Funding increase ‘not sufficient’

The relaunch of the School Cuts campaign, together with ballots for fully funded inflation-proof pay rises, clearly resulted in the government’s announced increase in school funding, said NEU education union joint general secretary Mary Bousted.

But commenting on the additional £4.6 billion for schools contained in the autumn statement (see page 5), she said this “will not be sufficient to prevent schools from having to make cuts”, and schools will still have less funding than in 2015.

The increase is still below inflation forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

“For schools and colleges, there are no more efficiency savings to make,” she added. “We will study closely today’s commitment on education funding and revise the School Cuts site accordingly, so that parents can judge for themselves.”

NAHT school leaders’ union general secretary Paul Whiteman said his union hoped the additional money “will help bring schools back from the cliff edge that they have been teetering on”.

Ahead of the Autumn Statement, a new School Cuts analysis showed that 90% of schools with comparable data had lower per pupil funding in real terms in 2023-24 compared to 2022-23. For 68% of schools, this was lower than in 2015-16. Schools that have been historically under-funded face the largest cuts in 2023-24.

The NEU is running the School Cuts campaign with the support of the NAHT, the ASCL school and college leaders’ association, and the Parentkind education charity (https://schoolcuts.org.uk/).