Poor city schools ‘fund those in wealthier areas’

SCHOOLS in the most deprived areas of the country have been robbed of funding so money can be transferred to those in wealthier areas, a cross-party committee of MPs has revealed.

Birmingham is one of the areas where school budgets have been cut most.

MPs said a new funding formula introduced three years ago “has resulted in a relative redistribution of funding from more deprived schools to less deprived schools.”

The criticism came in a new report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which scrutinises public spending.

MPs looked at changes to the way funding is shared out across the country, after the Government introduced a new system which it said was designed to be fairer and more transparent.

In the three years to 2020-21, average funding per pupil actually fell by 1.2% for the most deprived fifth of schools, but increased by 2.9% for the least deprived fifth. The figures take into account the impact of inflation.

And Birmingham, as a city which has high levels of deprivation, was one of the places hardest hit.

The report said: “Most London boroughs and cities with relatively high levels of deprivation, such as Nottingham and Birmingham, experienced real-terms falls in per pupil funding between 2017-18 and 202021, while local authorities with relatively low levels of deprivation in the

South West, the East Midlands and the South East saw the largest realterms growth in per-pupil funding.”

The MPs warned: “In making changes to the school funding system, the Department for Education has failed to take enough account of the impact of its decisions on individual schools and their pupils.”

In the same report, the MPs criticised the Government’s changes to the pupil premium, which have meant some schools missed out on significant sums of money.