How the National Funding Formula will affect North East schools
The Department for Education announced yesterday the second stage of its consultation on developing a fairer funding formula for schools.
SCHOOLS NorthEast submitted a response to the first stage of the consultation and will collaborate with Head Teachers again to draft a response to the second. You can also read our response to the announcements made yesterday here.
The Government provided an interactive spreadsheet illustrating the impact of the proposed formula on individual schools would have in its current proposed form – available to read here. You can look up your school on the first sheet of the document or see a full list of schools in the tab ‘NFF all schools’.
We analysed the data released with the consultation papers and pulled together a few key points for the region and at LA area level:
What impact would the NFF have on North East schools if implemented in its current form?
59.10% would see their budgets increase
1.25% would stay the same
39.66% would see their budgets decrease
While, on the face of it, this appears to be good news, the reality is that North East schools will remain significantly underfunded when compared to the national average. The changes are likely to hit secondary schools hardest.
How does this compare nationally?
53.61% of schools nationally seeing an increase
0.87% staying the same
45.52% with their budgets decreasing
(please see table 3 for the same information for other regions. London is the area with the most schools losing money – 70.49%).
How does that translate at LA area level?
The majority of schools in Durham, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Hartlepool will see their budgets fall.
85.71% of Hartlepool schools will get less money, whilst at the other end 87.04% of South Tyneside schools will see their budgets increase.
TABLE 1: Percentage of schools with budgets increasing, staying the same or decreasing under the NFF
| Increasing | Staying the same | Decreasing | |
| Darlington | 59.46% | 2.70% | 37.84% |
| Durham | 45.38% | 0.40% | 54.22% |
| Gateshead | 73.68% | 1.32% | 25.00% |
| Hartlepool | 14.29% | 0.00% | 85.71% |
| Middlesbrough | 47.92% | 6.25% | 45.83% |
| Newcastle | 82.56% | 0.00% | 17.44% |
| North Tyneside | 66.20% | 1.41% | 32.39% |
| Northumberland | 79.27% | 1.22% | 19.51% |
| Redcar & Cleveland | 50.00% | 0.00% | 50.00% |
| South Tyneside | 87.04% | 0.00% | 12.96% |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 61.97% | 2.82% | 35.21% |
| Sunderland | 32.32% | 2.02% | 65.66% |
Primary vs Secondary
62.53% of North East primaries’ budgets will increase
BUT
59.86% of North East secondaries will lose out on cash
TABLE 2: The percentage of North East schools with budgets increasing, staying the same or decreasing by phase
| Increasing | Staying the same | Decreasing | |
| Primary | 62.53% | 1.28% | 36.19% |
| Middle | 54.55% | 6.06% | 39.39% |
| Secondary | 40.14% | 0.00% | 59.86% |
| All-through | 42.86% | 0.00% | 57.14% |
How does the average secondary in the North East compare to…
– the average English secondary gets 2% more funding than one in our region
– the average London secondary gets 18.54% more funding than one in our region
If the NFF is implemented, the gap only widens:
– the average English secondary will get 3.14% more funding than one in our region
– the average London secondary will get 18.94% more funding than one in our region
How does the average primary in the North East compare to…
– the average English primary gets 12.23% more funding than one in our region
– the average London primary gets 49% more funding than one in our region
If the NFF is implemented, the situation would improve (but only slightly):
– the average primary in our region would get 88.73% of the funding an average English primary would get (an increase of 1.05 percentage points)
– the average primary in our region would get 52.62% of the funding an average London primary would get (an increase of 1.62 percentage points)
The overall amount given to North East schools would increase by 0.6% in the first transition year and by 1% if the formula was implemented in full. This compares favourably to the national picture of 0.48% and 0.89% respectively – all regions will see the overall amount increased other than London and the North West. Please see table 4 for more information.
On the same measures, Hartlepool would see its funding decrease by 0.81% in the first transition year and by 1.41% if the formula was fully implemented. All other North East LAs would see their budgets increase in the first year, but three further local authorities would have decreased budgets if the formula was fully implemented; Middlesbrough (-0.15%), Redcar and Cleveland (-0.07%) and Sunderland (-0.25%). Please see table 5.
We will look at the data published by the DfE in more detail over Christmas and update you in January.
If you have any comments or questions, please get in touch.
OTHER TABLES
TABLE 3: Percentage of schools with budgets increasing, staying the same or decreasing under the NFF
| Increasing | Staying the same | Decreasing | |
| East Midlands | 62.62% | 0.89% | 37.38% |
| East of England | 62.46% | 0.93% | 36.61% |
| London | 29.27% | 0.28% | 70.49% |
| North East | 59.10% | 1.25% | 39.66% |
| North West | 40.84% | 0.90% | 58.26% |
| South East | 60.10% | 1.35% | 38.55% |
| South West | 72.62% | 0.82% | 26.56% |
| West Midlands | 46.02% | 0.78% | 53.20% |
| Yorks & Humber | 54.19% | 0.53% | 45.28% |
| ENGLAND | 53.61% | 0.87% | 45.52% |
TABLE 4: Change in the overall amount of funding to English regions in the first year of transition to the NFF and if the NFF was implemented in full
| Transition year change | NFF change | |
| East Midlands | 0.89% | 2.02% |
| East of England | 0.80% | 1.29% |
| London | -0.22% | -0.49% |
| North East | 0.60% | 1.00% |
| North West | -0.06% | -0.01% |
| South East | 1.20% | 2.06% |
| South West | 0.99% | 1.96% |
| West Midlands | 0.14% | 0.13% |
| Yorks & Humber | 0.54% | 1.27% |
| ENGLAND | 0.48% | 0.89% |
TABLE 5: Change in the overall amount of funding to schools in North East LAs in the first year of transition to the NFF and if the NFF was implemented in full
| Transition change | NFF change | |
| Darlington | 0.48% | 0.66% |
| Durham | 0.46% | 1.06% |
| Gateshead | 1.71% | 2.05% |
| Hartlepool | -0.81% | -1.41% |
| Middlesbrough | 0.20% | -0.15% |
| Newcastle | 1.15% | 2.88% |
| North Tyneside | 0.29% | 0.56% |
| Northumberland | 0.75% | 1.21% |
| Redcar & Cleveland | 0.07% | -0.07% |
| South Tyneside | 1.65% | 3.21% |
| Stockton-on-Tees | 0.84% | 1.00% |
| Sunderland | 0.08% | -0.25% |