FSM extension needed for North East to unlock full potential of Pupil Premium

FSM extension needed for North East to unlock full potential of Pupil Premium

Today the Local Government Association (LGA), has joined the many organisations, including Schools North East, urging the government to extend FSM. Similar to what Schools North East previously proposed last February, the LGA are campaigning for an automatic enrolment process to help vulnerable children access FSM. 

At that time 11% of pupils who were eligible for FSM in the North East did not claim this support, often due to the complexity of the process and/or families being unaware of their entitlement. This resulted  in North East schools losing out on approx. £15million in pupil premium funding each year. Over the last year, these figures will realistically have worsened due to the cost of living crisis, with rampant inflation tightening the pockets of most families in the North East.

Streamlined Service

The LGA states that introducing automatic-enrolment and extending eligibility for FSMs will ‘ensure all children in poverty are entitled to at least one hot meal per day’. Councils warn that ‘almost a quarter of a million children are missing out on free school meals worth nearly £500 per child due to the lack of an automated sign-up system’. The statement released today by LGA calls for a streamlined automated process, stating:

“The approximate £470 given by the government to cover the cost of each child’s free school meals (FSMs) per year could be extended to many more children in need, if the application process was simplified and made automatic.”

The LGA say that streamlining the process to include an automated enrollment would:

“generate tens of millions of pounds in vital extra pupil premium funding for schools, which is allocated based on the number of agreed FSM applications per school. This would also help ensure funding gets to where it is needed, in order to narrow the attainment gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers.” 

In 2022, Schools North East joined forces with The North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC), Children North East (CNE) and Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) to write to Ministers and warn the Government that the current FSM system is leaving children behind, despite pledges to ‘level up’ the country. 

In that letter we urged the government to introduce automatic registration for FSM. Schools North East highlighted that schools and local authorities across the North East are expending a huge amount of time and staff capacity in identifying eligible families and supporting them to apply for FSM. We put forward the case that this is an unnecessary use of valuable resources when the Government already holds the data required to identify and automatically enrol families entitled to receive this support – it would just require different Government departments to work in partnership for the benefit of low-income families, and indeed schools. 

Unlocking Pupil Premium Potential

This week during the Schools North East Annual Governance Conference, Thomas Martell, Director of NELT Institute helped governors around the region to understand new ways to think about Pupil Premium. The Pupil Premium, given to schools to improve outcomes for children who receive FSM, allows school leaders to have a lot of discretion about how to allocate the funding. 

The increase in child poverty in the North East is now higher than anywhere else in the country (having overtaken London). There has been a steep increase in in-work poverty; with the rise in poverty in households with a child under 5 being particularly stark and the gap with the rest of the UK now as large as it’s ever been. 

Thomas shared that from the DfE’s recommended three tiered strategy for Pupil Premium (quality teaching, targeted interventions and wider strategies) the highest impact for schools comes from quality teaching. During the conference, Thomas advised that ‘quality teaching’ should be where schools place 50% of their effort with 25% going to both ‘targeted interventions’ and ‘wider strategies’.

Thomas stated:

“The Pupil Premium is an important opportunity for schools. School leaders and governors can make the most of their funding by focusing on quality teaching, great interventions, ensuring pupils are ready to learn and enriching pupils’ experience. Crucially, it is important to get the balance right between these different aspects and focus on quality within them. I recommend schools prioritise learning about how effective their plan is this year so that they can have an even better plan next year.”

Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East commented:

“We have campaigned for an extension of FSM for our schools for a long time now. This year’s Governance conference took place against a similar backdrop to last year and the year before, but with the war in Ukraine adding further horrendous pressures to everything that covid brought to already stretched schools and NE communities. 

The NE has been disproportionately affected by both the fallout from Ukraine and covid’s impact. Rampant inflation has severely impacted on access to food for our families and energy prices have skyrocketed. The increase in child poverty in the North East is now higher than anywhere else in the country (having overtaken London). The significant additional funding increase for our region highlights why this issue is so essential to our young people. If an automated application service will help extend eligibility, we welcome it wholeheartedly.”

Schools North East sent a joint letter to DfE urging for expansion of FSM and auto enrollment, this can be read here. 

Schools North East supports local governors through our conferences and webinars but also by helping schools find governors. If you are interested in becoming a school governor please register your interest here.

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