Fury over DfE’s tips for schools on saving cash

Most schools have already stripped costs ‘down to the bone,’ says NEU teaching union
30th August 2018, 6:55pm

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Fury over DfE’s tips for schools on saving cash

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/fury-over-dfes-tips-schools-saving-cash
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The UK’s largest teaching union has hit out at the Department for Education’s new strategy to help schools cut costs - and instead is calling for an additional £2 billion “to restore per-pupil-funding to 2015-16 levels.”

The NEU teaching union says schools have already cut costs drastically - from staff to school trips to dropping subjects from the curriculum, and says the government strategy implies the school’s funding crisis can be resolved through better budgeting.

NEU assistant general secretary Nansi Ellis accused education secretary Damian Hinds of “tinkering around at the edges”, and said the cost-cutting suggestions had either already been implemented in schools or “go nowhere near addressing the shortfall of cash needed to run a school effectively”.

But in exclusive interview with Tes, Mr Hinds offered schools no hope that they will see their funding rise in the years to come.

Instead, he highlighted the DfE’s cost-cutting advice, known as the School Resource Management Strategy, which includes cost-cutting tips in areas such as photocopying, insurance and water bills.

Better procurement and government-approved deals on energy bills have already helped schools to save £106 million between 2014-15 and 2016-17, says the government.

That includes £200,000 for one school after it reviewed contracts for utilities and maintenance costs, while 68 schools in the south-west of England are set to save a combined £254,000 by finding a water supplier in one round of procurement, rather than individually.

But Ms Ellis added: “Head teachers will be justifiably furious at the suggestion from Damian Hinds that the school funding crisis is an issue that can be resolved through better budgeting.

“The majority of schools have already pared their outgoings and costs down to the bone, and even with bulk purchasing and other economies of scale they cannot match the scale of the problem facing schools.

“As a result of a lack of government funding schools have cut staff, increased class sizes, dropped subjects from the curriculum, cut school trips, postponed building repairs and cut back on resources. None of these decisions have been taken lightly but out of absolute necessity. 

 “The losers here are our children and young people who are seeing the quality and breadth of the education they receive being cut back at an extraordinary rate. ”

The School Resource Management Strategy will be officially launched by Mr Hinds tomorrow.

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