the opportunities of a generation of children and young people across the country.
Rt Hon Gavin Williamson CBE MP
Secretary of State for Education