Pupils: Per Capita Costs

(asked on 13th January 2021) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of per pupil funding in primary schools.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 22nd January 2021

The Department is increasing core schools funding by £2.6 billion this year, and £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion by 2021-22 and 2022-23 respectively, compared to 2019-20. This investment has enabled us to increase funding for primary schools by 3.2% more per pupil through the schools national funding formula (NFF) next year, 2021-22, compared to this year.

Every primary school will receive at least £4,000 per pupil next year, up from at least £3,750 per pupil this year. On top of that, all schools, will receive additional funds to cover additional teachers’ pay and pension costs, adding a further £180 to the minimum per pupil amount.

We are also increasing the extra support the NFF provides to small, rural primary schools by increasing the maximum amount they can attract through the sparsity factor to £45,000, a significant increase from £26,000 this year. This has contributed to small and remote primary schools attracting 5.1% more per pupil through the NFF next year compared to this. This is the first step towards further expanding the support the NFF offers small and remote schools from 2022-23.

We keep school funding under review on an ongoing basis and the NFF is designed to respond to changes in need, in order for us to target funding where evidence indicates it is most needed.

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