The Implications of COVID-19 on the School Funding Landscape

This report by the National Foundation for Educational Research reveals that there are a number of schools, which are disproportionately likely to be from deprived areas, who will be unable to meet the costs of the pandemic from the funding they receive from government.

The impact of Covid-19 on school funding has been unprecedented, with schools having lost a significant amount of income and incurred substantial additional costs.

The analysis suggests that, based on notional funding increases, approximately a quarter of schools may not be able to cover the increased costs of Covid-19 from this year’s funding increase. Deprived schools are twice as likely to find themselves in this position than the least deprived schools.

Key Findings:

• Schools have lost a significant amount of income and incurred substantial additional expenditures during the 2020/21 academic year.
• A substantial number of schools started the pandemic with either a deficit or small surplus. These schools will be less able to absorb the unexpected additional costs of Covid-19.
• The Government’s ‘levelling-up’ agenda has resulted in deprived schools – those in the quartile with the highest proportions of disadvantaged pupils on roll – receiving the smallest average increases in funding.
• One-quarter of schools may not be able to meet the increased costs of Covid-19. This is because their notional per pupil funding increases of 2.5 per cent for 2020/21 will need to cover costs of teacher salaries and other inflationary pressures, which we estimate will average 2.7 per cent.
• 1500 schools are at particular risk of great financial hardship due to Covid-19. These schools are disproportionately likely to be deprived.
• Schools in urban areas, such as London, were more likely to apply for the exceptional costs scheme.
• Current catch-up support is unlikely to reach all the pupils who need it.
• Pupils in the most deprived schools, who are in the greatest need of catch-up support, are at the greatest risk of losing out.
• While the DfE have just announced a new Covid workforce fund to cover the costs of high levels of staff absence over a minimum threshold for November and December, the scheme’s current eligibility criteria and coverage suggest that it will not go far towards easing the current resource pressures on schools.

Recommendations:

1. While it is crucial that existing and additional money is spent effectively, emergency support is needed to help some schools meet the costs of Covid-19, particularly those deprived schools without the financial resilience to meet the costs of the pandemic fromtheir existing budgets.
2. The Government should adopt a more progressive approach to NFF funding during this unprecedented time to assist the most deprived schools in providing the extra support needed tohelp their pupils recover lost curriculum learning.
3. As schools are currently not able to access sufficient catch-up support for all of their disadvantaged pupils, targeted funding should be increased as part of a longer-term programme of catch-up support.
4. Schools should be provided with additional in-kind and/or financial resources with a minimum level of IT devices and internet connectivity to ensure that all their pupils are able to access remote/blended learning and catch-up support. This could include sharing devices between pupils as the need arises.

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