Schools will get help with soaring energy costs via a six-month government support scheme, prime minister Liz Truss announced today.
Earlier this week the new prime minister pledged to “deliver on the energy crisis”, though did not offer further details.
Speaking in Parliament today, Ms Truss announced a new energy price guarantee, which will hold average household bills to no more than £2,500 from 1 October, and followed this by promising that businesses and “public sector organisations” would also receive support.
In a written ministerial statement on the Parliament website, business secretary Jacob Rees-Mogg said: “Government will also support all business, charities and public sector organisations with their energy costs this winter, offering an equivalent guarantee for six months.”
The prime minister also said she would offer further support for “vulnerable” sectors after this, with a review in three months, - but she said details on how this and the school support package will work will not come until the chancellor makes a fiscal statement later this month.
And the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) would also not confirm any details on what the maximum rate that schools would pay under the “equivalent guarantee” would be, saying further information would be set out in due course.
Government support to help schools with energy bills
Many schools are projecting that their high energy bills will last well beyond the next six months, with one large multi-academy trust telling Tes last month that it projected its energy bill will rise to £14.3 million across the whole of 2022-23, a huge increase of £9.2 million on last year.
Reacting to the announcement today, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We are pleased that the government is extending the energy price guarantee to schools and colleges. The financial pressure they face as a result of soaring energy costs is eye-watering and unsustainable, and this intervention is desperately needed.
“However, we are concerned that the prime minister’s announcement seems to indicate that this guarantee will last for only six months and we will be seeking clarification about what happens beyond then, as well as more detail about exactly how the guarantee will work.
“There is absolutely no way that schools and colleges can bear unrestrained energy cost increases at any point without this impacting on educational provision.”
And Leora Cruddas, CEO of the Confederation of School Trusts, said that while her organisation was “pleased” to see the announcement, if the support was only for six months, this created “its own set of difficulties”.
“Schools and trusts need budget security over the whole financial year, not just for the sixth-month period beginning in October 2022,” she added.
“The late announcements on the teachers’ pay award and support staff pay offer has already impacted on fiscal planning for trusts. Further uncertainty over energy costs in this financial year will impact negatively on the ability of trusts to make secure financial decisions and exercise financial governance.”
Heads warn over ‘catastrophic’ impact
Headteachers have been warning about the “catastrophic” impact that rising energy bills will have on their budgets for months now. The NAHT school leaders’ union said some of its members have reported 500 per cent increases in energy bills.
Some school leaders have said they plan to turn on their heating later in the year, as well as making staff cuts, in a bid to cope with squeezed budgets.
Many schools have also chosen to write to parents outlining the cuts they will be forced to make.
The energy bill rises have hit at the same time as schools face financial pressure in other areas, too, with pay rises for teachers and support staff having to be funded from existing budgets.
