Schools to get an extra £4.6 billion of funding over the next 2 years.

Schools will get an extra £2.3 billion in each of the near two years – a yearly rise of 4 per cent. This equates to an average increase in funding of more than £1,000 for every pupil by 2024-25.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt announced this increase in funding during his autumn statement yesterday and said that “being pro education is being pro growth”.

“Our message to heads, teachers and classroom assistants is: ‘Thank you for your brilliant work, we need it to continue and in difficult economic circumstances,’” he added.

Core schools funding will now rise to £57.3 billion in 2023-24 and £58.8 billion the year after. This is a £2 billion increase on the 2021 budget forecast that core school funding would rise to £56.8 billion in 2024-25

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) confirmed the additional funding will at least restore real-terms per-pupil funding to 2010 levels. However IFS also noted that the extra money was funded “in large part by recycling £5bn previously earmarked for increasing overseas aid spending”. The £2.3bn also includes £300m that the Treasury will no longer collect from schools, after the planned rise in national insurance that was reversed earlier this year.​

Commenting on the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said

“Today’s announcement sounds like positive news for education, and suggests the voice of school leaders, parents and communities about the desperate state of education funding has cut through and been listened to by the government.
 
“However, the devil tends to be in the detail and we’ll be closely looking at the figures to fully understand the implications. In particular, we’ll be looking at where this leaves special educational needs and post-16 provision which are both facing extraordinarily difficult financial circumstances.
 
“We recognise this commitment to education is made in the context of a bleak economic picture but to put it into perspective this comes after a decade of real-terms cuts to schools and colleges.

“If we are to ever achieve the long-term national economic stability and growth which everyone wants then we have to develop a plan which has more investment in education at its heart because this is crucial to ensure we have a workforce with the skills and knowledge to deliver that goal.
 
“It is also important to remember that besides funding, the education sector is facing a teacher recruitment and retention crisis which is largely caused by the erosion of the real value of teachers’ pay since 2010.
 
“This also has to be addressed as no aspiration or target for education is achievable if you cannot put teachers in front of classes.”