Schools are missing out as funding 'favours the South'

Schools and councils serving rural areas claim variations in the amount of cash each education authority receives per pupil is undermining league tables after last week's result showed inner-city areas delivering the biggest improvements.

The Government's funding formula creates major disparities in Yorkshire between the money given to educate pupils in neighbouring authorities.

Most receive at least 2,500 less per pupil than the most well-supported London boroughs and more than three-quarters of the region's 15 councils are given less than the national average per pupil.

The East Riding has the lowest level of funding per pupil in the

region – getting 3,851.25 compared with a national average of 4,217.71.

It was one of three authorities in Yorkshire which saw its GCSE results worsen in the secondary school league tables compared with the previous year

John Wilson, East Riding Council's assistant director for children and young people's services said the funding system hampered schools' ability to improve results.

"The current formula works against the East Riding because it is seen as having a relatively affluent population overall but this ignores some areas of significant deprivation and as a result we have a poor settlement.

"If the East Riding received the same level of funding as Hull, our neighbours, then we would be 1.8m better off every year for each year group."

If the council's funding were to be brought in line with Hull, where some residents choose to send their children over the border into the East Riding to be educated, it would have almost 20m more to spend on education every year.

The Government's Dedicated Schools Grant which funds each school per pupil is under review. Ministers are to set announce plans early this year for a "more transparent, stable and simpler school funding system" after 2011.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families insists children from areas with higher deprivation will need more support to succeed and funding levels must reflect this.

Some of the country's worst funded education authorities have been campaigning for around 10 years to remove "the inequality" in the way in which schools receive money from the Government.

The f40 group, representing 40 of the worst-funded authorities in England includes the East Riding, North Yorkshire, York, North Lincolnshire and Wakefield. Secretary Doug Allan said: "The problem with the Government's formula has been that it was set almost 10 years ago and they have agreed that every authority should get a percentage increase every year. This means that over 10 years the gap between rich and poor gets bigger. The feedback we have had is that the Government recognises this is unfair."

Tony Norton, headteacher of St Mary's Roman Catholic Primary School in Brigg, and national executive member of the f40 group said: "The argument is won. We have shown that the system is unfair.

"I think there is a bias toward London and a North-South divide in the way in which councils are funded. The formula measures deprivation and has a London weighting but if you look at the difference in funding between places like Birmingham and Leeds, which both have deprivation, you see that the level of funding is unfair."

North Yorkshire County Council has also warned the current system does not take into account the cost and difficulty of delivering education to sparsely-populated areas.

A spokeswoman for the authority said: "At the moment we are given no additional resources for coping with sparsity for our secondary schools and early years' provision and we think this is particularly unfair."

Facts and figures point to injustice

n The East Riding has the lowest level of school funding in Yorkshire and the eighth-lowest in the country, ranked 144th out 151 education authorities.

n It receives 3,851.25 per pupil compared with a national average of 4,217.71 and more than 3,000 less than the City of London's 7,603.38 a head.

n York is the second-worst funded council in Yorkshire with 3,938.52 per pupil – ranked 127th in England.

n North Lincolnshire fares only slightly better – receiving 3,960.86 per pupil, making it the 123rd best-funded council in the country.

n Hull, North East Lincolnshire and Bradford are the three most well-supported authorities in the region and the only three to receive more than the national average funding.

n Barnsley, North Yorkshire, Wakefield and Calderdale are among the worst funded third of the country's councils.

n Twelve of the 15 education authorities in the region receive less than the national average funding level.