Rachel Reeves has announced that £1.4 billion will be given to rebuild crumbling schools and investment in free breakfast clubs will triple as part of her first Budget.
The chancellor said children “should not suffer for” the dire state of the UK’s public finances, despite the Labour government needing to fill what it describes as a £22 billion “black hole” of overspend.
However, economists cautioned that most of the funding announced on Sunday would be enough only to keep existing initiatives going.
Rebuild initiatives to continue
The Treasury said the £1.4 billion would “ensure the delivery” of the school rebuilding programme, which was announced in 2020 and aims to rebuild or refurbish about 500 schools in a decade.
The scheme seeks to carry out construction projects at a rate of about 50 a year, but the government last year forecast that it would complete fewer projects than initially planned, according to the National Audit Office.
The £1.4 billion is understood to be a £550 million increase on last year to support the programme.
The Treasury also confirmed that £1.8 billion would be allocated for the expansion of government-funded childcare, with a further £15 million of capital funding for school-based nurseries.
Primary schools can now apply for up to £150,000 of the £15 million, with the first stage of the plan expected to support up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England, it said.
Ms Reeves also said she would triple investment in free breakfast clubs to £30 million in 2025-26, having announced at Labour’s party conference a £7 million trial across up to 750 schools starting in April next year.
Labour’s manifesto committed to spending £315 million on breakfast clubs by 2028-29.
‘Fixing the foundations’
The chancellor said: “This government’s first Budget will set out how we will fix the foundations of the country. It will mean tough decisions, but also the start of a new chapter for Britain, by growing our economy through investing in our future to rebuild our schools, hospitals and broken roads.
“Protecting funding for education was one of the things I wanted to do first because our children are the future of this country. We might have inherited a mess, but they should not suffer for it.”
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said the funding would help “put education back at the forefront of national life”.
“This is a Budget about fixing the foundations of the country, so there can be no better place to start than the life chances of our children and young people,” she said.
However, Institute for Fiscal Studies researcher Christine Farquharson said that “in a tight fiscal context” the commitments “largely reflect decisions to continue programmes”.
She said: “Putting £1.4 billion into the school rebuilding programme next year will be enough to keep what was always intended as a 10-year programme going in its sixth year.
“£1.8 billion for the rollout of new childcare entitlements similarly confirms plans set out under the previous government.
“Bumping up the breakfast club budget to £30 million does seem to be a boost on the previously announced £7 million - but this is still only a tenth of what the Labour manifesto plans to spend by 2028-29, so the bulk of the rollout lies ahead.”
‘Significant shortfall’ remains
Unions warned the funding announcement left a shortfall in terms of what was needed to restore the school estate and urged the government to increase investment in next year’s spending review.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, welcomed the extra £550 million, but said it was “pretty modest” set against the challenge at hand. He went on to describe the target of rebuilding 50 schools a year as “woefully unambitious”.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said the money was a “first step but more is needed”.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, urged ministers to commit to a “major” rebuilding programme next year.
“There remains a significant shortfall in terms of what is needed to restore the school estate to a satisfactory condition,” he said.
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