The hidden costs of poverty are leaving academy trusts hundreds of thousands of pounds out of pocket, as schools bid to pull their poorest families out of “crisis”.
The news comes amid calls for the chancellor Jeremy Hunt to hand out more education cash ahead of his spring Budget next week – with cost rises expected to outstrip funding growth.
The government regularly claims that school funding is at “record highs”. But the investigation reveals just a slice of the additional costs schools now face over the cost-of-living-crisis and a wider collapse of support services.
Dixons Academies Trust said it spends £1.5 million a year “subsidising the fight against poverty”, amid concerns that some pupils would not be able to “get to school and be successful” without it.
