§ Mr. WoolasTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what plans he has to change the funding rules for primary schools whereby income is lost due to a transfer of parents from income support to family credit. [34236]
§ Mr. ByersThere are no plans at present to change the funding rules for primary schools in this respect. Under Local Management of Schools, Local Education Authorities are responsible for devising and revising the formula used to allocate funds to schools. Some Authorities use pupils' entitlement to free school meals, which is triggered when a parent is in receipt of income support or income-based job seekers allowance, to allocate additional funding to schools. Families transferring from income support to family credit lose their entitlement to free school meals. Authorities may therefore need to consider whether their formulae should reflect this.
However, I understand that Oldham LEA's LMS formula uses entitlement to clothing grant rather than free school meals as the proxy for distributing additional funding to schools. Pupils from families in receipt of family credit or income support are automatically entitled to clothing grant. The change in benefit entitlement should not therefore affect Oldham schools' funding.