ASCL welcomes the direct National Funding Formula (NFF) in supporting the principles of fairness, transparency, and predictability. However, we do not wish to see a direct NFF rushed through to meet a legislative deadline. We acknowledge the steps that the government has undertaken to address the distribution inequities that had arisen prior to the introduction of the NFF in 2018.

It is our firm view that the formula needs to be functioning well before the progression to a direct NFF can take place. In the funding year 2020/21, 15.6% of all schools required top-up funding to meet the government’s own minimum per pupil funding levels. In other words, this is not a formula that is functioning well.

We support the government’s ‘levelling up’ ambitions, and the role that a national funding formula can play in that ambition. Unfortunately, since its introduction, the NFF has tended to provide larger increases for the least deprived schools (8-9%) than those in the most deprived areas (5%). Again, this is not a formula that is functioning well. 

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