County education chiefs have warned they could have £4m less to give to schools to help disadvantaged children because the government is changing how it allocates money under the ‘pupil premium’ scheme.

The potential shortfall comes as the county council has committed £10 million to its own scheme to help children catch up with the loss of lesson time during the coronavirus crisis.

The county council has voiced its concern over changes to the pupil premium fund directly with the education secretary Gavin Williamson.

Cllr Shellina Prendergast, KCC cabinet member for education and skills, told a meeting of the council’s cabinet that children could lose out because of changes to the way funding is calculated.

She told the meeting: “The Department for Education has announced changes to the calculation of the pupil premium for the financial year 2021-2022, which could result in a loss of £4m to give schools during this year, a considerable amount, bearing in mind the number of families meeting the threshold is increasing as a result of Covid 19.”

“The National Audit Office has recently announced that less than half of pupils benefitting from the existing tuition support are eligible for free school meals. And we know from various studies that schools with high levels of disadvantaged children have experienced higher levels of learning loss, particularly in secondary schools.

“The recent funding proposed for post-Covid learning catch-up will not be sufficient to address this learning gap.”

KMTV talks to our political editor Paul Francis reports on KCC's reconnect project

KCC was not able to compensate for the lack of national investment, she added. Despite this, the government had recently given some indication that additional funding “may be forthcoming.”

“A significant uplift in current funding would be welcomed by schools and the council to address the post Covid learning gap, for the most deprived children,” she said.

Schools get pupil premium funding based on the number of pupils they have from different groups.

These include those currently eligible for - or who have in the previous six years been eligible for free school meals - with schools getting an additional £1,345 for every primary age pupil, or £955 for every secondary age pupil.

The government is changing the census date for pupil premium funding from January 2021 back to October 2020, affecting the funding available to schools.

“The recent funding proposed for post-Covid learning catch-up will not be sufficient to address this learning gap...”

In the letter to the Secretary of State, Cllr Prendergast says the cut in funding will potentially set back progress the authority is making closing the attainment gap.

She also highlights how the pandemic has affected disadvantaged children more: "Although the full impact of the pandemic remains to be seen, we know disadvantaged pupils are disproportionally affected. The funding that has been announced will not address this learning gap.

"As a council, Kent is investing over £10m of our own funding in the post Covid Reconnect Programme for children and young people, but we are not able to compensate for the lack of national investment."

She says that while young children have lost on average the equivalent of two months of learning that gap increases from five to seven months of learning loss for children who are deemed as disadvantaged.

Head to our politics page for expert analysis and all the latest news from your politicians and councils.

Read more: All the latest news from Kent