Impact of new cuts to state school funding

[Novotelchok]

There are a lot of headlines just now about further cuts to state school funding - through inadequate central government funding of pay rises & NI increases, and pupil premium not going up enough. I'm not in England so only know what's in the papers - I'd be very interested to hear how this is impacting schools/ children / families.

I'm not a journalist, just an interested parent & a voter who is pretty worried by what seems to be Austerity 2.0.

From The Times yesterday

“Bridget Phillipson has suggested cutting school spending by £500 million and ending universal free meals for infants, as part of negotiations with the Treasury ahead of the spending review.
The education secretary has also offered to axe funding for free period products in schools as well as dance, music and PE schemes as part of potential savings.”

From the i Paper

“The education sector is braced for the “worst financial situation for a generation”, The i Paper has learned, ahead of expected spending cuts in Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement.
Schools will have to find money from internal “efficiencies” to help cover a pay rise for their teachers, while plans for some new state schools will not go ahead to save cash. Some could even find themselves forced to lay off staff.”

I think it will certainly have an effect on the sector. Latin and STEM funding has already been cut. Unfortunately, some voters fell for the Labour promise to tax private schools in order to increase state school funding. Instead, state funding is being cut.

The labour manifesto on education was really poor so this isn't a surprise. They seemed to have very little understanding of the state of the school estate or how close to the edge each school budget was. They were always very clear the vat was for breakfast clubs and less than one teacher per school over 5 years.

In terms of what we will do.
Take advantage of natural wastage
Redundancies in support staff
Not carry out routine maintenance or infrastructure investment properly so problems can build up and cost more further down the line.

It's OK, the VAT on Private School fees is going to improve State schools so nothing to worry about.

Wow this is shocking, I hadn’t expected cuts to the education budget. WTF Labour?!

Phillipson has already cut: Latin in state schools, language + behaviour hubs, advanced maths + STEM programmes.
They aren't funding the NI rise and she is cutting 1.4 Billion from school budgets.
They are attacking anything that isn't state comprehensive offer: independent, home schooling, academies. They are making it harder to obtain EHCPs and limiting parental ability to appeal for them.

Anyone who bought into their lies during the election was incredibly naive. This isn't the Labour of Blair's Education, Education, Education!

You’re correct. There’s nothing to worry about. Apparently private schools can easily make cutbacks and “cut their cloth accordingly”. State schools will just have to do the same. At least the children will be getting a “free” bowl of cornflakes. That should make up for lost opportunities in STEM, the arts and languages, and a reduction in staff numbers. It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.

Are the changes to appealing a EHCP going ahead? That is- not being able to appeal being turned down.

I'm in Scotland where that system doesn't even exist and anecdotally I think it's harder to get support for kids with complex needs.

This comes as no surprise to many of us. Did some voters really think that only “the rich” would be affected by Labour’s cuts? They seemed happy when they thought it was someone else who would have to shoulder the burden. Goodness knows what they’ll do as tax receipts fall further. High earners are becoming increasingly disillusioned and starting to leave the country.

Yes under the Schools Bill. SEN system is too expensive so they are going to make it even harder to get an EHCP

Re the cuts mentioned in The Times, the article went on to say that these are proposals but it’s likely not all will be implemented as some just too controversial. It sounds like some horse trading has to go on with ministers showing willing and proposing cuts they could make.

That said, I don’t think anyone is doubting that there will be massive and hugely damaging cuts to education.

The phrase “literally unbelievable” is way overused, but these cuts coming from a Labour government is, I think, literally unbelievable. 😞

Yes, many Labour supporters assumed they would be fine under a Labour government cos they were only going after elites with the VAT on independent schools. Complete lack of scrutiny of policies during election and anyone trying to raise concerns was shot down as a 'Tory bot'. Deaf and blind to any concerns raised.

I'm not sure they lied. They didn't promise anything but breakfast clubs. I don't know why people thought they were going to invest in education as they were really weak on it. People assumed they would be in past performance.

Labour are just going after people who work, easy targets.
Most of their changes have affected working people, some high earners and some not but certainly not the very richest. I hoped that Labour would be brave enough to do what The Tories never did and raise taxes from the wealthiest in society but it seems not.
As a parent of Private School kids I had to read daily on here posts by bitter jealous people saying how glad they were that "little Henry and Henrietta" would just have to deal with the changes. However I am not such an arsehole that I am glad that "Jaxon and Lacey- Mai" will also have to.
No glee from me!

Phillipson is spaffing £90 million on PR + Comms on SM for a 1 year contract!!! Money that could go on teachers etc.

Now tell me she cares about children or education?

No, the 1.4 billion is already confirmed! It's the free school lunches which are part of the horse trading with the Treasury

Agree, I am angered by this but not surprised; Labour’s education policy in the manifesto was flimsy to the point of being almost entirely absent, and I did have my suspicions about what their true intentions were. I voted for them, but with my nose firmly held.

As a school governor, former primary teacher and parent of a primary-aged DD, I genuinely have no idea how schools are going to cope going forward. DD’s primary is already in deficit, and provision has been cut to the bone.

This is from their manifesto. There was the promise that state education would be invested in.

“Labour is determined to raise school standards for every child, and ensure they are prepared for the future. Most children attend schools where the Conservatives are failing to provide the support and teaching that they need. Labour will end the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools to invest in our state schools.”

“The factor that makes the biggest difference to a child’s education is high-quality teaching; but there are shortages of qualified teachers across the country. Labour will recruit an additional 6,500 new expert teachers. We will get more teachers into shortage subjects, support areas that face recruitment challenges, and tackle retention issues.”

“Raising school standards starts with early education. The last Labour government’s promotion of phonics put rocket boosters under the reading and writing ability of a generation of children. We will do the same for numeracy, improving the quality of maths teaching across nurseries and primary schools.
Developing early communication skills is another key foundation for life, with serious knock-on consequences when development is delayed. Labour will fund evidence-based early-language interventions in primary schools, so that every child can find their voice.”

I guess I reas less than one teacher per a school over 5 years as not investing at all.

And the other investment as the schemes that already exist and are happening.

I think it's one of those if you are outside tge sector you think wow. But inside it you think, so no investment then.

I think you’re right. On the face of it, it all sounded amazing, and I’m sure a lot of people thought that state education would somehow be magically improved. It seems to be coming as a shock that this isn’t happening.

I’ve googled but can’t find any news article that mentions this - and I’d have thought that changes to the EHCP process would be big news. Where did you read about it?

I don't understand how they are going to justify this to their voters... 🤔 I could even understand the perverted logic of attacking disabled people ("forcing them to work even if the can't"), but destroying state education for the "masses", not just for the "filthy rich", effectively reducing their future employment opportunities... 🤯 And right after they promised VAT would bring money to state sector! 🤷‍♀️

Having said that, the elites probably don't have to justify anything these days...

What a circus.

So completely depressing. Labour can’t deliver on improving state, the VAT policy was a red meat nonsense.

Labour's education policy is pretty unfathomable to be honest. I think the Schools Bill is a very worrying document.

The schools Wellbeing Bill doesn't cover send much.

The white paper covering send isn't published or even confirmed.

The last I saw the education select committee wrote to the schools minister asking her to set out plans, as there have been reports that there might be an imminent publication. The rumours were it would make ehcps harder to get.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/mar/03/ministers-plan-major-changes-to-send-education-in-england