Union labels £1.3 billion education funding boost “recycled money”

According to the union NASUWT, the announcement of £1.3 billion of funding for schools “appears to be a recycled announcement of recycled money”.

Education secretary Justine Greening announced yesterday, 17 July, that there will be an additional £1.3 billion poured into schools over the next couple of years.

The money is expected to come from savings within the Department for Education (DfE) and is said to give schools “the investment they need to offer a world-class education to every single child”.

However, NASUWT general secretary, Chris Keates has stated that “it is unclear whether this funding will be new money, or simply existing school funding which is to be recycled”.

He continued: “There is no guarantee that it will be sufficient to ensure that the Conservative Party’s manifesto pledge, that no school will lose out because of the National Funding Formula, will be met.

“The NASUWT has argued consistently that the quantum of school funding intended to accompany the National Funding Formula was too low, and has maintained that no school should lose real-terms funding as a result of changes to the National Funding Formula.

“Despite the announcement schools are still no clearer on the formula for funding schools for 2018/19. The uncertainty therefore continues.”

However, Greening said in a statement that the additional investment “will deliver the biggest improvement to the school funding system for well over a decade”.

“It will mean an increase in the basic amount that every pupil will get, protected funding for those with high needs and will ensure every local authority is in a position to give schools a cash increase through the new formula.”