School Funding England

School Funding England

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced the outcome of their consultation of the future of school funding in England. There are some significant changes from the original proposals announced earlier in the year.

They have stated that there will be an additional £1.3 billion pounds for school funding over the next two years and that no local authority will face cuts in per pupil funding. They have also introduced increased minimum funding levels for the lowest funded authorities that will give some schools more significant increases in funding.

These improvements would never have happened without the campaign by trade unions, parents and communities to expose the cuts being faced by schools. I would like to take this opportunity to thank members and branches for all their work in campaigning against school cuts.

Whilst UNISON has cautiously welcomed these improvements to the proposals, we do not believe they are enough and we still have major concerns about the future of school funding.

UNISON Concerns

  • The extra £1.3 billion is not new money. It has been recycled from other areas of the DfE budget.
  • It still represents a below inflation increase in funding for schools.
  • 88% of schools will still face real terms cuts in per pupil funding
  • There is no certainty about what will happen with school funding after 2019/20
  • The settlement does nothing to reverse that substantial funding cuts that schools have suffered since 2010.
  • Schools continue to struggle with limited resources and increasing class sizes
  • There’s no additional money for early years or sixth form pupils

What UNISON wants

We are calling on the Chancellor to invest in education and children and young people when he delivers his Budget statement to Parliament this autumn. We want:

  • additional funding to reverse all funding cuts to date
  • the resources to implement a fair funding formula
  • no real terms cuts to any school over the next five years.
  • Fair funding for early years and sixth form pupils