The government can “no longer ignore” the “double whammy” impact of its controversial policy shift hitting the country’s poorest pupils, who are already struggling due to the Covid crisis, heads have warned as a new estimate puts the “funding black hole” at £118 million.

With school budgets already “severely stretched” in the pandemic, the change to the way pupil premium funds are allocated this year is the “last thing” schools need, leaders have said, and must not be explained away as a “technicality”.

The fresh criticism of the policy shift - described by some as a “stealth cut” - comes as local authorities estimate that the change will set primary schools back £93 million, and secondary schools a further £25 million.

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The new findings have been released as Tes publishes the latest instalment of a mini-series pulling back the curtain on how the “cut” is impacting schools on the ground.

The Department for Education has so far been condemned for its refusal to specify the amount that schools are set to lose as a result of its decision to calculate pupil premium allocations for 2021-22 based on a census from last October, and not in January - when more pupils would have been eligible.

Pupil premium funding change ‘is inexplicable’

Now, the Local Government Association (LGA) has carried out a survey of councils to establish the potential cost of the change.

Based on responses from 72 out of 151 relevant councils in England, it estimated that the policy shift will leave a £118 million funding hole in school budgets.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said this “laid bare” the scale of the “funding black hole” left by the government’s “inexplicable” decision to push ahead with the change.

“All schools will have seen financial loss as a result of this administrative change but it has been most keenly felt in our primary schools due to the larger amount available per disadvantaged pupil,” he said.

“With budgets already severely stretched by Covid-19, the last thing schools needed was the double whammy of being hit in the pocket in this way.”

He added: “The government is very keen to promote its levelling up and education recovery agendas and one way it can easily demonstrate its commitment is by ensuring schools are recompensed for the pupil premium funding they have been so cruelly denied.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union the NAHT, said: “The government has made bold claims about their ambitions for recovery and said that no child will be left behind.

“But by implementing this pupil premium change in the middle of the pandemic, the government has actively removed support for children who are most in need of help.

“The government is failing to back their words with action and is leaving schools without the funding and resources they need for the job ahead.”

He added: “The government is giving with one hand while knowingly taking away with the other. This must be put right. Government must come clean about how much they have saved with this change, and they must put that money back into school budgets immediately.

“The government can no longer ignore the concrete evidence that is coming through from councils, nor can they try to explain it away as a ‘technicality’. This is real money, affecting real children’s lives.”

A DfE spokesperson said: “Pupil premium funding is expected to increase to more than £2.5 billion next year, and per-pupil rates are unchanged - so a typical school will see an increase in its pupil premium allocations this year compared to last. Any pupil who becomes eligible after the October census will attract funding in the following year.

“We have provided a £14 billion increase in school funding over three years - the biggest uplift in a decade - and school leaders can target our ambitious recovery funding, worth £1.7 billion, towards supporting disadvantaged pupils.”