School cuts in deprived areas are over 'three times' more than wealthy areas

Author: Molly RyanPublished 15th Oct 2019

Cuts to schools serving the poorest pupils are more than three times as deep as those in schools teaching the wealthiest according to the National Education Union.

The secondary schools serving the poorest pupils have cuts of £509 per pupil when compared with 2015/16, whereas those serving the least deprived have cuts of £117.

The primary schools serving the poorest pupils have cuts of £382 per pupil, whereas those serving the least deprived have cuts of £125.

Schools in deprived areas have been struggling to paper over the cracks caused by wider austerity measures.

Geoff Barton, General Secretary, Association of School and College Lecturers, said: “We are not being churlish, we are just stating the facts. The extra money for schools is not enough to reverse the cuts and the funding crisis is not over.

"In fact, many schools will have to make further cuts next year because they are receiving only an inflationary increase and school costs are rising above inflation. We need an uplift for all schools which restores funding levels to where they were before the cuts began to bite and which keeps pace with costs.”

Tower Hamlets schools teach children with the highest proportion on Free School Meals, 33% compared with the national average 14%. The cuts per pupil are £735 compared with 2015/16.

Hartlepool has the second most deprived intake. Again, cuts are above average £313 per pupil.

Of the ten poorest local authorities in England (Tower Hamlets, Hartlepool, Knowsley, Newcastle upon Tyne, Halton, Hackney, Middlesbrough, Islington, Liverpool, Birmingham), the cuts are above average in seven of them.

Of the ten most prosperous local authorities in England (Rutland, Wokingham, Buckinghamshire, Bracknell Forest, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, West Sussex, Surrey, Central Bedfordshire, Oxfordshire), the cuts are below average in eight of them.

Find how schools in your area are affected here.