Falling Pupil Numbers Lead To £512,000 Cut In Brighton And Hove School Funding

Falling pupil numbers have resulted in less government funding for state schools across Brighton and Hove this year.

Funding for schools is largely based on the number of pupils on roll, and a decline in numbers has seen the city’s main funding stream — the Dedicated Schools Grant — fall by £512,000.

The figure was revealed in a report presented to the Brighton and Hove Schools Forum earlier this month. Days later, councillors were told the ring-fenced grant is still expected to overspend by nearly £3 million this year.

Fairlight Primary School head teacher Damien Jordan warned that the impact of fewer children in early years education would ripple through the system.

He said:

“Because there are fewer children, it’s rolling forward in our pupil numbers.

"It’ll hit primary next year. It’ll hit secondary in six years.”

Across Brighton and Hove, community schools share £228 million in funding, with a further £29.5 million going to academies and free schools.

Currently, 29 schools are operating in deficit, with a combined shortfall of more than £8 million.

Cardinal Newman and Hove Park secondary schools are each forecast to end the financial year more than £1.7 million in the red.

Steve Williams, the council’s principal accountant for schools, said Brighton and Hove was an outlier among local authorities due to the high number of schools in debt linked to falling pupil numbers — though other councils are now facing similar challenges as birth rates drop nationally.

Since 2019, the council has reduced intake numbers at several primaries and closed three schools — St Peter’s in Portslade, St Bartholomew’s in Brighton, and St Joseph’s in Hollingdean — to help manage the decline.

There are currently more than 2,400 reception class places available, but only 1,938 children were offered a place this September.

Council forecasts suggest that number could fall to just 1,787 by 2027.

At a recent cabinet meeting, Labour deputy leader Jacob Taylor linked the city’s declining birth rate to rising living costs, saying Brighton and Hove is now the fourth most unaffordable local authority area in the country.

He said families were being priced out of the city, adding:

“If we look at rents in this city, on average, residents are spending 44 per cent of their income on rent.

"That’s the fourth most unaffordable local authority in the whole country.

"The two things are intrinsically linked.”