
MP calls for fairer funding for Gloucestershire schools
A Gloucestershire MP is calling on the government to make school funding "fairer", with pupils in the county receiving up to £1,000 less each year compared to other parts of England.Cameron Thomas, the Liberal Democrat MP for Tewkesbury, held a debate at Westminster Hall on Tuesday where he highlighted the discrepancy.He said teachers in the county and across England are "on the front line of a genuine crisis to which they have been given no real answers".The Department for Education (DfE) said it will review the way school funding is calculated ahead of the 2026/27 academic year.
The government pays local authorities money to provide education services through what is called the Dedicated Schools Grant.It uses a number of measures such as deprivation levels and local costs to calculate how much each area should receive.A spokesperson said: "We are reviewing the schools and high needs national funding formula (NFFs) for 2026-27 and the following years, recognising the importance of establishing a fair funding system."Gloucestershire is currently in the bottom 20% when it comes to school funding.This means pupils in the county receive up to £1,000 less each year compared to the 20% best funded areas.Thomas, 42, said this has an impact on pupils and teachers, with one Gloucestershire head teacher telling him he spent his holiday fixing the school as it could not afford to employ a caretaker.Speaking to the BBC after the debate, Thomas said: "Quite literally for a pupil it means they are being invested in to a lesser degree than pupils elsewhere in the country, and it might have a significant impact on the opportunities that are available to pupils within the education programme."But the other victims of this are the teachers."My head teachers are having to make decisions as to who they can afford to keep in term of their staff and who they need to let go."
'More equity'
Thomas has welcomed the government's promise to review the funding formula but said it must result in an increase in the overall money given to schools across England.He believes the government could increase taxes on technology and social media companies to pay for it."Quite simply, I'm looking for more equity," he said."What I'm not asking for is to withdraw funds from those more lucratively funded areas of the country. I just want to make sure Gloucestershire gets it's fair share."I certainly wouldn't like to see Gloucestershire less funded than it is now, it's already in a terrible state and any decrease to their existing funding would be ruinous."Alongside general mainstream school demands, councils across England are also struggling with the increasing costs associated with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision.In Gloucestershire, it is estimated the SEND budget will reach a deficit of £170m by the end of the 2028 financial year.The government currently allows local authorities to run this section of the budget at a deficit, but there is currently no clear plan as to how or when councils will be expected to balance this debt.The funding formula for the Dedicated Schools Grant was last reviewed in 2018/19.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Sky News
38 minutes ago
- Sky News
How the assisted dying debate is dividing doctors as politicians prepare to vote on bill
There are few issues more controversial, more divisive. Assisted dying polarises opinion. But it's a difficult conversation that needs to be had because ultimately death affects us all. Even if you are fortunate enough to never be directly impacted by an assisted death you will almost certainly be indirectly affected if the End of Life Bill passes into law. It would be the biggest social change to British society many of us would ever see in our lifetimes. And after patients and their immediate families, it's the country's doctors who will be the most affected by any change in the law. Like society, the medical community is divided on the issue. One senior doctor said: "It's like Brexit, but worse." Another told me: "Emotions are running high". These are the milder, reportable comments. There is bitterness and mistrust. The deep-rooted anger leads to each side accusing the other of deliberately spreading misinformation, "what-iffery" and "shenanigans" in the lead-up to the final vote next week. We asked two senior doctors to share their views on assisted dying with us and each other. Dr Mark Lee is a consultant in palliative care. "I have worked in this field for 25 years and looked after thousands of patients at the end of their lives. I am against the assisted dying bill because I believe it poses risks to patients, to families, to doctors and to palliative care." 'We can get this right' Dr Jacky Davis is a consultant radiologist and a campaigner for assisted dying legislation in this country. One of the arguments put forward by opponents of assisted dying is that Britain ranks highest among countries in its delivery of palliative care. And there is no need for such a radical change in end of life care. It is not an argument Dr Davis accepts. She said: "The status quo at the moment means a number of people are dying bad deaths every day. 300 million people around the world have access to assisted dying and more legislation is in the pipeline and no place that has taken up a law on assisted dying has ever reversed it. So we can learn from other places, we can get this right, we can offer people a compassionate choice at the end of life." Most deaths in palliative care 'peaceful' Dr Lee accepts palliative care has its limitations but this is a result of underfunding. This national conversation, he argues, is an opportunity to address some of those failings and improve end of life care. "I think the NHS currently is not resourcing the situation enough to be able to provide the patients with the choice that they need to get the care that they needed and that is because they are not getting the choice and because palliative care is patchy. But in my day-to-day work, and I've worked in palliative care for 25 years, normal death is peaceful, comfortable, and does not involve people dying in pain." "I absolutely agree with Mark," Dr Davis responded. "The vast majority of people will die a peaceful death and do not have the need for an assisted death. And I absolutely am with him that palliative care in this country has been treated abysmally. Nobody should have to hold a jumble sale in order to fund a hospice. That's terrible. "What I didn't hear from Mark is, while the vast majority of people will die a peaceful death and have got nothing to fear facing death, there are people who have diagnoses where they know that they are likely to face a difficult death and will face a difficult death. "What are you offering to the people who aren't going to die a peaceful death? And what are you offering to people who are so afraid that that's going to happen that they will take their own lives or will go abroad to seek an assisted death?" Concerns about pressure on NHS One important voice that has been missing from the national assisted dying debate is that of the NHS. Senior leaders will not speak on the issue until the fate of the bill is decided. And its understandable why. It is not clear what role the health service would have if the bill passes. 