Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much per pupil funding uplift will each secondary school in Harlow receive in 2021-22.

Secondary schools in Harlow are attracting £33.6 million in total next financial year - a 7.5% cash increase - through the schools national funding formula (NFF). For Harlow secondary schools, this reflects an increase of 2.4% in per-pupil pupil-led funding compared to the 2020-21 financial year. “Pupil-led” funding is the funding allocated to schools through the NFF on the basis of their pupils’ characteristics – this includes funding for “additional needs” factors in the NFF, such as deprivation and low prior attainment.

These figures are based on notional school-level NFF allocations; we do not update the constituency figures on actual school-level allocations.

Next financial year, at a national level, mainstream school funding will increase by 3.5% overall. The NFF continues to distribute this fairly, based on the needs of schools and their pupil cohorts. The NFF is levelling up school funding, delivering resources where they are needed most, while ensuring that every school is attracting at least 2% more pupil-led funding per pupil.

Every secondary school will receive at least £5,150 per pupil in 2021-22, delivering on the Government’s pledge to level up the lowest funded schools. On top of that these schools, and all schools, will receive additional funds to cover additional teachers’ pay and pension costs. This adds a further £265 to the minimum per pupil amounts for secondary schools.

The majority of secondary schools in Harlow attract an increase of 2% in pupil-led per pupil funding through the NFF in 2021-22. This is because these schools are on the funding formula “floor” which ensures that all schools attract a minimum uplift even where the core formula factors indicate that their funding should be lower.

For Burnt Hill Academy, St Mark’s West Essex Catholic School and Mark Hall Academy, the increase is higher with a 2.2%, 3.0% and 3.4% increase in pupil-led per pupil funding next financial year (2021-22) respectively, through the NFF.

With the NFF, school funding is now distributed to local authorities based on the individual needs and characteristics of every school in the country. Local authorities continue to have discretion over their schools funding formulae, in consultation with schools. The final funding allocations are therefore also influenced by the local authorities' own formulae.