Theresa May is facing a Conservative revolt over education policy, as MPs raised concerns about when struggling schools would get the extra money promised through a funding formula shake-up.



Nick Gibb, the schools minister, was challenged repeatedly by Tory colleagues about when schools in their areas would get more money, after he confirmed the Conservatives were ditching plans to save £650m by scrapping free school meals for primary pupils.



Gibb promised the so-called “fairer funding” shake-up would still go ahead but was unable to give more details because the consultation was ongoing, or address how it would be paid for.

Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, told the minister that schools in his area faced pressing funding challenges.



Nick Gibb Photograph: Alastair Johnstone / SWNS.com/The Guardian

He said: “While appreciating the fact that the government have done more to address the fair funding formula, the minister knows from his own county, which is the worst-funded shire county in the country, that heads face urgent decisions.



“In view of the fact that the consultation has been put back a year, can we have an urgent steer on whether the formula is going to be resolved before the recess, because these challenges face heads now?”

The new funding formula was designed to redistribute money from better funded schools in urban areas to poorer schools mostly in rural areas, but keeping free school lunches means there is now a black hole in the budget. It also annoys dozens of Tory MPs for different reasons.



Initially, some MPs in urban areas were furious that some of their schools would lose cash, while those in rural areas were pleased that unfairly low funding was being addressed after years of complaints.

However, an uproar among teachers and parents brought a promise from May that no school would lose cash, which would partly be paid for by scrapping free school meals.

Now that this plan has been ditched after the election, Conservative MPs in rural areas are concerned that the plan to give their schools more money will be watered down.



Graham Brady, the influential Tory backbencher who represents Altrincham and Sale West, called for urgent action to help schools in the worst-funded areas while the funding formula is reviewed.



“Arriving at a fair national funding formula is an important goal but is complex to achieve especially when public finances remain constrained,” he said.

“Representing one of the areas that is historically worst-funded … I think there would be considerable merit in a short-term solution that could be arrived at by fixing a minimum per-pupil figure for primary and secondary education, which would create a floor to raise funding for the worst-funded schools.”

Protesters in Bristol march against education cuts in May. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo

A number of other Tory MPs in areas where schools had been due to lose money asked for extra reassurances that the promise not to cut cash for any school would be honoured.

Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, said: “Bradford district has some of the lowest outcomes in the education system, yet the government planned to cut funding for the district in their original proposals.



“That included funding to every school in my constituency, leading Cottingley village primary school to say a week before the general election that it was considering closing on Friday afternoons. I am sure the timing was entirely coincidental.

“Will the minister therefore confirm that no school in my constituency or the Bradford district will lose out on funding and that there is no need for any school to close on a Friday afternoon? That proposal is causing a great deal of angst and concern among the parents at Cottingley school.”

Labour welcomed the government’s decision to keep free school meals but said the “humiliating” U-turn raised further questions about school funding. The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, said: “This means that all young children will still get a hot, healthy meal once a day at school.

“But the government have left us with more questions than answers on what their education policy now is, and schools across the country are still facing cuts, with no sign of the funding needed to protect spending per pupil and in real terms.”

Gibb refused to be drawn on reports that the education secretary, Justine Greening, had asked the prime minister for £1.2bn more for schools after the issue became a national priority during the election campaign.

Headteachers have sent letters to parents and MPs warning that cost pressures on schools and the new funding formula are causing cutbacks. Schools are already axing support staff, increasing class sizes and reducing the curriculum on offer; some are even planning to reduce teaching hours.

Laura Smith, a former teacher and now Labour MP for Crewe and Nantwich, told Gibb that one primary school in her constituency is cutting six teaching assistants.

The shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner: ‘The government have left us with more questions than answers on their education policy’. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Gibb acknowledged that schools are facing increased cost pressures, but repeated reassurances made by Greening last week that no school would lose funding under the new formula.

In an urgent question in the Commons, Rayner asked the minister whether he could confirm that schools in Northern Ireland would receive an extra £150 per pupil as a result of the Tories’ deal with the DUP, and whether there would be any extra funding for other parts of the country.

Kevin Courtney, the general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, welcomed the government’s U-turn on free school meals but added: “Teachers and parents will remain concerned, however, about the huge gap in finances that is resulting in cuts to education up and down the country.

“The Conservatives had pledged ‘additional funding’ for schools during the election. Schools, teachers and parents need urgent assurance from government that new money will be provided to tackle the growing crisis in school funding. This is truly urgent; schools need £2bn by September.”

It came as the former education minister David Laws warned that it would cost £2.3bn in additional funds to protect schools through the process.



A report from the Education Policy Institute, of which the former Lib Dem MP is the executive chairman, said inflationary pressures already meant schools would need £1.3bn more by 2021-22 on top of £4bn committed through the Tory manifesto.

However, failure to follow through on election policies, such as the removal of free school lunches for infant-aged children, has made the situation more pressing.

“The real budget hole is larger because of the unravelling of the manifesto funding,” said Laws, who said it would be difficult to divert funds from other education areas such as universities, so it was understandable that Greening had asked the Treasury to find the money.

