CHILDREN in Barnsley face a ‘double whammy’ of pupil premium cuts and losing free school meals, a local MP has warned.
The pupil premium - additional cash given to schools to support the most disadvantaged pupils - has been cut by almost £17m since 2015 in Yorkshire and Humberside, and according to analysis by Barnsley MP Stephanie Peacock, Barnsley schools will see their share of the pupil premium eroded by almost £1m a year.
The findings come as government confirmed it was pressing ahead with restricting eligibility for free school meals, which are currently available for all pupils whose parents receive Universal Credit. Stephanie had warned this would lead to 3,300 children in Barnsley losing out, despite growing up in poverty.
Stephanie, MP for Barnsley East, said ministers had already admitted to her that since 2011 the percentage of Barnsley students eligible for free school meals achieving the expected grades at key stage two in English and maths has ‘substantially decreased’.
She said the pupil premium had been protected in real terms under the coalition government but since the Conservatives took office in 2015 the party has not raised it in line with costs, leading to real term cuts.
Stephanie said: “It looks like disadvantaged children in Barnsley are facing a double whammy of Tory cuts, with the pupil premium being cut and free school meals taken away.
“At the last two elections the Tories made promises to protect the pupil premium, but instead it has been cut by millions of pounds in real terms. Once again, local parents, pupils and teachers are being let down by Tory cuts to their schools and it is those most in need who are paying the price.
“Ministers have already admitted to me that kids on free school meals have suffered the worst, yet now they are planning to take those meals away from a 100,000 Yorkshire children.
“Schools here in Barnsley are already underfunded compared to other areas, and the Tories’ savage cuts are having a devastating effect. I will be fighting them every step of the way.”
She said the Conservatives have previously been keen to claim credit for the pupil premium as ‘a major Tory achievement’. She said in 2013, the then Chancellor George Osborne included the claim in his Conservative Party Conference speech saying: “The pupil premium to support the most disadvantaged children: that was Michael Gove’s idea, front and centre of the last Conservative manifesto.”
She also said when the new education secretary Damian Hinds was a backbench MP, he had written about the importance of the pupil premium as a Tory achievement, describing it as ‘a key structural reform introduced by this government and one we can be proud of’.
Stephanie said the reduction in funding for the most disadvantaged pupils comes as schools face wider pressures on their finances, with budgets falling by a total of £2.7bn since 2015.
