Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to schools with falling pupil numbers.

The Department has now published the National Funding Formula for schools and high needs 2024/25, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs.

The overall core schools budget will be over £59.6 billion in the 2024/25 financial year, the highest ever level in real terms per pupil in 2024/25, as measured by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies.

To support Local Authorities to meet their sufficiency duty, the Department provides them with revenue funding for growth and falling rolls through their Dedicated Schools Grant. The Department has allocated £259 million in Growth and Falling Rolls funding to Local Authorities in 2023/24.

Local Authorities currently have discretion on whether to operate a falling rolls fund. Any decisions regarding the criteria for, and level of, falling rolls funding which is allocated by the Local Authority must be approved by the Schools Forum.

The Department is introducing new requirements for growth and falling rolls funding in 2024/25 which will provide Local Authorities with more flexibility to support schools seeing significant declines in pupil numbers, where these places will still be needed within the next three to five years. More information on the changes to growth and falling rolls funding can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-funding-formula-for-schools-and-high-needs.