School leaders have warned that cutbacks will be needed after the government confirmed a provisional 1.9 per cent mainstream funding increase for schools.
Schools minister Will Quince confirmed today that funding for mainstream schools through the national funding formula was increasing by 1.9 per cent per pupil in 2023-24 compared to the coming year and that, overall, core schools funding - including funding for mainstream schools and high needs - was increasing by £1.5 billion.
The announcement is in line with figures given last October as part of the government’s Budget and Spending Review, but leaders have warned that the high levels of inflation seen since then mean the money proposed is no longer adequate.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said the settlement did “not remotely take into account the huge inflationary pressures” that schools were experiencing.
He added: “We are hearing reports of energy bills being increased by 300 per cent or more. Many settings have also continued to face Covid cost pressures in using supply staff to cover for absence. They also face the prospect of having to absorb the cost of pay awards from existing budgets.
“It is increasingly inevitable that many will have to make further cutbacks to provision”.
Similarly, Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that while the £1.5 billion rise “might have looked good” when first announced, the surge in inflation since then meant it was now a ”big real-terms cut for education spending”.
“The government needs to recognise the changed circumstances since the 2021 Spending Review and put more money into our children’s futures”, he added.
And he said the NEU would ”reach out” to parents, school governors and other unions to “challenge” the proposal.
CPI inflation hit a 40-year record of 9.1 per cent in May and is expected to reach as high as 11 per cent later this year.
Schools have already announced that their finances are currently on a “knife edge” amid rising costs.
The concerns have been raised amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis, which, combined with the financial impact of the Covid pandemic on schools, means heads are facing what the ASCL recently described as a “perfect storm of financial pressures”.
