The school budgeting process is “like trying to nail jelly to the wall” this year due to the uncertain and ever-changing financial pressures schools are facing, a heads’ union leader has warned today.
Speaking at the Institute for School Business Leadership (ISBL) London conference today, Paul Gosling, president of the NAHT school leaders’ union, told delegates “the state of your finances at the moment is not your fault. The fault is very squarely on the government”.
And ISBL CEO Stephen Morales struck a similarly downbeat tone, describing having a “low expectation” of further investment for the sector, despite the fresh start the new Liz Truss government could have brought.
Schools have faced a difficult few months financially. In the summer, the Department for Education awarded experienced teachers a 5 per cent pay rise, which schools are expected to fund within their usual budgets, despite many expecting smaller rises based on evidence the government had previously submitted to the pay review body.
Support staff have also been offered an increase, and education leaders have heavily criticised the government for refusing additional funding to meet the extra costs.
Meanwhile, energy costs have also soared, and a recent announcement about financial support to help with this has left schools “in limbo” because of a lack of detail, school leaders have warned.
Speaking to delegates today, Mr Gosling said: “I’m looking through the costs - what has happened to teaching costs, non-teaching costs, and energy bills. Who knows? We still don’t know. We don’t know if it’s going to be backdated at the moment, we don’t know if it’s going to end after six months.
“We’re hoping to get some answers in the next few weeks when [education secretary] Kit Malthouse gets his feet under his desk. NAHT and ISBL will, I’m sure, be banging on his door saying, ‘Come on, we need to sort things out, it is just not working.’”
Mr Morales said: “There’s an opportunity for a fresh start, but I say that with low expectations if I’m honest - though I hope I’m wrong.
“We will certainly do all we can to lobby and encourage government to do the right thing and to invest properly in our children.”
He added that the new education secretary Kit Malthouse had a chance to “bring the sector back on board” and start to engage with it in a “meaningful way”.
“Not consultations for consultations’ sake, but consultation that means something, and that translates into action and change”, he said.
Details of the new energy support scheme are expected next week, but beyond this, the government has consistently said that, while it is aware of the financial pressures schools face, it is supporting schools with £56.8 billion this year in core funding, which includes a cash increase of £4 billion, and is continuing to work with the sector to understand pressures.
It also says that where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their local authority or the Education and Skills Funding Agency.
Though researchers have said spending on education will “barely increase” in real terms over the next three years because of the sustained effects of high inflation.
