Revenue funding: our position | National Governance Association

A fundamental principle for the NGA is that all revenue funding should be objectively, transparently and equitably distributed. This does not mean that all schools should receive the same amount of funding, but that schools should receive funding to ensure equality of opportunity for all pupils.

NGA supports the introduction of the National Funding Formula (NFF) and its aim to address some of the inequalities in how school funding is distributed.

However, while the NFF is designed to distribute the total pot of money fairly, based on a set of school and pupil characteristics, it is not necessarily consistent with a school being funded ‘correctly’.

The effects of the NFF, and the subsequent policy of ‘levelling-up’ funding for schools, have not been felt equally across schools. The design of the NFF has meant that, since 2018, additional funding has been disproportionately targeted towards schools that had historically lower levels of funding and these schools have tended to have less-disadvantaged intakes.

NGA believe that funding must be reviewed to ensure that as well as all schools receiving sufficient funding to sustain high quality education, they can meet the additional needs of vulnerable groups.

NGA are concerned that the level and distribution of high needs funding has not kept up with the increasing number of children and young people with SEND and Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The way in which it is currently distributed is complex and in part based on historic spending rather than current need.

NGA are calling for a reform to the allocation of the high needs block of school funding both increasing the overall level of funding to provide for increased prevalence of SEND and changing the funding formula to better reflect current need.

NGA supports the continuation of targeted funding, in the form of the pupil premium or otherwise, to help improve the achievement of disadvantaged pupils, how its value must be protected in real terms.