Andy Burnham has today called for an urgent review of the Government’s changes to the pupil premium that will leave thousands of young people in Greater Manchester worse off.
The pupil premium grant is designed to allow schools to help disadvantaged pupils by improving their progress and the exam results they achieve, including the provision of free school meals.
But shocking new data, obtained by Schools Week, shows the Government engaging in a levelling down policy on some of Greater Manchester’s most disadvantaged pupils.
They found that more than £8.8 million is being slashed from Greater Manchester’s pupil premium budget, impacting on more than 6,500 pupils.
Manchester schools will be hardest hit losing £2.4m that means young people in some of the city region’s most deprived areas will miss out on small group support, speech and language
The stealth cut to school budgets comes at a time when children need more support than ever, in Greater Manchester the Young People’s Taskforce has been established to provide extra support.
The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, the Labour & Co-operative Party candidate at this May’s election, said:
“This is a deliberate act of levelling down, now is the time to ensure our poorest kids have all the support they need, not take it away. The neglect of the North has a human cost, which has become all too apparent over the last 12 months.
“It’s the poorest places which have suffered the most, and lost the most, over the last year. Too many children already do not have enough to eat when schools are closed. I’m calling for the Government to carry out an urgent review of its pupil premium reforms before they make things worse for thousands of pupils in Greater Manchester.
“The Tory candidate has said she won’t argue with the Government, but will she speak up for the poorest kids in the poorest communities. And if not them, who will she speak up for?”
