More than £300m could be taken from DfE budget to fund defence

More than £300 million could be taken from the Department for Education’s capital budget over the next four years to fund increased defence spending, government documents suggest.

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced today that the UK had to be prepared for war as he set out the Defence Investment Plan.

The new defence settlement involves an extra £15 billion over four years, partly funded by cuts to capital budgets from other departments.

The DfE allocates capital funding each year to help maintain and improve the condition of school estates.

This includes the School Condition Allocations, the Condition Improvement Fund, Devolved Formula Capital and the High-needs Provision Capital Allocations.

The DfE was allocated £8.3 billion in capital funding for 2026-27 and £7.7 billion each year until 2029-30 in the 2025 spending review.

DfE funding diverted to defence

A document published today setting out how the defence plans will be funded says departments across government have been asked to contribute 1p in every £1 - or 1 per cent - of their capital budgets from this year until 2029-30.

The DfE’s total capital budget over the period from 2026-27 to 2029-30 is £31.4 billion.

This would mean £314 million is set to be taken from the department’s budget.

The DfE has not provided a figure after being asked by Tes to confirm the exact amount that will be taken.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the extra money for the Defence Investment Plan had come from “reprioritising spending” across government.

Sir Keir set out where the funding trade-offs had been made, saying that there were “no easy answers”.

“It is funded by reallocating spending from across government departments, reallocating capital budgets by one penny in every pound, while still maintaining public investment at the highest sustained levels since the 1970s,” he said.

“Therefore, some capital projects, for example on roads and energy, which are important but not immediately vital, will no longer go ahead as planned.”

‘Children will suffer’

Responding to the budget cut, Julia Harnden, deputy director of policy at the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “School and college buildings have fallen into a state of disrepair as a result of insufficient capital funding for repairs and maintenance.

“Cutting this budget further is going to make it even more difficult to ensure that our schools and colleges are fit for the future.

“We understand the strains on the Treasury, and the arguments for increased defence spending, but we are disappointed that education, once again, loses out and, ultimately, it is children and young people who will suffer as a result.”

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said the cuts to the capital budget will be a “real concern” to school leaders.

“From leaking roofs to damp and ageing boilers, many school buildings are simply not fit for purpose,” he said.

“With the best will in the world, these kind of conditions inevitably harm the ability of staff to teach and children to learn, and we saw last week how schools need fresh investment to better cope with extremes of temperature brought on by climate change.”

Mr Whiteman added: “Children’s education should not be sacrificed to fund spending commitments elsewhere, however important they may be.”

The National Audit Office has estimated that it would cost at least £13.8 billion to address the backlog of repairs and remedial work across schools in England.

Funding for school maintenance and special educational needs capital funding will be protected against cuts, Tes understands.

The government’s Schools Rebuilding Programme and its plan to remove reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) are also said to be unaffected.