Increase funding for schools to ensure that they do not enter deficit

We call for immediate funding from the Government to fully meet the rising costs schools are facing.

The current funding increase and energy bill relief scheme will not be enough to prevent further cut-backs and redundancies. This will greatly harm our education system and pupils.

Inflation, rising costs and unfunded pay rises mean that the majority of schools expect to be in a deficit financial position at the end of this year (22/23).

This will lead to schools having to significantly reduce provision, such as spending on resources for pupils and staffing. Without further funding from the Government, school staff are likely to be made redundant. Properly funding education is necessary for the growth of our country.

Education is a top priority for this government, which is why in the Autumn Statement on the 17th November 2022 we announced that schools in England will be receiving an additional £2 billion a year in each of the next two financial years, on top of funding already announced at the 2021 Spending Review. This additional funding will go to both mainstream schools and local authorities’ high needs budgets for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Schools' funding is already £4bn higher this year (2022-23) than last year; and, following the Autumn Statement, it will rise by another £3.5bn, on top of that, in 2023-24. Taken together, that means a 15% increase in funding in two years. The Institute of Fiscal Studies has said that this will, by 2024-25, return school funding to at least 2010 levels in real terms: the highest spending year in history.

Improving outcomes for all children sits at the heart of the government’s agenda, and we know that this extra funding will contribute to schools’ ability to make further progress on the government’s priorities, including our ambition for 90% of children to leave primary school having met the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics. The extra funding provided in the Autumn Statement comes on top of more than two million tutoring courses which have already started, a £24 million investment to boost children’s literacy and numeracy, and a continuation of the Maths Hub Programme, providing schools with up to £60 million over the next two years.