Funds 'not reaching poor pupils'

Schools are funded by numerous central government grants

Only half the extra resources meant to help educate children from the poorest backgrounds reaches the schools that they actually attend, a report says.

Children eligible for free school meals should attract 70% more funding, says the Institute of Fiscal Studies report.

But councils are spreading a large slice of this across all schools rather than targeting it at the schools that teach these pupils, it adds.

The government said it expected this funding to reach disadvantaged pupils.

The government must be concerned that much of the money appears not to be getting to the pupils Haroon Chowdry One of the report's authors

In the report, A level playing field? Implications of School Funding, the researchers looked at the amount of deprivation money each local authority was given by the government in 2006-07.

They then checked how much was given directly to each school through annual local authority accounts and compared it with the latest data on how many children on free school meals went to each school.

According to the IFS, primary schools receive an average of £3,670 for each pupil eligible because of their family's income for free school meals (FSM).

But this would be £2,280 more if they received all the extra money intended to help teach these pupils.

Similarly, secondary schools should be receiving £7,120 for each low income pupil but in fact receive only £5,520.

This is because local authorities spread part of this extra cash to all schools in their area.

'Regional variations'

One of the study's authors Haroon Chowdry said councils were too slow at passing on the extra money to schools.

He said: "If the government believes that spending more on the education of disadvantaged pupils is a good way to improve their life chances, it must be concerned that much of the money appears not to be getting to the pupils."

The report also claims that deprivation funding is strongly linked to historic levels of deprivation.

It does not respond to changes in the number of pupils from deprived backgrounds at each school from year to year.

This is partly because of a government funding mechanism, called the minimum funding guarantee, which states that funding per pupil must increase by a given amount each year.

The report also revealed regional variations in the extra money given for free school meals pupils.

Primary pupils in the least deprived local authorities were allocated £1,543 per pupil on top of a basic amount per pupils of £1,927.

'No excuses'

This compared to a basic amount of £2,108 in the most deprived area and a free school meals premium of £927. There is a difference of £430 per pupil per year between the least and most deprived local authorities, in terms of basic funding and free school meals.

The report also warned that the school funding system was not flexible enough to allow parents to exercise school choice.

New schools were not able to open and popular schools were not able to expand.

Schools minister Jim Knight said: "There are no excuses for funding not reaching children in the most challenging areas. We expect local authorities to target the most disadvantaged pupils.

"We have put unprecedented funding increases into schools – funding is now at its highest ever levels in cash and real terms and will continue to increase in the next three years."

Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said it was not news that extra funding for disadvantaged pupils is divided among all pupils.

"But the Institute of Fiscal Studies is wrong to blame local authorities for this since the decisions about allocating this extra funding is made by local forums dominated by local head teachers."