The Department for Education has “limited evidence” on how well its disadvantage-related funding helps to boost the attainment of poorer children, Whitehall’s spending watchdog found.
The Government has “little understanding” of whether schools spend funding focused on disadvantaged children for the intended purposes, the National Audit Office (NAO) report said.
It examines whether the Department for Education (DfE) is achieving value for money through its funding to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged children in England.
The attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers at the end of GCSEs is “wider than a decade ago” even though it is a “strategic priority” for the DfE, the report said.
It concluded: “DfE has evidence to support some of its interventions and uses this to help schools and early years providers to make decisions.
“However, it does not yet understand the outcomes resulting from a significant proportion of its expenditure on disadvantaged children.
“It also does not have a fully integrated view of its interventions, or milestones to assess progress and when more may need to be done.
“This, and the lack of sustained progress reducing the disadvantage attainment gap since 2010-11, means that DfE cannot demonstrate it is achieving value for money.”
The report found “limited” evidence to support the effectiveness of the disadvantage and deprivation elements of the national funding formula and early years national funding formula, which together comprise 47% of its £9.2 billion annual spend on disadvantage.
It added: “DfE has little understanding of whether schools spend the funding they receive, whether they spend it for the intended purposes, or whether this represents value for money.
“It has adopted a range of different funding approaches, with varying levels of accountability, giving schools and early years providers autonomy and flexibility to decide how to spend most of their disadvantage-related funding.”
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: “The lack of progress made in closing the disadvantage gap is incredibly disappointing and it is right for this to be scrutinised.
“It’s important to look carefully at the national funding formula and pupil premium to ensure the levels of funding are sufficient but also being used in a way that helps enable every child and young person to succeed.
“They need to reflect the varying levels of disadvantage across distinct communities in different parts of the country and also consider the needs of pupils living in persistent poverty.”
A DfE spokesperson said: “Too many children are being held back by their background, and this report shines a light on the work that is needed to break down barriers to opportunity and improve the life chances of all children.
“We will deliver real change by integrating childcare and early years into the wider education system as a national priority, delivering free breakfast clubs in every primary school and by developing an ambitious strategy to reduce child poverty.
“This Government is fully focused on supporting the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children, learning from the past and drawing from the NAO’s findings and recommendations.”
