The latest Spring Budget shows a relatively unchanged financial landscape with little change to public spending levels. Despite the spotlight on safety concerns surrounding the school estate, following school closures over Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC), budget documents reveal a reduction in this year’s capital spending.

A recent evaluation by the Department for Education of the Capital Advisers Programme, has provided important insights into the state of school buildings in the education sector.

The Autumn Statement revealed higher-than-expected tax revenues, caused mainly by inflation pushing more people into higher tax thresholds, and provided the government with an unexpected 'windfall' as termed by the Office for Budget Responsibility.

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

Schools and colleges are to receive £500 million of extra capital funding to improve energy efficiency, the Government has announced.

Schools will receive an extra £2.3 billion in each of the next two years, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Autumn Statement, in what he called a “thank you” for the sector’s “brilliant work”.

Applications are open for the latest round of T Level capital funding – a funding stream specifically for post-16 institutions that missed out on extra cash for education in the Autumn Statement.

Since the Government launched T Levels in 2020, more than £300 million has been made available for providers to deliver their courses and make necessary improvements to their estates.