THE Department for Education (DfE) has been accused of ‘pulling the rug’ from under disadvantaged children after reducing the number of laptops for schools.

Last Friday evening, as Warrington’s schools started their half-term holidays, the Government department wrote to head teachers telling them that they were changing the way laptops to support youngsters were being allocated.

As the impact of this change is now becoming apparent, council chiefs say it is clear the town’s sites are missing out.

Of the 57 schools who have shared information so far, 50 have seen a reduction in the number of laptops they are being provided with.

Cllr Matt Smith, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services, says during lockdown it became apparent across the country that disadvantaged children, for example, those from low-income families, were falling further behind in their learning than others.

He said: “One reason for this was their lack of access to internet enabled devices and broadband connections.

“These are essential to engage in the online remote learning schools are now expected to provide. The DfE announced a scheme to provide laptops for disadvantaged children to help address these issues.

“As the details of the scheme emerged it became clear that, even including the devices provided by the DfE, Warrington’s schools were still going to fall around 400 laptops short of the total number they needed for their disadvantaged children.

“We wrote to the secretary of state for education at the end of August outlining this problem and asked that the allocation of laptops to our schools was increased.

“It was with absolute disbelief that we heard from our schools over the weekend that the DfE had written to them on Friday, explaining that the allocation of laptops for disadvantaged children had been changed.

“This change was going to result in even fewer laptops being provided for children who need them in our town.”

In a letter to the secretary of state, Cllr Smith and council leader Cllr Russ Bowden stated that when the DfE should be pulling out all the stops to support disadvantaged children, it is both ‘short-sighted and deeply disappointing’ that they have ‘chosen to instead pull the rug from under them’.

They go on to urge him to reconsider the decision to reduce schools' allocation of laptops and to increase it in line with the need identified by each site.

But the DfE has responded following the comments.

A spokesperson said: “The scale and speed at which the department has delivered laptops and tablets to children who need them over the past six months is unprecedented, with deliveries now set to total over half a million by Christmas.

“As we move into half term, and in the context of significant global demand, we’re updating our allocation process to more accurately align orders with the number of students schools typically have self-isolating, ensuring as many children as possible benefit from receiving a device this term.

“We have already purchased an additional 96,000 devices and continue to work closely with our suppliers to ensure delivery despite the increased global demand.”