Labour blasted for 'reckless spending' as it blows £10bn on 'failing' schools programme

Labour is set to spend £10billion on an initiative to help the nation's poorest children which will scarcely "shift the needle", a leading think tank has warned.

A £27billion programme to help the most disadvantaged schoolchildren has failed to narrow the gap with their better-off classmates, a scathing report warns. The academic standards of children from "poverty-stricken homes" lag just as far behind their more fortunate peers as when the "pupil premium" was launched, according to analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).

The new report says the money could have been used to fund "720 million hours of one-to-one tuition". The pupil premium was championed by the Liberal Democrats when Nick Clegg took the party into power with the Conservatives. It ensures schools in England receive extra cash for educating children from the poorest backgrounds and those in the care system.

But the CSJ claims that "at every level - primary and secondary - the pupil premium has failed to have the desired effect". It warns the situation has got even worse since the pandemic, with the attainment gap widening in around half of schools. The CSJ says it is "not fit for purpose" in its present form.

It reports that just "45.6% of disadvantaged pupils got a standard pass (grade 4 or above) in maths and English in 2023-24, compared to 73.7% for all other pupils." The system is blasted for a lack of accountability for how the money is spent which makes it "impossible to ensure the funding is going to the children who need it most".

The report states that after 14 years the "stark reality is that attainment gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers have barely narrowed" and "disadvantaged pupils continue to fall behind - with gaps emerging early, widening through school, and shaping long-term life chances".

The think tank is demanding a "fundamental overhaul of the pupil premium".

Its report states: "The gap between the proportion of disadvantaged GCSE students achieving a good pass in English and maths and their peers was wider in 2023-24 than it was in 2016-17. It was 26.9 points in 2016-17, and 28.1 points in 2023-24."

In the last academic year, primary schools received £1,480 a year and secondary schools were given £1,050 for every child on free school meals. More than two million children qualified for the premium but the CSJ says this is a "crude way of defining disadvantage" and neighbourhood deprivation and family circumstances should be taken into account.

It warns that too often the funding "supports children experiencing temporary hardship whilst neglecting many who have suffered long-term disadvantage".

The CSJ wants schools to have to set out how the money will be used to improve the educational outcomes of the children facing the greatest difficulties.

Andy Cook, the chief executive of the CSJ, said: "With outcomes for the most disadvantaged pupils now so stark, the case for root-and-branch reform has never been stronger. In the short term, that means better data, stronger accountability, and earlier, smarter intervention.

"In the long term, it requires bold ambition - reimagining the pupil premium as a world-leading model for targeting the right support, in the right places, at the right time, for the right children.

"The Government is set to spend another £10billion on the pupil premium this Parliament - money unlikely to shift the needle on outcomes for our poorest children if current trends continue. Unless we radically rethink how we support our most vulnerable pupils, we risk condemning another generation to fall behind before they've even had a chance to begin."

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders' union, said: "One of the fundamental problems is the insufficient level of overall funding schools receive. Schools are reliant on the pupil premium simply to ensure they can balance their budgets.

"Without the pupil premium most schools would be forced to lose teachers and teaching assistants, which would almost certainly have a disproportionate effect on the most disadvantaged pupils. There is a strong argument for increased funding to support the most disadvantaged but for it to be really effective it has to genuinely be in addition to what schools need to provide the basics."

Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, said: "This is yet another example of Labour's reckless spending and how simply throwing money at a problem doesn't solve it - in fact, it often makes it worse. What we need is an education system free from guilt, political agendas, and woke ideology - one that prioritises academic excellence and free speech.

"Children should be taught objective facts in history, maths, science, and literature, not weighed down by political agendas. It's time the Labour Government made closing the attainment gap a genuine priority - and delivered an education system that works for every British child."

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "This Government has inherited a system with baked-in inequalities - but we are putting high and rising school standards at the heart of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. We have increased [the] pupil premium to over £3billion to support disadvantaged children and are reviewing how it will be allocated in the longer term to target better outcomes and to help close the disadvantage gap.

"It comes hand-in-hand with further work we're doing through our plan for change to close the gap, including rolling out free breakfast clubs, improving mental health support, and delivering a rich and broad curriculum so pupils are set up for life, work and the future."