An auditing expert, who has held high-profile roles across the private and public sectors, has been appointed to lead a review into the Department for Education’s £370 million school funding error.
Schools minister Nick Gibb has announced in a written statement today that Peter Wyman will lead a previously-announced formal review into the quality assurance processes around the calculation of the national funding formula (NFF).
Education secretary Gillian Keegan had asked permanent secretary Susan Acland-Hood to conduct the review with “independent scrutiny”.
Mr Wyman, a former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner, was appointed CBE in the 2006 Queen’s Birthday Honours list for services to accountancy.
He serves as chair of NHS Blood and Transplant and was chair of the Care Quality Commission between 2015 and 2022.
The DfE’s calculation mistake led to the NFF allocations for 2024-25 having to be recalculated down by 0.62 per cent.
Funding through the NFF will now increase by 1.9 per cent from 2023-24 to 2024-25, rather than by 2.7 per cent as previously promised.
In his statement today, Mr Gibb said improvements had already been identified to ensure a similar mistake is not repeated. The department has apologised to both the chair of the Commons Education Select Committee and the secretary of state.
Mr Gibb added: “I recognise that the correction of the NFF error will be difficult for local authorities and frustrating for some school leaders, which is why the department has rectified the error as quickly as possible.
“The department is working closely with school stakeholders, including unions, to communicate this change and support schools and local authorities.”
The DfE has disclosed that the mistake was discovered in September - though not announced until 6 October - and was due to an error processing pupil numbers.
Union leaders wrote to the education secretary last week calling for the NFF rates to remain as they were before the mistake was discovered - in line with promises the DfE made over the summer. However, Mr Gibb wrote to them on Friday rejecting the calls.
The core schools budget for 2024-25 remains at £59.6 billion, regardless of the mistake.
The DfE has said the mistake also does not affect the Teachers’ Pay Additional Grant or its affordability.
