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.” 

Brent schools face bleak financial future as budgets fail to keep up with inflation and other costs, impacting on staff and children

 

 

Changes in the National Funding Formula mean that Brent is gradually adjusting to a lower National Funding Formula (NFF) and this along with huge increases in energy bills, the cost of salary increases (which is why education unions are calling for them to be fully funded by the government), inflation and falling pupil numbers means that schools will facing extremely difficult financial circumstances in financial year 2023-24.

 

Many are already expecting an in-year deficit and (if they have them) will be digging into reserves to balance the books.

 

Our secondary schools have been academised and are directly funded by the DfE, so this is recouped from the Schools Block funding.  A proportion of funding is allocated the Higher Needs Block) funding for Special Educations Needs and Disability) where demand is increasing.

 

A report going to the Schools Forum makes sombre reading:

 

Of the total £249.7m Schools Block budget allocated by the DfE to Brent, £131.9m has been recouped and allocated directly to academies. £1.2m has been transferred to the Higher Needs Block (HN and £1.8m has been deducted for National Non-Domestic Business Rates to be paid by the DfE directly to billing authorities, leaving £114.8m directly allocated to Brent maintained schools and to fund centrally retained items including the growth fund.

 

In 2022/23, the number of Brent schools projecting an in-year deficit has increased to 67%. 23% of these schools plan to use over 50% of reserves to balance their budgets. Schools are feeling the impact of rising inflationary costs and increases in energy prices alongside the prospect of teachers pay increasing by 5% in 2022/23 and starting salaries rising by 8.9% to £30k.
 

The DfE expects schools to manage these pressures within the allocated funding increase of 3.6% in 2022/23 and 1.2% expected in 2023/24.

 

A number of Brent schools are also experiencing falling rolls and as a result will have significant reductions in funding. This is requiring schools to make strategic decisions to mitigate the impact of this, including the consideration of staffing restructures.

 

In response to this, alongside measures to support schools, such as capping admission numbers, a School Place Planning Working Group will be established to review the sustainability of provision in some primary planning areas.

Staffing restructuring inevitably means the loss of some jobs and will have most impact on support staff such as teaching assistants and admin staff. These are predominatly women and often ethnic minority. As teaching assistants often have a teaching role through intervention programmes this could affect the quality of provision and pupil achievement.

 

The last paragraph regarding a review of the sustainability of provision could mean a reduction of the form of entry in some schools (i.e., the number of classes in each year group) when pupil numbers have dropped significantly and even, at the extreme, potential mergers or closures. 

 

At first sight it might be assumed that fewer pupils will mean lower costs, but it is not that simple. A class of 24, rather than 30. will still need a teacher and teaching assistant and their classroom will need the same amount of heating and lighting. There may be a marginal reduction in the cost of per-pupil teaching material but that will be eaten up by inflation. Staffing costs take up to 85% of school budgets. A further cost that puts Brent schools at a disadvantage is that schools pay a greater proportion of staff costs to the Brent Council Local Government Pension Scheme that schools in other London boroughs.

 

6 pence extra for 3 and 4 year olds 

 

Similarly, Brent nurseries are facing a reduction in real terms via the Early Years Block. There are government plans to worsen the staff-child ratios, but this would be catastrophic in Brent with its high number of EAL and disadvantaged children who need the best possible provision as a foundation to success in education:

 

Indicative rate increases for the Block are as follows:

Nationally, the 2-year-old rate will see increases ranging from 1% to a maximum 8.6%. The London average is 8.3%, whereas Brent will see an increase of 7.6% i.e., the 2022/23 funding rate of £6.29 will increase by 48p to £6.77.

Nationally, the 3 and 4 year old rates will see increases ranging from 1% to a maximum of 4.5%. The average increase for London is 1.7%. Brent will see an increase of £0.06, which represents a 1% increase i.e., from £5.81 for 2022/23 (including the illustrative TPPG rate) to £5.87.95% of the funding rate is passed on to providers and 5% is used to funding Early Help local authority services.

 Local councils have little power as this Direct Schools Grant comes directly from government so it will need a concerted campaign of councillors, education unions, parents and carers and the support of our local MPs to challenge the government on education funding.

