In March the Department for Education (DfE) published the long anticipated ‘stage one’ consultation into the National Funding Formula (NFF) for schools. The DfE believe a change to the way schools are funded will create a“fair, transparent funding system where the amount of funding children attract for their schools is based on need and is consistent across the country”.
The consultation essentially proposes a transition so that by 2019-2020 “a pupil would attract the same amount of funding to his or her school no matter where they are in the country”. As the amount each pupil at a school would attract is determined on a national level, there would be less of a role for Local Authorities under these proposals.
The new proposed funding system will consist of 4 ‘blocks’; the core ‘per pupil funding’, ‘additional needs’ funding for pastoral, educational or administrative support, ‘school costs’ and an area costs adjustment (‘geographic costs’). Figure 2 (below) sets out the model as proposed by the DfE.
Reforming school funding along the principles of fairness and transparency is an aspiration supported by NCFE. However, we feel that these principles must be carefully implemented to ensure that pupils are not disadvantaged based on their geographical location or background.
With regards to progression, we suggest broadening the view of funding successful destinations for learners to include progression into technical and professional education pathways, including Apprenticeships, Traineeships or Study Programmes.
The consultation deadline was the 17 April; a second consultation will cover how the DfE will balance the different factors in the NFF, and call for views on the impact of the formula on funding for individual areas and schools. No date has yet been given for this stage of the process.
The writing on the wall is that ultimately these changes will go ahead. I hope that this consultation process leads to meaningful dialogue between the DfE and the education sector, to provide a set of proposals mutually beneficial and acceptable to the sector.
What are your thoughts on the prospective National Funding Formula? Do you think it will make sure school funding allocations are fair?
