Nearly eight in 10 special and primary schools cannot afford basic provision for pupils, a survey by the NEU teaching union shows.

The equivalent figure in secondary schools is 65 per cent, and in the poll of 2,000 NEU members, overall 71 per cent of teachers said their school could not afford the basics.

The findings come as NEU members are set to vote in an indicative ballot from late next month, asking whether they would be willing to strike over school funding, pay and workload.

Schools ‘chronically underfunded’

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Schools are running on empty. Chronic underfunding means fewer teaching assistants and larger classes.

“A failure to get on top of the recruitment and retention crisis is driving up workload for all staff.”

Some 81 per cent of the teachers surveyed said staff in their school have left without being replaced.

In secondary schools, the same proportion (81 per cent) said their class sizes are too big.

Mr Kebede added: “The reality on the ground is caused by underfunding, but the effects are high workload for teachers and burnout leading to staff shortages.

“For parents, it is a failure of government to ensure that schools can even deliver the most ‘basic provision’ for their children.”

One teacher responding to the NEU survey said: “My school’s budget is so tight at the moment that we’re discussing no longer having whiteboards and pens due to the cost of replacing whiteboard pens.”

Strike ballot next month

Following the government’s Autumn Budget in November, the union decided to hold an indicative ballot, which will open on Saturday 28 February.

The NEU said at the time that the government had failed to address the funding situation schools were facing.

In 2025 the Institute for Fiscal Studies said schools were dealing with “a particularly tight set of pressures” in 2025-26, with rising costs expected to require them to make savings despite increases in funding.

The Department for Education has recommended teachers’ pay should rise by 6.5 per cent across the next three years, which teaching unions have said will exacerbate recruitment issues in schools.

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