 

 

UPDATED WITH TORY REPLY: Brent Tories asked 'Where's the money coming from?' on their schools policy

 I received an election leaflet cheekily called 'Barnhill Ward Matters' through my door last week from Brent North Conservatives last week and was puzzled by their education policy. I am awaiting a response to my email below:

I have had your leaflet through the door and would like you to clarify Point 5 of your plan for Brent:

INSPIRING FUTURES THROUGH BETTER EDUCATION

The Conservatives will invest in schools to deliver a higher quality of education to exceed neighbouring boroughs and bring aspiration to all the students in Brent, ensuring all individuals are given an equal opportunity for for life goals.

Local authority schools and academies are funded through the National Funding Formula government funding. The money for local authority schools goes to the Council who then distribute it to schools based on a number of factors agreed with Schools Forum. Academies and free schools are funded directly from the government with the appropriate amount then taken from the LA's schools budget.

There is no direct funding of the running of schools from the Council’s own Council Tax/Business Rates income.

The government is aiming to reduce the role of LAs in deciding how the national funding is allocated to schools:

Since financial year 2018-19, a new National Funding Formula (NFF) has been used to determine how much mainstream schools attract in core revenue funding. There are separate formulas for sixth form, high needs, and early years funding. Pupil Premium (additional money to support disadvantaged children) is also paid via a separate grant.

Currently, the NFF is only being used to work out notional allocations for individual schools. These are then aggregated, adjusted, and passed to local authorities, who then draw up local funding formulas for onward distribution. This is known as a soft NFF.

The government has said it remains committed to introducing a hard NFF, i.e., one with a reduced role for local authorities in deciding allocations. In July 2021, it consulted on completing the NFF reforms, proposing a gradual move toward a hard NFF, but with no deadline for doing so. A further consultation is expected to follow.

My question then is how  will a Brent Conservative administration increase investment in schools so that they exceed the quality of education of neighbouring boroughs?

This is the answer to my email received today (April 12th)  from  Sai Karthik Madabhushi of Barnhill Conservatives. Readers can judge for themselves whether this answers the question:

Dear Martin,

Thank you for your email. I take your point on the changing NFF formula, but the consultations need to run their course and I believe the government will take decisions based on the outcome of these consultations and subsequent deliberations.

Our thoughts in the Manifesto around "Better Education", are centered around the fact that the LA has sufficient funds and resources to ring-fence additional money for education in Brent. We need to help institutions move from Needs-improvement to Good and Good to Out-standing. It bothers us that we are building more homes in the area without planning ahead for more school places for children or the stresses this will place on the existing system.

If representations have already been made to DFoE and they have been unsuccessful or if the LA deems a certain request critical to care or education in a particular school, the LA should consider releasing additional funds on a case-by-case basis. This we believe is critical to helping schools in Brent achieve, if not exceed their goals. 

We are open to suggestions and guidance to do the best thing for the community.

 

Caroline Lucas tells Hammond to fully fund teachers' salary increase & reverse per pupil funding cuts

Caroline Lucas MP has written to the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, ahead of the Budget regarding school funding:

Dear Philip,

 

I am writing to you ahead of the Budget and following the recent protest by over 1,000 headteachers about the funding crisis in our schools.

 

Yesterday morning I received the ‘Dear Colleague’ letter on school funding from the Secretary of State of Education about the Department’s use of OECD figures on education spending. The purpose of the letter appears to be to rebut the criticism from Sir David Norgrove, Chair of the UK Statistics Authority, that education ministers have made "exaggerated" claims that "do not give the full picture" on school funding. You will be aware of Sir David’s concerns about repeated misuse of statistics, and the Government’s deliberate distortion of data on the schools crisis: “…figures were presented in such a way as to misrepresent changes in school funding. In the tweet, school spending figures were exaggerated by using a truncated axis, and by not adjusting for per pupil spend.” [1]

 

I am writing to you ahead of the Budget to make it clear that Damian’s letter has not allayed my concerns, nor those of the headteachers, staff, parents and children in Brighton Pavilion, and no doubt across the country. Given that Sir David’s letter specifically raises the key issue of adjustment for per-pupil spend, it beggars belief that the letter did not address the Institute for Fiscal Studies finding that total school spending per pupil fell by 8 per cent in real terms between 2009/10 and 2017/18 [1]. Moreover, the National Audit Office have also identified an 8 per cent real-terms reduction in per-pupil funding for mainstream schools between 2014/15 and 2019/20 due to cost pressures [2].

