Starmer’s classroom class battle: Fury at plan to means check funding based mostly on parental earnings
Labour has been accused of taking its class warfare into schools with plans to means test funding based on parental income, in a move that could penalise hard working families.
Today Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will publish a schools white paper that will aim to overhaul special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision and halve the attainment gap.
A central part of the proposals would see reforms to how £8billion in funding is targeted, with household income rather than whether a child receives free school meals used to allocate it.
Labour’s new disadvantage funding formula would also consider where a child lives as well as how low parental income is and how long this has been the case.
The Conservatives have criticised the proposals as being part of Labour’s class warfare, after private schools were targeted with a punitive tax raid.
Tory shadow education secretary Laura Trott said: ‘Every child deserves to receive the support they need. But it is wrong to narrow the disadvantage gap by dragging everyone down.’
Yesterday Ms Phillipson was forced to deny she was a ‘class warrior’ as she vowed to ‘come down hard on those who are profiting from the system’.
Speaking to Times Radio, she said: ‘We’ve seen a big expansion, for example, in private equity, in specialist schools, where the quality is often very, very variable, where the costs are high.’
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson (pictured) will today publish a schools white paper that will aim to overhaul special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision
Tory shadow education secretary Laura Trott (pictured) said it is ‘wrong to narrow the disadvantage gap by dragging everyone down’
Asked if she sees herself as ‘class warrior’, she responded: ‘No, I don’t. I’m really ambitious for every child in our country, regardless of background.’
Ms Phillipson has claimed the new funding formula is a ‘golden opportunity’ to cut the link between background and success. Today she will outline reforms that will see mild special needs cases dealt with in school after the spiralling number of children with behavioural conditions such as ADHD almost bankrupted councils.
The SEND reforms will also see education, health and care plans (EHCPs) reassessed once children reach the end of primary school from 2029.
Under the proposals pupils with less complex and serious needs, such as autism and ADHD, will reportedly no longer be deemed eligible for EHCPs after the number of children with a SEND plan soared from 240,000 to 639,000 in a decade.
All teachers will be trained to teach SEND children, and mainstream schools will receive a share of £4billion in funding to help them support children with special needs in the classroom.
