The country’s biggest education union has set out “five tests” which it says the chancellor, Philip Hammond, must meet in next week’s Budget.
The National Education Union said the government has “diminished the educational experience” of children and “blighted” teachers’ working lives because of “totally inadequate funding and a teacher and recruitment crisis driven by an intolerable workload and pay freezes”.
Ahead of next Wednesday’s Budget, the union’s five tests to ensure a high-quality education for all children are:
- Reverse school cuts - the government must ensure every school is guaranteed “at least the same money per pupil next year as when it took office in 2015”.
- New money from the Treasury - the Chancellor must announce “genuinely new money for schools” rather than “money taken from other areas of education spending”. The NEU said at least £2 billion is required every year just to maintain funding in real terms in the face of inflation, cost increases and rising pupil numbers.
- Fair funding for high needs, early years and post-16 education - the union said these areas had suffered “even bigger real terms cuts since 2010”.
- A five-year funding plan - to help schools plan for the future, the NEU said “funding must be announced and guaranteed for at least the next five years”.
- Address historic underfunding - schools in historically underfunded areas should receive extra money “through a process of levelling up with better-funded areas”, rather than by “taking money away from some schools to give to other schools”.
The NEU also said the government must restore the pay of education staff to 2010 levels, starting with an immediate 5 per cent increase for teachers.
Mary Bousted, NEU joint general secretary, said: “The chancellor must not fear amending his fiscal rules in line with our five tests to better safeguard our children’s future.
“Totally inadequate funding and a teacher and recruitment crisis driven by an intolerable workload and pay freezes is vastly diminishing the educational experience of children and young people and blighting the working life of many teachers.”
Nick Gibb, minister for school standards, said: “There are no cuts in funding. The introduction of the national funding formula from 2018-19, backed by £1.3 billion of additional investment, has been widely welcomed and will put an end to historic disparities in the system.
“Every school will see an increase in funding through the formula, with secondary schools set to receive at least £4,800 per pupil by 2019-20. As the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed, overall schools funding is being protected at a national level in real terms per pupil over the next two years.”
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