Almost £4m in Scottish pupil poverty funding being 'siphoned' towards admin costs and school police

The Scottish Liberal Democrats said the party had identified more than £3.7 million of pupil equity funding (PEF) that was being used by cash-strapped councils across the country to deal with other financial challenges.

PEF is part of a funding pot set up to help improve outcomes for children and young people, with about £130m allocated annually to be used across the vast majority of schools in Scotland.

But the Scottish Lib Dems said the details of how some of the money is being spent, which it obtained via Freedom of Information legislation, raised questions for the Scottish Government.

The party said that since 2022/23, some 13 local authorities have clawed back a total of £3,768,790 worth of PEF funding to pay for administrative costs. It said that one council, North Ayrshire, used nearly £590,000 from PEF budgets to pay for school-based police officers between 2017 and 2021.

The data compiled by the party shows Scotland’s largest local authority, Glasgow City Council, also used some PEF funding for school-based officers. Some councils, such as East Renfrewshire, are meeting the costs of campus police officers from central funding.

Willie Rennie, the Scottish Lib Dem education spokesman, said: “Pupil equity funding should be there to boost the opportunities and education of the most deprived children across the country. It is, therefore, worrying that big chunks of it are being used to cover admin costs or on measures which could effectively brand young people as criminals.

“The SNP can talk all they want about child poverty, but these findings expose their lack of leadership and direction in tackling the problem. The Scottish Government must deliver a proper, long-term funding settlement for local authorities so that councils aren’t forced to siphon off money from key funds like this one to pay for central costs.”

Mr Rennie added: “Ministers should also be working in partnership with councils to support teachers and schools so that they don't have to resort to police officers on campus. That means getting serious about cutting class sizes and providing more provision for those with additional support needs.”

According to national guidance published by the Scottish Government, head teachers will have access to their school's full allocated amount of PEF and should work in partnership with each other, and their local authority, to agree the use of funding.

The guidance adds that funding “must provide targeted support for children and young people - and their families if appropriate - affected by poverty” to achieve their full potential, focusing on targeted improvement activity in literacy, numeracy and health and wellbeing.

A spokesman for the EIS union said: “With the persistence of the poverty-related attainment gap, together with the overall decline in school staff numbers in recent years, it is extremely important that PEF funding should be used for the intended purpose - ensuring appropriate support for those young people who need it most.”

Police Scotland declined to comment. The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.