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Schools: Translation Services

Asked by Lee AndersonReform UKDepartment for EducationTabled Answered 30 October 2025UIN 73667

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the total cost of (a) translations and (b) interpretation services in (i) primary and (ii) secondary schools in each of the last three years.

Answered by Georgia Gould

The schools national funding formula (NFF) allocates core funding to local areas for mainstream schools. The NFF includes an English as an additional language (EAL) factor. Pupils attract this funding to their school if their first language is not English and if they entered the state education system in England in the past three years. The table below shows the total funding allocated through the EAL factor from the 2021/22 to 2025/26 financial years:

Financial Year

Primary EAL funding

Secondary EAL funding

Total EAL funding

EAL funding as a proportion of total NFF funding

2021/22

£311 m

£108 m

£420 m

1.1%

2022/23

£307 m

£105 m

£412 m

1.1%

2023/24

£318 m

£116 m

£434 m

1.0%

2024/25

£343 m

£141 m

£484 m

1.1%

2025/26

£365 m

£173 m

£539 m

1.1%

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