 

It is vital that the Government reverses the per-pupil funding cuts and also fully funds the 3.5 per cent pay rise recommended by the School Teachers Review Body (STRB) for all pay ranges and allowances. Heads are talking about being forced to make redundancies in order to afford well-deserved pay rises for their teachers. 

 

Heads, teachers, teaching assistants, parents and pupils all know the impact of the cuts. There are particular concerns for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). I have received heart-breaking emails from headteachers for many months. Counselling services cut, vital SEND support cut or not provided, staff not replaced, enrichment activities and trips cut back, basic supplies paid for by charity, repairs not undertaken. To provide just a few examples of the most recent messages from headteachers in Brighton Pavilion:

“…if it was not for our parents and friends we would not manage”

 

“Already we have had to rely on parent fundraising to update our reading books”

 

“…significant undervaluing of and mean spirited approach to children's education in this country and the totally inadequate funding”

 

"where do I find the money from?... We don't have the money.”

 

“…the building is falling apart, there is no money for trips, enrichment activities or other things that help to enhance children's learning.”

 

For children with SEND: “we have nothing left to provide for their needs adequately.”

 

“We increasingly rely on volunteers”

I am also receiving representations from sixth form colleges who face a serious shortfall between the funding they receive and the amount they need to educate their students. I urge you to take account of the new report produced by London Economics on behalf of the Sixth Form Colleges Association: Understanding the funding shortfall in sixth form education [2]. It shows the dramatic impact of the government freeze on sixth form funding combined with a sharp increase in running costs. The report found that sixth form colleges need an increase in funding of at least £760 per student in 2020/21 to continue providing a high quality education to young people. The report also found that, in real terms, sixth form colleges received £1,380 less per student in 2016/17 than they did in 2010/11 – a 22 per cent decline in funding [3]. I trust you will urgently address the issue of sixth form funding in the forthcoming Budget.

 

Lastly, and in short, the purpose of this letter is to ask that we do not get the same barrage of lame excuses about OECD spending comparisons on Budget Day. As you will understand from the quotes and information above, they simply do not wash, and I urge you to directly address the issue of rising pupil numbers in schools. Talking about ‘more money’ is an old political trick that fools no-one and leaves this funding crisis unaddressed. Educational standards are in jeopardy. Yet, with the per-pupil funding they need, our schools could deliver great outcomes for all children. Without it we are letting down a generation. The Budget is yet another chance for you to respond as the crisis requires and I sincerely urge you to do so.

 

Best wishes,

 

Caroline

School Funding Crisis: Caroline Lucas details the impact on provision

It is good to see that the schools budget crisis which could see the loss of hudreds of teaching and teaching assistant jobs, narrowing of the curriculum and larger class sizes is becoming a prominent election issue.

Ahead of the Education Question Time event I publish here the submission made by Caroline Lucas MP tin March o the consultation on the new school funding formula. Although the context is Brighton many of the issues also apply to Brent:

 

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Submission from Caroline Lucas MP, Brighton Pavilion 

Introduction

Ahead of this submission, I have contacted the Head Teachers serving the children and young people in Brighton Pavilion constituency to ask for their views.  The message back in response from Head Teachers is clear and consistent:

• School funding is in crisis
• Current budgets are unsustainable
• School budgets are being pushed beyond breaking point
•  

One Head with ten plus years’ experience told me the impending crisis is “unprecedented”. 

This is also the message in a letter, dated 13 March, signed by 44 Brighton and Hove Head Teachers and sent to all 3 Brighton and Hove MPs.  The letter is included as Appendix One to this submission.  Appendix Two includes a letter and statement from the Brighton City Partnership for Education, which is sent jointly with 13 other counties.  The Education Partnerships sets out in stark terms the dismay felt by school leaders over the Government’s decision to continue to divert significant monies to Free School provision and Grammar School expansion when this does not always guarantee value for money.  They refer to Department for Education (DfE) “decisions that seem to entirely ignore the wishes and needs of dedicated and committed school leaders”.  I urge Ministers to listen to the very genuine and persuasive concerns of education professionals.

School funding crisis - headteachers issue campaign video

Kids sing against school funding cuts - 'Schools just wanna have funds'

Upcoming Pupil Census raises vital issues for schools and parents

'Against Borders for Children' will be holding a conference on January 14th to discuss the government's use of the annual school census to create a 'hostile environment' for migrants by requesting birth and nationality information from parents.

