Limited Evidence on How Funding Helps Disadvantaged Pupils: Watchdog

The Department for Education (DfE) has limited evidence to show how well its strategies for helping disadvantaged pupils are working, the independent public spending watchdog has said. The National Audit Office (NAO) said in its report published on Tuesday that the DfE spent £9.2 billion in 2023–24 on their education interventions for underprivileged children, but the department does not know the full impact of around half (47 percent) of that investment. The DfE also has “little understanding of whether schools spend the funding they receive, whether they spend it for the intended purposes, or whether this represents value for money.” The department spends around £60 billion a year to support all school children, which includes the £9.2 billion for disadvantaged pupils....