Schools in Hertfordshire could see their budgets go up or down by as much as £60,000 from April as part of a shake-up of the funding formula.

They will be allocated more than £1.6 billion overall in 2026-27, which is higher than this year (2025-26), but from April the way the money is allocated will take greater account of factors such as deprivation and 'lower prior attainment'.

As a result, most schools will see their annual funding increase – in one case by as much as £60,000. But some will see their budgets fall, by up to £50,000.

The change was agreed by a meeting on Wednesday (January 14) of the Hertfordshire Schools Forum, which brings together headteachers and other education professionals.

It is designed to bring the county more in line with the National Funding Formula (NFF), which takes greater account of factors.

If the NFF were to be applied in full in Hertfordshire, funding would have increased at 329 schools (314 primary and 15 secondary) and decreased at 141 (74 primaries and 67 secondaries).

Twenty-one schools (all primaries) would have seen their budgets increase by over £60,000, with a further 17 schools (16 primary and one secondary) going up by more than £50,000.

But 28 schools (all secondaries) would have seen their budgets drop by over £50,000 – five of them by more than £100,000.

At the meeting, forum members decided not to fully implement the NFF in Hertfordshire until 2027-28. Instead, in 2026-27, funding will be allocated to schools using a '50% move model', where gains and losses will be smaller.

That means funding will increase at 369 schools (322 primaries and 47 secondaries) and decrease at 96 schools (61 primaries and 35 secondaries).

But the scale of change will be more gradual, with a majority seeing their budget rise or fall by less than £10,000. Fifteen schools will see their budgets decrease by over £10,000, but none by more than £50,000.

Following the meeting, forum chair Matt Gauthier, who is headteacher of the Samuel Ryder Academy in St Albans, stressed the need to move towards the NFF.

"We've decided to move the Hertfordshire Funding Formula closer to the National Funding Formula values," he said. "That means directing more funding towards children from disadvantaged backgrounds and with lower prior attainment.

"They're the children most in need of support in schools, and for schools to be able to provide support they need funding to be able to make that provision.

"We're hoping this makes a difference to children in terms of the education and support they have in school, and ultimately leads to better outcomes for those children.

"We've tried to take a phased approach to that movement toward the NFF to give schools time to adjust to the different funding levels."

Mr Gauthier said that adopting the NFF in full would have had a significant impact on some schools, with 24 seeing a decrease in funding of more than 1%. As it is, only one school falls into this bracket.

According to a report presented to the forum, in Hertfordshire 'disadvantaged' pupils perform less well than their peers, with the county "below the national average for disadvantaged pupil outcomes".

The county council's executive member for education, SEND and inclusion, Cllr Mark Watkin, is "delighted" with the move towards the NFF.

"When you look at the new formula it allocates significantly more money for under-privileged children," he said.

"We have recognised as an authority in Hertfordshire they are not achieving the standards we wish them to achieve. This new formula will enable schools to meet this much better than in the past."

Cllr Watkin said the authority would "work closely" with the single school whose funding was forecast to decrease by over 1% as a result of the change to the formula.