Children on free school meals and minority ethnic pupils in England will lose out under the government’s latest school funding plans, research suggests.
At a time of growing concern about the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the most disadvantaged children, analysis of government education spending plans shows extra funding will be “skewed” in favour of pupils from wealthy backgrounds.
The research found that in England’s primary schools, disadvantaged pupils on free school meals will receive a real-terms funding increase of 0.6%, compared with 1.1% for their wealthier peers. White British pupils will see a 1.4% real-terms increase, compared with 0.5% for minority ethnic pupils.
In secondary schools, white British pupils will see a real-terms increase of 0.7%, compared with 0.3% for BAME pupils, while both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged pupils will receive a 0.5% real-terms increases.
The EPI report acknowledges that pupils from low-income backgrounds will continue to attract more funding overall than children from wealthier families, but warns that the government’s “levelling up” agenda, which guarantees minimum levels of funding for all schools, will mean more money going to schools that have historically been funded at a lower rate but which have fewer pupils from poorer backgrounds.