Scotland must take advantage of the prospect of more money for education in yesterday’s UK Budget, the EIS teaching union has said.
The announcement of a £3.4 billion for public services in Scotland was welcomed by EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley, and she called on the Scottish government to follow the example of the UK government on education.
“The UK chancellor [Rachel Reeves] announced additional funding for schools, extra teachers, school buildings, free school meals and the college sector in England,” the union said.
“The EIS has noted the UK government’s decision to prioritise education, and calls upon the Scottish government to take a similar stance.”
The union added that Barnett-consequential funding to Scotland from the Budget represented “an additional £3.4 billion, providing a real-terms increase in funding to the Scottish government next year”.
Priorities are behaviour, ASN and workload
The EIS, Scotland’s largest teaching union, said that the Scottish Budget scheduled for 4 December “must include a meaningful ring-fenced increase in education funding to councils” that will help “address urgent challenges in respect of pupil behaviours, inadequate additional support needs provision and excessive teacher workload”.
Ms Bradley said it was “vital that the Scottish government grasps this opportunity to invest the additional funding in education and in our wider public services”.
This, combined with the use of Scottish financial levers such as tax-raising powers, would allow “a high-quality education system that is rooted in social-justice principles”.
She said that new money must go towards teaching jobs and the school estate, given that “too many pupils and teachers [are] working in old, poorly maintained buildings”.
“We currently have thousands of qualified teachers seeking jobs, and many thousands more facing precarity of employment on short-term, temporary contracts,” said Ms Bradley.
Ms Bradley added it was “now incumbent on the Scottish government to act to ensure that the Barnett-consequential funding, arising from today’s Budget announcements on education, is utilised fully to support high-quality learning and teaching”.
Extra funding ‘a step in the right direction’
Finance secretary Shona Robison has welcomed the Budget’s promise of extra funding as “a step in the right direction”, but said the Scottish government would still face “enormous cost pressures” despite the measures.
The additional funding for this financial year had already been factored into Scottish government spending plans, she stressed.
Ms Robison said: “By changing her fiscal rules and increasing investment in infrastructure, the chancellor has met a core ask of the Scottish government. But after 14 years of austerity, it’s going to take more than one year to rebuild and recover - we will need to see continued investment over the coming years to reset and reform public services.”
She warned, too, that extra funding for public services at the same time as increased national insurance contributions for employers presented a “risk” that the UK government would be “giving with one hand while taking away with the other”.
Ms Robison added: “We estimate that the employer national insurance change could add up to £500 million in costs for the public sector unless it is fully reimbursed - and there is a danger that we won’t get that certainty until after the Scottish Budget process for 2025-26 has concluded.”
The chancellor also confirmed in the Budget the UK government’s plans to add VAT to independent school fees from 1 January 2025.
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