Bill Camden reports on our pupil premium polling.

A growing number of schools are using their pupil premium cash to offset budget cuts elsewhere instead of using it to raise the attainment of disadvantaged students, new research shows.

A poll of more than 1,500 teachers, published today by the Sutton Trust and the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), found 6 per cent of teachers used the extra cash to plug funding holes. Last year 2 per cent of teachers said they used the premium elsewhere.

Pupil premium was set up by the government in 2011 as an additional pot to help schools to raise the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and to “close the gap” between them and their peers.

…

Sir Peter Lampl, chair of the Sutton Trust and the EEF, said the finding was “worrying”.

Read the full report here.