17th February 2017
Dear Parents and Carers,
We are writing this letter on behalf of all Primary and Secondary Headteachers in Stockport and a similar letter is going home to parents/carers across Stockport. You may be aware from the local or national press that the government is planning to introduce a new National Funding Formula for all schools in England, from April 2018 onwards. Our Local Authority, Stockport, is currently one of the worst funded in the country and has been for a considerable number of years. This means that on average your child is currently funded at approximately £1000 below that of neighbouring authorities like Manchester, which may not sound a great amount of money but this actually equates to around £210 000 per year for a small primary school like Lane End.
We believe that this is an unfair system, based on a postcode lottery, and it is clear that children in areas like ours are being disadvantaged. We were delighted, therefore, when an announcement from government promised to introduce a fairer system, but unfortunately the new proposals do not diminish the disadvantage between authorities enough and we are still seeing a significant difference in allocation for our children compared to others across the country. In fact, for schools like Lane End the proposed new formula actually results in the school getting even less funding per year than currently. In our view, the National Funding Formula needs to be amended so that all schools can educate their children effectively, regardless of where in the country this is. This is not the case with the current proposals.
Schools in Stockport are planning a range of responses to raise awareness of the unfairness of these proposals and we really need your support as parents. You can help us by contacting your MP, Mrs Mary Robinson. We have attached a useful proforma as a basis for your letter/email should you wish to use or amend it.
We know how important your child’s education is to you and also feel that a strong response is necessary. May we thank you in advance for your support in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
James Twigg
Headteacher of Lane End Primary School
and Vice-chair of Stockport Primary Headteachers’ Consortium
Jacqui Ames Tim Beesley
Chair of Stockport Primary Chair of Stockport Secondary
Headteachers’ Consortium Headteachers’ Consortium
Writing to Mary Robinson MP
Contact details:
Mary Robinson MP
8A Station Road
Cheadle Hulme
SK8 5AE
mary.robinson.mp@parliament.uk
0161 672 6855
https://www.mary-robinson.org.uk/
Below is a possible letter to amend followed by useful tips about writing a letter to an MP and specific questions to ask. If you can make your letter individual it will have more of an impact.
Thank you for your support.
Dear Mary Robinson MP,
Government Proposal of National Fairer Funding Formula
I am writing to you to highlight the serious concerns I have about the proposed school funding for my child in Stockport.
As a parent, I welcome the idea of a national fairer funding formula as at the moment schools are funded very differently based on a postcode lottery, with Stockport being one of the worst funded local authorities. However the current proposals are not fair - it appears that there simply isn’t enough money to go round and the proposed fairer funding formula still does not distribute the money fairly. In fact, under the proposed new formula underfunded schools such as Lane End Primary School in Cheadle Hulme, one of the lowest funded schools in Stockport, are set to be even worse off. I am concerned that this means my child will not have the educational experience that they deserve.
I don’t believe that this situation will only affect my child’s school as it seems that many schools across the country are saying the same things.
I would like to ask you, as a matter of urgency, to write to the Chancellor, Philip Hammond to call on him to provide more money for our schools in the Budget in March. It must also be understood that whilst the national funding formula has the potential to make school funding fairer it will fall short unless it is re-evaluated and given sufficient resources to succeed.
I note on your website that one of the main strands of your plan for Cheadle is ‘championing investment in our schools’. I hope you can put pressure on the government to make sure schools in your constituency can continue to deliver for all pupils.
Yours sincerely,
National Funding Formula (NFF) Consultation
Letter to MPs and Questions for Ministers
Advice to Parents/Carers of children in Stockport schools based on a discussion with David Rutley MP:
It is better if any such correspondence does not look too much like a template letter and is more personal and asks the specific questions that you wish to be addressed.
Suggested questions and structure of correspondence is given below.
Possible Structure
Possible Specific Questions
Directed towards The Treasury:
Directed towards the Department for Education:
Highlighting Practical Concerns to your MP and/or Minister:
Further information from our previous Newsletter (2nd Feb 2017) highlighting funding issues at Lane End Primary School
School Funding
Schools have historically received different amounts of funding depending on whereabouts in the country they are. Stockport is one of the lowest funded Local Authorities in the country and Lane End has always been one of the lowest funded schools within the authority (as the per pupil funding takes into account such factors as level of deprivation). In 2015-16 the national average per pupil grant funding was £4567, in Stockport it was £3928 and at Lane End it was £3734. That means we receive £833 per pupil less than the national average. If we were funded at the national average level we would receive an additional £174,930 each year. In addition to this, we don’t receive much additional funding which comes in to schools in the form of the Pupil Premium.
We have been managing with a budget which is far lower than the average for many years. We have been prudent and efficient – we have had to make many efficiency savings and cut resources and have also benefitted from PTA fundraising and your support to help fund important projects. However, the budget situation has become increasingly difficult over the last few years. Costs go up each year and our budget is not increased in line with the rising costs involved in running the school. Added to this, capital budgets to spend on the school building and ICT infrastructure were drastically reduced in 2011 – at Lane End we saw a drop from approximately £20 000 per year to approximately £6000 per year. Recently, to compound matters further, from last year we had to pay additional National Insurance and pension contributions which the government used to pay (approximately £40 000 per year) and this year there is an additional apprenticeship levy which all Local Authority schools must pay (approximately £5000) – no additional funding has been put in place for these additional costs.
It is recognised that the discrepancies across Local Authorities are unfair, as schools with similar intakes but in different Local Authorities could be receiving very different funding levels. It is an unfair system based on a ‘postcode lottery’ and as a school we were delighted when in 2015 the government promised to introduce a fairer funding system for schools. This ‘National Fairer Funding Formula’ was then proposed in December 2016 and is due to be introduced in 2018-19. Unfortunately, we do not believe it has been well conceived. No additional money has been put into the system, the proposed formula is still tied to historical discrepancies and the split between the ‘lump sum’ figure (a set amount of money each school gets) and per pupil amount has been weighted more towards per pupil funding - because of this many smaller school are worse off. So, instead of gaining as we had expected, based on the figures recently released, Lane End actually loses money under the proposed funding formula - approximately £13 000 each year.
This further reduction added to the increasing costs already mentioned is simply untenable and will have an inevitable impact on the education and provision we can provide at Lane End. I am meeting with the governing body to make our response. We will be contacting Cheadle Hulme’s MP, Mrs Mary Robinson, and will also be completing the Government’s online consultation documentation. I am also part of a representative group of headteachers working with the Local Authority to make a Stockport wide response – there will be a further letter coming home in due course. We also need your help. One way to do this is through the national consultation:
https://consult.education.gov.uk/funding-policy-unit/schools-national-funding-formula2/
The consultation process is open until 22nd March 2017. Unfortunately the lay out and questions on the national consultation process are not particularly accessible. As a result, we feel that the best course of action is for as many of our parents as possible to express their views to our MP, Mrs Mary Robinson, who can be contacted at:
Mary Robinson MP
8A Station Road
Cheadle Hulme
SK8 5AE
mary.robinson.mp@parliament.uk
0161 672 6855
https://www.mary-robinson.org.uk/
Your support in this respect would be much appreciated. If you would like to talk to me about the issue then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.