This is a particular issue for Brent schools where many children are from a migrant background and where families, after Brexit and a rise in hostility, are anxious about the future.

ABC is a coalition of parents, teachers, schools and campaigners. This is what they say about their campaign:

Our aim is to reverse the Department of Education’s (DfE) policy, effective from September 2016, to collect country of birth and nationality information on 8 million children in England in order to ‘create a hostile environment’ for migrant children in schools.

This new immigration data will be collected through the School Census and then permanently stored on the National Pupil Database. These censuses happen every year and every academic term respectively. The next happens in Spring 2017.

Providing this data is optional and does not affect school funding.

This means parents and schools can legally work together to withhold this information from DfE.

Education officials have an agreement to share the personal details of up to 1,500 schoolchildren a month with the Home Office, The Guardian reports.

The agreement, which has been in place since June 2015, is outlined in a memorandum of understanding between the Department for Education (DfE) and the Home Office. This step is a diluted form of Theresa May’s 2015 stated goal of having schools check passports before accepting new pupils and withdrawing and deprioritising places for migrant children.

As well as using the data to target individual children and families, we are concerned that members of the public, journalists, government departments, and other organisations will also be able to access schools’ immigration numbers. With a huge rise in racist hate crime since the Brexit vote, we fear for the safety of schoolchildren nationwide.

So we are organising a national boycott until the Department of Education reverses this policy and commits to safeguarding children from the stigma of anti-immigrant rhetoric and the violence that accompanies it.

Update: The campaign has won a concession to exclude collecting nationality data in the Early Years census that concerns toddlers.

What you can do:

If you are a parent, you can learn more about how to protect your child’s data.
If you are a teacher, learn how you can get involved.
For more questions, please contact us.

Supporting organisations

Over 20 organisations signed our letter to Justine Greening, calling on the Secretary of State for Education to reverse the policy and to commit to protecting all children from stigma, xenophobia, and violence. They are:

• Zita Holbourne, Co-Founder / National Co-Chair, Black Activists Rising Against Cuts
• Sabir Zazai, Chair of Trustees, City of Sanctuary
• The Children’s Society
• Jen Persson, Coordinator, defenddigitalme
• Remi Joseph-Salisbury,  Founding Member, Critical Race and Ethnicities Network
• Nick Dearden, Director, Global Justice Now
• Liz Fekete, Director, Institute of Race Relations
• Rizwan Hussain, Founder and Director, Jawaab
• Saira Grant, Chief Executive, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants
• Carolina Gottardo, Director, Latin American Women’s Rights Service
• Bella Sankey, Director of Policy, Liberty
• Stephanie O’Connor, Chair, London Campaign Against Police and State Violence
• Wayne Myslik, Director, Migrants Resource Centre
• Don Flynn, Director, Migrants’ Rights Network
• Malia Bouattia, President, National Union of Students
• Jim Killock, Executive Director, Open Rights Group
• Gus Hosein, Executive Director, Privacy International
• Jabeer Butt, Deputy Chief Executive, Race Equality Foundation
• Rita Chadha, Chief Executive, RAMFEL
• Maurice Wren, Chief Executive, Refugee Council
• Lisa Matthews, Coordinator, Right to Remain
• Pragna Patel, Director, Southall Black Sisters
• Suresh Grover, Director, The Monitoring Group

ABC have published resources for parents and schools, including model letters refusing data, on their website HERE

The human rights organisation Liberty said:

Foreign worker lists? This is a foreign children list

It bears a striking resemblance to the Home Secretary’s recent suggestion that companies will be forced to reveal the number of non-UK workers they employ which was widely decried as toxic and xenophobic.

However, the schools policy goes even further, establishing a national register of non-national children linked to their name, address, and other sensitive personal data.

This register will be accessible by multiple third parties with opaque and minimal oversight.

Border controls in our classrooms

This is a dangerous expansion of border control powers into children’s school lives. We now know that Theresa May's Home Office had plans to 'deprioritise' children of illegal immigrants on lists for school places.

With high levels of hate crime reported since the Brexit referendum, measures such as these risk victimising children in schools, a place where they should feel free and safe to learn and grow – rather than be a source of information on their parents or a target for immigration enforcement.

Already there have been reports of non-white children being asked to produce immigration documents at school.

The National Union of Teachers has published advice for members and guidelines for a school policy on the issue that can be put to governing bodies HERE