What impact can we, in education, expect from the recent Budget announcements?

Following any budget, there is always a period of reflection. This is when everyone digests all the figures and announcements and tries to establish what it will mean for them.

Schools are no different.

So, what will the impact of the recent budget have on those of working in education?

The Headline Figures

Politicians (of any colour) deal in soundbites and headline figures. This is how budgets are delivered and how any Chancellor of the Exchequer wants it to be presented to the media.

However, often you really need to scratch beneath the surface of these headline figures.

Core School Funding Budget Will Increase by £2.3billion a Year

The big headline figure from the Autumn 2024 Budget is that the core funding for schools is set to increase by £2.3billion a year. This is including an extra £1billion for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The Treasury states that the per-pupil funding equates to a real-terms increase.

All of this looks very positive for schools. As documents from the Treasury state, the increase in funding for alternative provision and SEND is “an important step in realising the government’s vision to reform England’s SEND provision to improve outcomes and return the system to financial sustainability.”

While the increase is likely to be used by councils to wipe £865million from their SEND deficits next year. The potential problem is that it doesn’t actually offer scope to do much more than that.

Indeed, the £2.3billion headline figure looks a lot less impressive when you take away the allocation (although much needed) for SEND, and consider that schools will need to use £450million of it to cover the full cost of this year’s pay rise award for teachers.

What’s more, the Institute for Fiscal Studies predicts that the increase to core school funding will simply get “swallowed up by ongoing cost pressures.”

While the extra funding – especially for SEND provision – has been welcomed by education leaders, they have been keen to stress that a root and branch reform of SEND provision is necessary, as well as a long term plan to address the issue of local authority deficits.

Other Budget Announcements

Elsewhere in the budget, it was confirmed that the funding for school breakfast clubs is to be tripled. In addition, £15million will be allocated to expand school nurseries and create 3000 new ones. Extra capital funding is also being made available to deal with the problem of crumbling school buildings.

It was also announced in the budget that schools will receive funding to cover the increase in National Insurance contributions.

The Verdict

In truth, only time will tell what impact the budget announcements will have on schools. The general feeling within the education sector seems to be that while the increase in funding is welcomed, it doesn’t go far enough to have the impact that it needs.

A small step in the right direction, certainly.

But are small steps enough?