0:32 Dr Lee warned that his NHS colleagues were "extremely worried", going further to say assisted dying would "break the NHS". He added, that the country's already under-pressure hospice sector would struggle to cope with staff "walking away from the job if they are forced to be involved in any way". Dr Davis refuses to accept these warnings, arguing that the challenge to the health service is being overstated. "I think it's really important to take a step back and say this would be a very small number of deaths. And this is very small in terms of the other things that are coming through big drug discoveries, big new surgeries, all the rest of it this would be very small in terms in terms of money." The two doctors did agree on one thing. That every patient is entitled to a pain free and dignified death. 1:12 Dr Lee said: "I look at the whites of the eyes of people every day with that. I stand in that place every day. And that is shameful that anyone in this day and age should die in that position. Jacky and I can agree on that. That is unacceptable. But it still doesn't justify the response that we meet suffering with killing someone, rather than addressing the needs that are in front of us." Dr Davis responded by saying: "You say you've looked in the whites of patients' eyes at the end, and I'd say looking into the whites of patients eyes and listening to what they're asking for when they've been offered everything that you can offer them and they're still saying, 'I've had enough', then we should follow the example of other countries and say, 'we will help you'." These are the two very divided opinions of two NHS doctors, but these are the same arguments that will be taking place in hospitals, hospices, offices, factories and living rooms across the country. In about a week's time, it will be down to the politicians to decide.


Sky News
an hour ago
- Sky News
Ballymena riots: Families flee 'locals' venting their feelings
Here we go again. It was not long after 8pm when a police announcement over a tannoy mounted on their armoured vehicles reverberated around for all to hear. "Force is about to be used against violent individuals," blasted from the speakers as locals, some masked, stood waiting for action. "You better be filming this," one man said as we captured the scenes for Sky News amid a growing sense from locals that the police were being heavy handed in their tactics. And then officers, holding their shields, surged forward as people edged back. The move seemed to further anger the residents who had gathered, almost goading them as tensions ran high. The pace of clashes was slower on this, the third night of conflict. But it was nevertheless just as ugly and messy. Eyewitness: It is hard to see where the violence will end Soon came the baton rounds, the firebombs, the water cannon. Those pelting the police seemed unfazed as they were battered with plastic bullets in return. The watching crowd cheered the rioters on. Police chiefs earlier defended their operation. A senior officer insisted he did have "a grip" on the unravelling situation when questioned by Sky News. The increased presence of officers was felt on the ground and was clear to see. The soundtrack of sirens swirled around this town once again as police lurched from incident to incident as pockets of violence flared up. Officers are on their way from Scotland, England and Wales to help bolster resources. And they won't be short of work. A leisure centre 25 minutes away in Larne came under attack on Wednesday evening after it emerged some of the foreign families fleeing the Ballymena chaos were being temporarily held there. A short drive around Ballymena's one way road system takes you on a journey through housing estates where people have flooded the streets with union jack flags and stuck yellow A4 sheets to their windows with the words, "LOCALS LIVE HERE". These colourful displays are being seen as a public noticeboard of the nationality of the occupants inside each home. A deterrent to make the angry mob to look elsewhere. And those failing to advertise whether they are a 'native' or not seem to be paying a price. I witnessed an upper floor flat with a window smashed, the guttering on fire and the ground outside ablaze. An older neighbour fled her home downstairs in her dressing gown. Earlier in the day two Romanian women were frantically examining their phones down an alleyway as their kids played on the trampoline in the garden. They were terrified and were bundling their belongings in the car and leaving for good. A sizeable chunk of people born in Ballymena are angry. They do not like the talk from police and politicians that taking to the streets following an alleged sex attack on a teenage girl equates to them being "racist thugs". They see this as an act of venting their feelings. And they are hellbent on continuing this campaign of carnage across Northern Ireland to ensure they prove their point.


The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
NHS, houses, nuclear submarines: Labour sets out its spending plans
The last few weeks have proved difficult for Rachel Reeves. In public, the news has been dominated by Labour's U-turn on the winter fuel allowance. In private, the Treasury has been caught up in wrangle after wrangle with ministers, all negotiating what their departments would receive in the spending review. Reeves' speech to parliament on Wednesday announcing the review was a chance to tell a more positive story – particularly for a government accused of lacking direction and ambition. As economics editor Heather Stewart reports, there were some big winners: health, defence, and housing. Yet at the same time, day-to-day spending for some departments – such as local government or the environment – seems very tight. So, asks Helen Pidd, will Labour allow those services to come under even more pressure, or will Reeves have to eventually raise taxes to fund them too?