Derbyshire education chief insists Government funding equates to ‘big fat cut’ despite dispute over figures

Derbyshire council’s education chief is standing by his claim the authority has only received what amounts to a 0.3 per cent increase and a ‘big fat cut’ in Government funding for primary and secondary schools for the 2025-26 financial year despite the Department for Education claiming this figure is ‘unrecognisable’.

The Conservative-controlled county council’s Cabinet Member for Education, Cllr Alex Dale, aims to lobby the Labour Government for fairer funding after what he claims is one of the worst funding settlements he has seen for the county’s primary and secondary schools which he fears could lead to difficulties and even redundancies.

Cllr Alex Dale claims the Labour Government’s School Block Funding Settlement for primaries and secondaries for the 2025-26 financial year amounts to only a 0.3 per cent increase after taking into account a number of other factors which he believes the Government has overlooked.

But a DfE spokesperson said: “The Budget delivered on the Government’s commitment to put education back at the forefront of national life, protecting key education priorities including core funding for schools.

“Despite the challenging economic context, we are putting a further £2.3bn into schools’ budgets, with £1bn for children and young people with high needs.

“The figure mentioned by Derbyshire council’s cabinet member for education is unrecognisable. The per pupil percentage funding increase for Derbyshire in 25-26 is 2.3per cent compared to 2024-25. We will support leaders to use funding as efficiently as possible, while continuing to deliver better life chances for children and young people across the country.”

However, Cllr Dale is standing firmly by his claim there is a ‘shortfall’ after factoring in Teachers Pay and Pension Grants, increases in deprivation, inflation, and that the DfE calculations are based on only seven months of the previous Core Schools Budget Grant, and that there has been an increase in Free School Meals of 4.5 per cent since October 2023 despite a reduction in pupil numbers by 1.1 per cent.

He added that in terms of the 2025-26 Schools Block Allocation and National Funding Formula multipliers, Derbyshire has been left with a ‘shortfall’ with the Department for Education’s figure of around a 2.3 per cent increase actually representing only a 0.3 per cent increase after all the other appropriate factors have been taken into account.

Cllr Dale said the Government’s 2.3 per cent average increase reduces when you consider it is calculated on only seven months of the year and then it is reduced further by factoring in the National Funding Formula multipliers, the demographic and increased Free School Meals and he claims the council is left with just a 0.3per cent increase alongside inflation.

The council’s report on the settlement also identifies what it calls a ‘shortfall’ due to what it claims are increases in deprivation and increases in Free School Meals of 4.5 per cent since October, 2023, despite a reduction in pupil numbers of 1.1 per cent.

It also states that applying the NFF multipliers to the Department for Education’s school formula data is estimated to cost £632.524m, leaving a ‘shortfall’ of £4.081m compared to the DfE’s Schools Block total allocation of £628.443m for 2025-26, excluding a Pupil Growth Fund.

This ‘shortfall’ is largely due to increases in deprivation and free school meals indicators, according to the council report, and it reiterates that despite a reduction in pupil numbers by 1.1per cent there has been an increased pressure with Free School Meals of 4.5 per cent since October, 2023.

Cllr Dale said: “It’s disappointing, but unsurprising that the Labour-run DfE don’t seem to have a clue what they are talking about. They seem to have purposefully ignored all of the additional factors I explained previously and have just repeated their headline figure of 2.3 per cent on average, which completely masks the true picture facing our schools in Derbyshire.

“As previously explained, the starting point of our overall settlement is a 2.3 per increase on average. But when you factor in that the DfE only funded seven out of 12 months of the current year’s teachers’ pay award, the remaining five months will cost schools 1.3 per cent of the increase on average, leaving just 1 per cent.

“Then, due to a lag in the data that the DfE base their funding calculations on and demographic changes in Derbyshire, we are having to reduce down the funding multipliers to make it affordable within the budget envelope set by the DfE. This means a further reduction of 0.7 per cent, leaving Derbyshire schools on average with a 0.3 per cent increase.

“This is no way near enough to match even basic inflation and to make matters worse, schools are being told they’ll need to fund next year’s pay award entirely out of their own coffers.

“The DfE can go to ground and keep repeating their smoke and mirrors headline figures all they want, like they have been with highways funding, but there’s no escaping the conclusion that this is a big fat cut for our schools and will result in extremely difficult decisions needing to be made.

“And it’s not just Derbyshire that’s affected, lots of other colleagues from councils around the country have highlighted similar concerns and even some of the education trade unions have said they believe it is one of the worst funding settlements we’ve seen for several years. The Labour Government need to leave the rhetoric to one side and start to take this seriously.”

Council Leader, Cllr Barry Lewis, has also said the settlement is a ‘massive disappointment’ and the county council will fight for a ‘fairer settlement in the future’ and he has suggested the council should speak to the schools to find a constructive way forward.

Cllr Dale has also said he is concerned that what he considers to be a poor schools funding settlement will create more pressures for schools trying to achieve more mainstream inclusion for youngsters with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities despite an increase in the Government’s High Needs Block Settlement.

Derbyshire County Council’s Cabinet formally noted during a meeting in February the DfE’s School Block Allocation and its overall Dedicated School Grant Block Allocations for 2025-26 for the county.

The overall DfE’s 2025-26 Schools Block Allocation for Derbyshire, including the Pupil Growth and Falling Rolls Fund, stands at £629.625m compared with £623.095m in 2024-25.

And the overall Derbyshire Dedicated School Grant Block Allocations including the schools block, high needs, early years and central school services for 2025-26 showed a total allocation o £872.166m with a 6.30per cent increase.

The DfE stated that overall core revenue funding for schools totalled almost £61.6bn for the 2024-25 financial year including £1.1bn through the Core Schools Budget Grant for 2024-25 to support schools with overall costs.

During the October Budget the Government also announced an additional £2.3bn for mainstream schools and young people with high needs for 2025-26 compared to 2024-25 which it says means that overall core school funding will total almost £63.9bn for 2025-26.

The DfE also stated that out of the £2.3bn increase, almost £1bn is being allocated to high needs budgets and the outstanding £1.3bn will cover the remaining mainstream costs of the 2024 teachers’ pay award for 2025-26, an increase to the mainstream schools National Funding Formula and any increases to other elements of core funding.

It added that it recognises the challenges schools are facing but argued that the Government inherited a £22bn black hole form the former Conservative Government which means fixing the overall economy will take time.