New data from the Department for Education shows that there has been a 3.5% or 300,000 pupil rise in those who are eligible for free school meals across England between January 2020 and 2021. This means that there are 1.7 million pupils claiming free school meals. Other headline data from the DfE’s release showed that 427,000 pupils who were eligible for free school meals in January 2021 had a free school meal eligibility start date after 23 March 2020, when the first national pandemic lockdown was announced. For the same period before the pandemic, March 23rd 2019 to January 2020, there were almost 292,000 pupils who became eligible for free school meals.
This data has reinforced widespread criticism of the DfE following their “stealth cut” to the Pupil Premium funding created by basing the figures on FSM data from October 2020, rather than January 2021.
One of the largest rises in those claiming free school meals across the country was in the North East where in 2020 there were 92,905 pupils eligible for free school meals compared to this year where the figure has risen by 15,917 pupils or 4% to 108,822 pupils. The 2021 figure is an increase on the eligibility which North East Child Poverty Commission working in partnership with Schools North East forecasted would be around 108,519 pupils eligible for free school meals by January 2021. Findings from the North East Child Poverty Commission in April showed that losses in the North East could be between £5.16 million and £7.26 million with the new pupil premium calculations. However, it seems that the potential losses for schools in the region will be higher than originally forecast in April.
Schools across the country are continuing to support children from disadvantaged homes but with the caveat of doing this without the backing and financial support of the central government. Despite this effective ‘cut’ in support, North East schools will still need to tackle the growing problem of disadvantage within the region having risen significantly because of the pandemic, with the potential of this increasing further going forwards.
