Key takeouts from the Chancellor’s Spring Budget

The Government has set out it’s spending measures in the Spring Budget. Whilst there were a number of commitments targeted specifically at childcare, the lack of any new funding for schools has left many disappointed that more is not being done to tackle funding pressures.

Here is Surveyors to Education’s analysis of what the Spring Statement means for the education sector:

Education announcements: The Chancellor identified Education as one of his four pillars of industrial strategy to build ‘Europe’s most dynamic economy’ and consequently it was one of the only departments to receive an uplift in budget with the following reforms to the childcare system announced:

• Wrap around care in primary schools: there is an ambition for all schools to offer wraparound care by September 2026, from 8am – 6pm, to make it easier for working parents to be available during the working day.

  
  According to the government, one third of schools do not offer pre and post school childcare provision and therefore they will provide £289m in start up funding to enable schools and local authorities to test options to increase the availability of wraparound care.
  
  Following the announcement Schools Week reported that the Treasury expects most schools will be able to deliver this provision self-sufficiently in the long term.
  

• Pre-school reform: extending childcare funding from 3 and 4 year-olds to all children over 9 months to enable parents back into the workforce after maternity or when paternity leave ends.
  
  There is currently a supply issue within the early years sector, as many nurseries and childminders have closed over recent years, and therefore the roll out of funding will be staggered up to September 2025 where all under-fives will have access to 30 hours of free childcare per week, during term time.

Most government departments’ budgets remain unchanged: aside from finding extra money for childcare reform and defence spending, as outlined in the November 2022 statement, most departments will receive small increases (av. 1%) between now and 2025, with spending cuts pencilled in for the next spending period, post the next general election.

• No further help to schools offered: the Chancellor referenced the additional £2.3bn annual investment announced for schools in the Autumn statement in November. However, with ongoing pay disputes and rising costs, sector leaders have voiced their disappointment that no further help has been given.
  
  Geoff Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders said: “Schools are reporting huge increases in their energy bills and the government expects them to fund pay awards out of these stretched budgets too. We are gravely concerned that we are facing a fresh funding crisis. This is compounded by the inadequacy of the proposed pay award for many staff which comes after a pay freeze and is likely to worsen retention rates.”
  

• Help with energy bills extended for households but not for schools: the Energy Price Guarantee scheme for households, which caps the typical household energy bill at £2,500 will be extended for a further three months, following which prices are expected to fall in July. However, Leora Cruddas CBE, Chief Executive of the Confederation of Schools Trusts points out that schools have missed out on help, as the Energy Bills Relief Scheme ends at the end of this month: “The Chancellor has today extended support for energy costs at home but in two weeks will cut support for school's energy bills, making it even harder for school trusts to balance the books.”
  
  The scheme is due to be replaced by the less generous Energy Bills Discount Scheme.
  

• Capital plans are maintained: according to the Institute for Government, capital spending remains “unchanged in cash terms since the spending review in October 2021, despite sharp increases in construction costs as a result of labour force shortages and high energy and materials prices that mean building infrastructure is now much more expensive than originally anticipated…By keeping budgets fixed in cash terms, the Chancellor is implicitly accepting that less will be built than originally intended.”
  
  This is likely to have implications for the number of projects delivered with the Condition Improvement Fund and will restrict how much multi-academy trusts will be able to achieve with their School Condition Allocation, set against a backdrop of increasing concerns around the condition of the school estate.

• Focus on boosting productivity and achieving a model of ‘high wages and high skills’: however, it has been pointed out that the role of further education establishments in delivering a highly skilled workforce was missing from the budget. David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of Colleges said: “Once again college leaders will be rightly dismayed that the sector has been overlooked… Colleges give people the skills they need to do the jobs our labour market is crying out for. Mr Hunt paints a picture of a bright future full of technological achievement but without skilled people getting the education and training they need now, and in the future, it will remain a fantasy.”
  
  Unlike schools, post-16 establishments also missed out on support to cope with larger than expected cost increases in the previous Autumn statement and funding per pupil remains well below 2010 levels.

Experienced chartered building surveyors for education such as S2e can advise on all aspects of schools funding. Please call us today on 0116 5070130 or email enquire@s2e.org.uk.