LevellerLive

This has been a long time coming but the day finally dawned today. In parliament this afternoon, Secretary of State for Education Justine Greening announced the outline plans for the funding formula for our schools. For many years now Somerset schools have had a poor deal, getting far less per pupil than London schools and many of the other big city schools in England.

Under the formula announced today, more than 100 local authorities will see gains under the new formula while almost 50 (mostly in London) will see cuts to their funding. In 2018-19, the first year of the revised funding, Derby, is the biggest winner, but Somerset is actually going to be the second largest beneficiary and the south west in general does well from this settlement.

The biggest winners are:

Derby 2.7%

Somerset 2.4%

Torbay 2.4%

York 2.4%

Barnsley 2.4%

Plymouth 2.3%

Lincolnshire 2.3%

Bracknell Forest 2.2%

Bath and North East Somerset 2.2%

Milton Keynes 2.2%

The change to the formula is one that all of Somerset’s MPs have campaigned long and hard for. This is certainly a good reward for their efforts.

However it is worth noting that there is no new money in the education pot. So whilst some of the unfairness in the system, the so-called postcode lottery, is being ironed out, it mean that for every school that gets more money, another most inevitably get less.

Good news for Somerset, but it might be worth remembering those who will suffer in this brave new world.