The United Kingdom’s Department for Education (DfE) has said that it miscalculated funding plans, which will require schools to redraw their budgets for the upcoming academic year. The DfE stated that nearly £370m was allocated to schools in England for the 2024/25 academic year due to accounting errors. Although the money has not yet been paid out, the head teachers’ union leader expressed disappointment as teachers plan for the new academic year. The government has called for an investigation into the situation, and the department has apologized.
In July of this year, schools in England were given an indication of the amount of funding they could expect to receive for the 2024/25 academic year. This estimate was based on a national formula that determines how much each school is allocated from the £59.6 billion allocation for schools. However, last Friday, an updated version was published, alongside an admission that the original version contained an incorrect projection of pupil numbers.
In a letter to the education select committee, Susan Acland-Hood, the DfE’s highest-ranking civil servant, emphasized that the total amount of funding for schools will not be reduced. However, the amount promised to schools will need to be recalculated as the department discovered an error made by its officials during the initial calculations. The updated figures indicate that the 2.7% rise in per pupil funding promised in July will only be 1.9%.
The education secretary, Gillian Keegan, has ordered a “formal review…with independent scrutiny” into the affair. The Association of School and College Leaders General Secretary Geoff Barton expressed frustration, saying that this error is the last thing that schools need on top of the numerous demands on their time. Labour’s shadow education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, labeled the situation as “Conservative-made chaos at the heart of the education system.
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