Proposed cuts to the Education Authority (EA) budget in Northern Ireland would have a “catastrophic” effect on schools and pupils, the NI children’s commissioner has said.
Koulla Yiasouma made the comments following news that the EA has been directed to bridge a £110 million funding gap.
Yesterday teaching unions said that the proposed cuts were unrealistic and could not be delivered.
Ms Yiasouma warned that the level of savings set out “could only be achieved by reducing essential core services and placing a greater burden on teachers and other educational staff who are already struggling”.
She added: “Schools serving our most deprived communities and children with [special educational needs (SEN)] will be paying the price for the absence of a NI assembly and executive.”
The commissioner also pointed out that Northern Ireland has a higher proportion of children with SEN than the rest of the UK, yet spend per pupil is the lowest in the UK.
Education Authority budget cuts ‘will hit SEN pupils’
“It is heartbreaking that some of the most vulnerable children in our society are yet again expected to bear the brunt of budget pressures. It is their education and life chances that will be compromised,” said Ms Yiasouma.
“In recent weeks, we have heard of schools providing free meals and warm coats for their pupils, many of whom are still getting their education back on track following the upheaval of the Covid pandemic.
“School staff providing for pupils in the most challenging of circumstances are now being asked to somehow keep going with even less. It is simply unacceptable.”
The Northern Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC), an umbrella body for five unions, met on Monday to discuss a response to the budget set by Northern Ireland secretary Chris Heaton-Harris in November.
The unions said the education system was already in crisis and that they would resist cuts.
Mr Heaton-Harris was forced to set a budget after the collapse of the Stormont institutions when the DUP withdrew support as part of its protest against the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol.
After a deadline to restore the executive passed in October, civil servants were left in control of government departments.
In his budget Mr Heaton-Harris increased education spending, but warned that the current spending trajectory would have to be curtailed.
He said this would affect the block grant of the EA, which is responsible for day-to-day funding of schools and school services in Northern Ireland. It has been reported that the EA may need to find about £100 million in savings from its block grant in the current financial year, 2022-23.
An NITC statement yesterday said that “what is being demanded of EA is both unreasonable and impractical, coming as it does on the back of a decade of inadequate funding for the education sector”.
It added: “A further £100 million cut to the education budget in the last financial quarter of this year is simply impossible to deliver and indicates that the secretary of state has no understanding or appreciation of the already sorry state the Northern Ireland education system is in.”
NITC chairman Gerry Murphy said: “The NITC is calling upon the secretary of state to withdraw this ridiculous budget and come back with a budget that will meet the needs of learners and ensure financial stability going forward.
“Anything less will simply result in greater long-term damage to our children and young people and society as a whole.”
NITC secretary Justin McCamphill added: “Cuts of the magnitude demanded by the secretary of state will inevitably lead to the withdrawal of non-statutory provision but will also lead to the withdrawal of statutory services, many of which our most vulnerable children are reliant upon.
“The five trade unions which make up the NITC are determined to resist these cuts and will work with support staff unions to be a collective voice for the sector.”
A Northern Ireland Office spokesperson said: “The Northern Ireland Budget Bill prioritises spending in health and education, with the overarching objective of protecting the most vulnerable during a time of particular economic hardship.
“The previous executive failed to agree a budget, and the Northern Ireland ministers who remained in their posts during the six months from May to October 2022 left Northern Ireland’s public finances with a black hole of some £660 million.
“With no executive in place, the secretary of state has had no choice but to step in to deliver a budget for Northern Ireland.”
A spokesperson for the Northern Ireland Department of Education said: “The department acknowledges the scale of pressures facing the entire education sector and recognises that the budget set by the secretary of state presents significant challenges.
“The funding gap reported by the Education Authority comprises mainly statutory, contractual and committed budgets and includes support for our most vulnerable children and young people.”
The spokesperson added: “There are substantial practical difficulties in realising savings in these areas within this financial year and real concerns about the impact they will have on our children and young people.
“However, the department is very mindful of its responsibility to stay within allocated resources and, prior to the final budget allocation for 2022-23, had already taken some difficult decisions not to fund a number of programme areas.
“Working with the Education Authority and other relevant bodies, the department will continue to seek further opportunities to reduce spend.”
