November Budget and Education

The recent budget contained certain measures that will have an effect on schools.

Firstly, the government has said that it will bring the cost of SEND provision, currently sitting with Local Authorities, into central government spending from 2028 -2029. This is when the statutory override that allows councils to set deficit budgets comes to an end.

The Office for Budgetary Responsibility (OBR) points out that the government has not set out any specific plans as to how the cost of this change, around £6 billion will be covered and also no plan for existing and rising council deficits, close to £14 billion.  There is concern within the sector that the change could result in per-pupil funding for mainstream schools falling, however, the Education Secretary reassured MPs that extra costs of SEND would not fall on the core schools allocation but the government budget overall and suggested the OBR’s presentation was misleading.

The budget will also provide new funding of £5 million for state secondary schools to buy new books, roughly £1,400 per school. This is in addition to the pledge of £10 million in funding to provide every primary school in England with a library by 2029.

The budget did not contain a further increase in overall school revenue funding.