Schools will get £1.8 billion next year to improve their buildings, but a headteachers’ union is questioning whether the money is enough, saying that the education estate has been “shamefully neglected”.
The Department for Education today said that £1.1 billion would be given to local authorities, larger multi-academy trusts and voluntary aided bodies next financial year via the School Condition Allocations, while £500 million would be available through the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF).
The remaining £200 million will be given directly to schools through Devolved Formula Capital.
The exact allocation of this money is new but the funding itself is coming from the DfE’s overall spending review capital settlement, which was agreed in 2021.
The allocations are similar to those made in previous years.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the union “was always pleased” to see investment in schools but the announcement came ”against a background of inadequate funding that has literally left school buildings on the point of collapse”.
The cost of fixing school buildings
A House of Commons briefing published earlier this year said that between 2009-10 and 2021-22, DfE capital spending declined by 37 per cent in cash terms and 50 per cent in real terms.
And in 2017 a National Audit Office report suggested that it would cost £6.7 billion to return all school buildings to satisfactory or better condition, and a further £7.1 billion to bring parts of school buildings from satisfactory to good condition.
In 2021 a report by the DfE put the cost of repairing or replacing “all defective elements in the school estate” at £11.4 billion.
“As such, we have to seriously question whether the funding in this latest announcement - which is the result of adding up various funding streams - is anything like enough to meet the needs of an education estate that has been shamefully neglected over the past decade,” Mr Barton said
The CIF is a bidding round for smaller academy trusts, as well as some voluntary-aided schools and sixth-form colleges, which is aimed at funding work to address ”significant condition needs”. This year it provided £498 million for projects.
Tes revealed last year how some “vulnerable” settings were missing out on the cash.
The SCA is allocated to larger trusts without bidding having to take place, with £1.1 billion similarly being allocated for 2022-23.
The allocations were confirmed alongside funding for local authorities to create school places needed for September 2026.
Robert Halfon, minister for skills, apprenticeships and higher education, said: “This significant investment will transform school and college buildings across the country so that they are fit for the future and can provide the best education for students, no matter where they live.”
