Covid-19 recovery funding could be ‘wiped out’ for some schools, NAHT warns

Results from a NAHT survey show that the £6,000 average funding allocated to primary schools through the ‘recovery premium’ has been entirely wiped out for many schools because of a change in how the government calculates the number of children eligible for pupil premium funding.

Normally schools report the number of pupils they have who are eligible for pupil premium in January. But for the 20/21 academic year the government changed the date for this census to October. This means that any children who became eligible during the intervening time will not receive any extra funding until next year.

The survey asked schools how many pupils became eligible for pupil premium between the October and January census, and will therefore not receive pupil premium for 2021. 62% of respondents had five or more pupils that had become eligible for pupil premium between the October and January census.

Currently, primary schools receive £1,345 for each child eligible for pupil premium, so the lost funding for five pupils is £6,725 – more than the £6,000 ‘catch-up’ funding allocated to primary schools on average, the NAHT says.

That means almost two thirds of schools surveyed have been left worse off due to the change even after the latest education recovery funding is taken into account.

Speaking as the findings are presented at NAHT’s School Leaders’ Summit today, Paul Whiteman, NAHT general secretary, said: "These figures suggest that a large number of schools in England have lost more funding due to this date change than they are being given in the government’s so-called education recovery package.

“The government is giving with one hand while knowingly taking away with the other.

“A three month gap may not seem like it would make a big difference but, given the volatile financial situation for many families due to Covid-19, it is an exceptionally bad time to implement this change. A significant number of children appear to have become eligible for help via pupil premium during that time and these children will now not receive any additional funding for another whole year.

“Worse, the children who are losing out are exactly those children most in need of additional support as they return to school.

“The government may say ‘no child left behind’, but with this simple ‘administrative tidy-up’ they have found a way to snatch back funding from schools and to further entrench educational disadvantage for the poorest families.

“We warned them that this could be the unintentional consequence of making this change during the pandemic, and we have raised our members’ concerns about the situation they now find themselves in repeatedly. But our warnings have fallen on deaf ears.

“In stark contrast to their promises to put children and young people at the heart of the pandemic recovery, the reality is that the government is taking funding away from schools, leaving them worse off at a time when they need every possible resource available to them to help the children that most need it.

“The government must put this right. We aren’t asking for additional money here. Only for what schools would have received if this census date change hadn’t been implemented. If they don’t they will be abandoning those children most in need at the most critical time.”

33% of respondents had 10 or more pupils that had become eligible for pupil premium between the October and January census. 10% of respondents had 20 or more pupils that had become eligible.