Along with many others in education I was pleased by the government’s pledge to tackle the real time reduction in funding which we have all suffered from in recent times. The three-year plan, announced at the end of August and supported by the Office for Fiscal Studies, not only recognises but aims to reverse the lack of investment that has been seen by the industry in the last ten years with a £7.1bn investment in education by 2022-23.
Is it time to smile? Let’s look at what the proposals actually consist of.
The increase in teacher’s salaries is a welcome boost and I see this as the most beneficial investment. Recruitment and retention is a continuing issue in schools and with that volatility comes increased costs for supply, agency fees and administration. More importantly, there is a negative effect on the education of our young people in schools that lack stability, possibly expertise and continuity due to recruitment issues.
The £700m additional funding for SEN also rates quite highly, and as member of the school funding forum I am only too aware of the pressures that the local authority faces with the current system. I would suggest that this also needs to come with a review of the current system. The extra monies promised for Early Years, FE and for schools in Wales and Northern Ireland I am sure will also be very welcome.
I’m slightly more cautious around the minimum funding per pupil, largely because this is the one for me that is open to interpretation. We currently have a system that is made up of so many parts and this announcement doesn’t outline which of these will be included in the calculation. For example, if the teacher’s pay grant and pension grant are deemed to be part of the calculation per pupil, schools may see that their per pupil income is already very close to the proposed minimum. However, the levels proposed do bring the amount very close to the national funding formula figures, but which are yet to be finally agreed.
We will need to watch the calculation of the new funding, and whether some of it currently exists or if this will be ‘new’ money. There is already an element of the new model planned to support the cost of teacher’s pension rises, which would then not be additional. There is an inflationary element to add in due to the time delay in implementation, and how much of the new funding will be needed to fund the teacher pay increases. In all of my years in education, whoever is in power, this note of caution has served me well when setting budgets and in strategic planning. Very much a ‘watch this space’ moment, although not of course withstanding the fact that this is good news.