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| Volume 52 Number 23, October 8, 2022 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBCENTRE | SUBSCRIBE |
Enough Is Enough Rally, St Georges Hall Liverpool -
Photo: Liverpool Echo
Education ministers face having to cut £300 million from school budgets next year after the recent national insurance (NI) contribution rise was axed, according to a report in Schools Week.
In his "mini-budget", Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the 1.25 percentage point increase in NI, that came into effect in April, would be reversed. The increase, dubbed the "health and social care levy", was meant to raise more funding for the NHS. Schools were given extra funding to cover the estimated £300 million a year cost. The first instalment was paid this year, with future funding rolled into the national funding formula.
The Treasury confirmed department budgets will be adjusted from 2023-24. This comes as government departments have been told to prepare for cuts to enforce "fiscal discipline". School funding makes up the vast majority of the spend of the Department for Education. The Treasury said that there will be an update on school budgets in "due course". However, the DfE would not comment. This most recent attack on school funding comes after school budgets have been squeezed for over a decade, with rising costs such as soaring energy prices hitting at recent budgets. This has also affected the pay of teaching staff who are preparing to ballot on taking action to demand pay awards commensurate with the rise in inflation and a rise in the cost of living.
As an indication of the government's outlook, Simon Clarke, the "levelling-up" secretary, attacked the "very large welfare state" in The Times, adding that government departments would have to "trim the fat".
Geoff Barton, the general secretary of the ASCL leaders' union, said the government had "given away billions of pounds to promote growth, but not a penny for education". He added, "Some schools, particularly small primaries, may no longer be financially viable," predicting larger classes, cuts to subject options and widespread job losses.