British schools assigned up to £700,000 to support non-English speaking students as costs hit record high

Oliver Partridge
Sat, 04 Apr 2026 21:11:12 +0000

Schools across England are receiving as much as £700,000 to support pupils whose first language is not English, according to Department for Education data.

National spending on English as an additional language provision has reached an unprecedented £539 million for the current academic year.

This figure is projected to climb further to £572million across 2026-27, representing an increase of £157million since records in their current form began in 2020.

Two institutions, one located in Manchester and another in Northampton, have each secured more than £500,000 this year alone.

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The money helps cover costs including specialist translators, teaching assistants with bilingual skills, and educational support resources.

However, the funding is not ringfenced, meaning councils say it can be allocated to "almost anything" within school budgets.

Manchester Academy, a secondary school situated in the Moss Side area, topped the list of recipients, collecting more than £670,000 in EAL funding for 2025-26.

Northampton International Academy followed with £517,287, while St Claudine's Catholic School for Girls in Brent, north London, received £459,659.

On average, schools nationwide took £27,418 each, equating to roughly £320 per pupil who does not have English as their mother tongue.

The bulk of this expenditure funds specialist teachers focused on English language instruction for foreign-born children, along with bilingual classroom assistants.

Schools also use the money to hire interpreters for parents' evenings, with job advertisements seeking translators proficient in Romanian, Arabic and Polish among other languages.

According to the 2024-25 school census, approximately 1.8 million pupils, representing one in five children, do not speak English as their primary language.

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Critics argue this substantial funding is being misdirected, while white working-class pupils continue to struggle academically.

Chris McGovern, from the Campaign for Real Education, urged policymakers to shift their attention away from immigrant children.

"Stop pitying them, we obsess about it far too much and we don't need to fret about them - we need to worry about the white working-class kids," he told the Daily Mail.

Statistics reveal a stark attainment gap, with merely one in five white working-class pupils securing a good pass in English and maths, compared with 45.4 per cent across all demographic groups.

Mr McGovern proposed establishing dedicated centres within each local authority to deliver pre-school English courses for children requiring language support.

"We have consistent and obvious annual evidence that it is the white working-class children who perform worse and need numeracy and literacy support, if there is money to be going around," he added.

The Department for Education defended its approach, stating that every child deserves high-quality education, including those with English as an additional language.

A spokesman said schools are trusted to make their own decisions about investing funding to support all pupils while achieving best value from resources.

The Government maintains its mission is to break the connection between background and success, with the aim of halving the disadvantage gap for the current generation.

Officials pointed to measures outlined in the Schools White Paper, including Mission North East and Mission Coastal, which they say will improve outcomes for white working-class children and disadvantaged communities.

The department also highlighted plans to radically reform how disadvantage funding is distributed to schools.