Shocking figures on cuts to schools' essential staff and activities

 

With the local spotlight on primary schools in the light of the Byron Court Primary issue and many of our schools in budget dseficit it is worth reading this statement from the National Education Union:

Commenting on a Sutton Trust survey of school leaders which finds primary schools hit hardest by funding pressures, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:

Primary schools play a critical role in the education journey of young people, but their hands are being tied by real-terms funding cuts. It is shocking that three quarters are having to reduce numbers of teaching assistants, just to make ends meet. The Government's failure to properly fund support-staff pay deals is what lies at the heart of this.

 Successive surveys have shown that schools across the country are having to drop resources and cut staffing to the bone in order to survive. This repeatedly falls on deaf ears, however, and the Government allows it not only to continue but to worsen.

After 14 years of chronic Conservative cuts, 70% of schools in England have less funding in real terms than in 2010. One in eight local-authority-maintained schools were in deficit in 2022-23, the highest number on record since schools took control of their own bank balances in 1999. It is striking, too, that the Sutton Trust's latest survey finds that half of schools are redeploying pupil premium money to plug gaps elsewhere. Taken together, this is a clear indication that something has gone seriously wrong with school funding.

We are also far away from having the right level of SEND support to meet demand, thanks again to short-sighted cuts and the starvation of local authority services through inadequate funding. A third of members told us recently they have no behaviour support team whatsoever, a quarter have no access to an educational psychologist or CAMHS. Schools are having to pick up the pieces when referrals get stuck in a queue or are rejected. Make do and mend is not the answer to the crisis in SEND funding.

This Government is not serious about education. It must wake up to the reality in schools up and down the country and provide the funding that is needed to allow schools to fully deliver the service they want to provide and that parents rightly expect.

Autumn Statement fail: 92% of mainstream schools will be unable to cope with cost increases in 2024/25. For 99% of secondary schools and 91% of primary schools, cuts to education provision are now inevitable.

 The Lyon Park Primary School strike is only the most visible sign of the funding crisis in our schools -  more problems will follow in other schools as governing bodies try to balance their budgets.

There was hope that the Autumn Statement might provide cash to help remedy the problem of underfunding  - but no!

Commenting on the Chancellor’s speech, Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:   

“The economy is struggling to achieve growth, and the Government has downgraded its own growth forecasts in today’s statement. Investing properly in education is an urgent and overriding economic priority, yet what we have seen today is nothing of the sort.

“Just 3.9% of UK GDP is spent on education, compared to the OECD average of 5%. This was highlighted to Jeremy Hunt in a letter earlier this month from the leaders of four education unions, including the NEU. The Chancellor’s response is completely inadequate and makes a mockery of the Prime Minister’s repeated claim that education is at the heart of this Government’s priorities. 

“It should be of great concern to Jeremy Hunt that 92% of mainstream schools will be unable to cope with cost increases in 2024/25. For 99% of secondary schools and 91% of primary schools, cuts to education provision are now inevitable.

“These schools have already seen years of under-investment, and in far too many cases school buildings have drifted into serious disrepair. The Chancellor couldn’t even bring himself to fund urgent work on the school estate, following the RAAC scandal which has brought such embarrassment to this Government. This would require at least £4.4bn per year.

“With underfunded and understaffed schools and colleges, and school buildings crumbling, the Government must prioritise investment in schools and colleges and fund a fair pay rise for staff next year. Teachers and support staff have seen their living standards hammered since 2010. Our member surveys show that a majority are ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ worried about keeping up with household bills. They have been hit even harder by pay cuts against inflation than other workers, creating major recruitment and retention problems.  

“More of the same is not good enough – and it certainly fails parents and young people, too. In order to recruit and retain the teachers that we so clearly need, the Government must demonstrate they value them. That means an urgent, properly funded and major correction in pay, alongside the investment needed to reduce sky-high workload and to make school and college buildings fit for purpose. The Chancellor’s statement does nothing to repair the damage caused by 13 years of Conservative cuts. The Government will pay a heavy political price for continuing to ignore the problems it has created for educators, parents and young people.”