£43m cashpot for kids in deprived areas set for ‘callous’ overhaul
Holyrood is planning an overhaul of funding for pupils from deprived areas, including Renfrewshire, according to a leaked paper.
A document revealed proposals for a “redistribution” of cash currently earmarked for a minority of councils to all 32 local authorities, meaning the most deprived areas, which includes Renfrewshire, will receive less cash.
Michael Marra, Scottish Labour education spokesman, said: “It beggars belief that the SNP would choose this moment to make callous cuts to the poorest children’s education.
“If this move goes ahead it would end any pretence that the SNP care about Scotland’s young people and recovery in their education.”
Holyrood plans for closing the poverty-related attainment gap were backed up by £215million this year.
One of the five programmes was £43m of “challenge” funding for the nine councils with the highest concentrations of deprivation.
These are Clackmannanshire, Dundee, East Ayrshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire.
However, a paper by council umbrella group COSLA shows the method of allocation is about the revamped:
It reads: “The Challenge Schools funding will cease and there will be a tapered redistribution of the £43million currently distributed to the nine Challenge Authorities to a strategic allocation to all 32 local authorities.”
A source said the phase out would take place over a number of years to ease the blow.
Mr Marra added: “In just five years Nicola Sturgeon has gone from pledging to close the attainment gap to slashing lifeline funds for the pupils who need it the most.
“There never has been a plan for recovery in education after the pandemic, but it seems even the empty rhetoric has been abandoned now.
“This would be a betrayal of our children and our future from a donothing minister, in a do-nothing government, who simply couldn’t care less.”
But Greens West Scotland MSP Ross Greer welcomed the changes: “There are children living in poverty across every council area in Scotland.
“This new way of distributing Attainment Challenge funding is a welcome recognition of that reality.
“The majority of children experiencing poverty don’t actually live in what we would recognise as deprived postcodes, so whilst geographically targeted approaches are sometimes useful, in this case the previous Challenge fund was missing a majority of the children it was set up to help. “That will no longer be the case. “This comes on top of £20million in additional funding this year to help the most disadvantaged pupils recover from the effects of the pandemic.”
Education Secretary ShirleyAnne Somerville confirmed the change during a statement to Holyrood: “We have worked very closely with local government ... and this change that we are making to local authorities is supported by Cosla, so I presume all the criticism that Michael Marra has just directed towards me is also directed towards Cosla leaders.”
She added: “We absolutely do recognise, as do our colleagues in local government, that poverty exists in every local authority in Scotland and that’s exactly why we’ve taken the decision that we have.”
Ms Somerville confirmed up to £200m will continue to help kids from the poorest backgrounds.