Schools should draw on their £4 billion reserves to pay for Covid-19 safety measures, schools minister Nick Gibb has said.
He told the House of Commons this afternoon that reserves should be “used first” when it comes to funding such measures.
Labour shadow education minister Margaret Greenwood had asked him what steps the government was taking to ensure that schools could be reimbursed for costs of safety measures such as signage, barriers, cleaning, hand sanitiser and support of teaching staff to cover Covid-19 related absences, and said headteachers were “very concerned” about these extra costs.
She asked: “What he would he say to these headteachers who are now openly saying they are having to weigh up pupils’ safety against financial stability?”
Coronavirus: The cost of safety measures in schools
She added: “It is extraordinary that back in July the schools minister told me that the government does not consider it necessary for schools to make significant adaptations to their sites to enable them to welcome children back to school this autumn - that is not what headteachers are saying.”
Mr Gibb replied that the Department for Education had recently announced the “best funding settlement [for schools] in 10 years” and said schools that were in financial hardship could seek help from their local authority of the Education and Skills Funding Agency. Other available support included the DfE’s school resource management advisers, he said.
But he added: “Schools and academies do have an overall £4 billion of cumulative reserves and we expect that to be used first, but we are keeping the issue under review.”
Schools have been able to claim for extra costs incurred through Covid-19 up until July, capped at £75,000.
They were not eligible for the funding if they expected to add to their historical surpluses in the current financial year.
But Mr Gibb’s comments today suggested that schools should not only stop adding to their reserves, but also draw down on those historical surpluses to pay for Covid-19 safety measures.
