The Department for Education does not have a strategy or monitoring plan for reducing the disadvantage gap, despite it being a priority, according to a highly critical report by a public spending watchdog.
The report published today by the National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded that the department “cannot demonstrate it is achieving value for money” in its efforts to close the attainment gap.
The findings are based on evidence gathered and interviews carried out between November 2023 and March 2024.
The NAO said the department cannot assess whether it is making the required progress to reduce the gap, and has “limited evidence” of how almost half of the £9.2 billion it has spent in the past year supports the attainment of disadvantaged children.
It also said that the DfE does not have a strategy, theory of change or way of monitoring to understand how much it spends on interventions or what capacity schools have to do more.
Spending watchdog questions real-term cuts to pupil premium
The spending watchdog said the DfE could not explain why it increased funding for disadvantage and deprivation through the National Funding Formula (NFF) rather than increasing other funding pots such as the pupil premium, according to the report.
This is despite the NAO reporting that the DfE considers there to be “better evidence” of the pupil premium effectively supporting disadvantaged children.
The report adds that the DfE had “strong evidence” for the value of tutoring to help disadvantaged students. Despite this, funding for the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) has ended this academic year.
“DfE cannot assess whether it is making the required progress reducing the attainment gap or where further action may be needed,” the report states.
“DfE has committed to reducing the gap but has not set out the progress it wants to achieve, and by when.”
The DfE has provided an estimated £9.2 billion in disadvantage-related funding for schools and early years providers in 2023-24, according to the report.
The disadvantage gap has widened since before the pandemic, and at key stage 4 was the widest it has been since 2011 in the latest GCSE data. Before the pandemic, the gap had been closing.
The NAO said there has been a 10 per cent real-term increase in disadvantage and deprivation-related funding allocated through the NFF between 2018-19 and 2023-24.
At the same time, there has been a 3 per cent real-term decrease in total pupil premium funding. In the same period, the number of children eligible for the pupil premium has grown by 7 per cent.
NAO recommendations
To achieve value for money in its funding for the disadvantage gap, the NAO has called on the DfE to more clearly set out how its interventions come together to support closing this and what progress it intends to make, as well as setting out how it will collaborate with wider government on the attainment gap.
The new Labour government has launched a cross-government taskforce on child poverty - headed by education secretary Bridget Phillipson, and work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall.
The NAO also recommended the DfE should monitor whether schools are able to fund tutoring from their budgets in the next academic year and then “reflect on any further support it may need to provide to schools”.
The department should also broaden its performance measures to assess added value for disadvantaged children and progress by region, the report said.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Too many children are being held back by their background, and this report shines a light on the work that is needed to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of all children.
“We will deliver real change by integrating childcare and early years into the wider education system as a national priority, delivering free breakfast clubs in every primary school and developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty.”
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