The Chancellor in her October Budget said that £6.7bn will be given to the Department of Education to help schools recruit more teachers, rebuild schools and create free breakfast clubs. But what does the Budget mean for Academy Trusts?
A summary of the key changes include:
• Early years funding to grow by £1.8bn, allowing the roll out of funded childcare for parents of children aged from 9 months old up to 4 years of age.
• £15m to begin delivery of a planned total of 3,000 school-based nurseries, with 300 new or expanded nurseries open by September 2025.
• Funding for schools to rise by £2.3bn, including £1bn for high needs. The government promises to fully fund the recent pay aware for teachers, and help fund pay awards for 25/26.
• £1.4bn will be spent on rebuilding the 500 schools in the UK with the “greatest need” with 100 rebuilding projects starting next year.
• £2.1bn will be spent on maintaining and repairing schools affected by RAAC, the lightweight concrete widely used in schools that has now been found to be unsafe, an increase of £300m.
• Breakfast club funding will rise to £30m, with 750 new clubs to be set up by the Spring.
With regards to the Employer’s National Insurance rise which has been forecast to cost tech schools sector between £175m and £200m, the Government has confirmed to sector figures that the costs of the rise will be fully funded from the spring, but whilst welcome it may be prudent to exercise caution before seeing the details of how this would work.
