Buckinghamshire Council responds to £370m school funding blunder

Saturday, 14 October 2023 08:00

By Charlie Smith - Local Democracy Reporter

Buckinghamshire Council has responded to the government’s funding blunder which has left the budget for schools in England £370m lighter than originally forecast.

Councillor Anita Cranmer, cabinet member for children’s services and education, has released a statement after the miscalculation revealed last week that primary and secondary pupils will be given £50 less than planned in 2024/2025.

She said: “At the time that this error has come to light, Buckinghamshire Council has been modelling budgets on previous figures.

“These budgets have not yet been shared with schools and so we do not anticipate that schools will have commenced significant budgetary work at this point for the 2024/25 financial year.

“As such, we anticipate that we will be able to supply them with accurate figures based on the new DfE numbers in time for them to do this work accurately.”

The Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has ordered a “formal review” after the revelation last week that the DfE had miscalculated its school funding plans for 2024/2025.

A planned 2.7 per cent funding increase per pupil in England has been revised down to 1.9 per cent due to the number of pupils being underestimated.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was an “extremely unfortunate and frustrating error”.

He added: “Even though schools have not received their 2024-25 funding, it is likely that trusts and local authorities will have used the incorrect figures in their budget planning and will now need to revise those budgets with the corrected figures.”