Recently the published the following announcement:
Budget announcement to help children affected by pandemic disruption is climb-down for chancellor
Rishi Sunak has bowed to pleas for more help for children and young people affected by the disruption to their education caused by the Covid pandemic, unveiling a further 拢1.8bn to fund catch-up and tutoring classes in England.
With 拢1bn expected to be earmarked for pupils aged up to 16, and 拢800m for students aged 16-19, the announcement means that the government has now committed close to 拢5bn for recovery programmes, including the national tutoring programme and funding allocated directly to schools.
The announcement marks a climb-down by Sunak, who as recently as Sunday had said the government had 鈥渕axed out鈥� its funding for education catch-up spending
However, the 拢5bn total remains far below the figure of 拢15bn required by the government鈥檚 own education recovery commissioner, Sir Kevan Collins, who resigned earlier this year after the government failed to back the spending required to fund his plans, including a longer school day.
But the 拢800m increase for colleges was welcomed by the further education sector, which has complained of being overlooked in previous funding rounds. David Hughes, chief executive of the Association of聽, said the extra funding would be a 鈥渓ifeline鈥� for older students with the least time remaining in formal education.
鈥淲e know that the opportunities for young people have reduced for many who missed out during the pandemic on their learning, training and wider enrichment. This funding will go some way to help colleges offer them a chance to make up for that, building a foundation for their next steps,鈥� Hughes said.
The chancellor reiterated the government鈥檚 plans to return per pupil funding in real terms to the levels last seen in 2010, with a further 拢4.7bn in the overall funding allocation for schools by 2024-25.
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: 鈥淭aking so long to restore the cuts made from 2010 onwards should not be a matter of pride for any government, but one of embarrassment.
鈥淲ith just 拢2bn added, the government鈥檚 plan for education recovery is completely inadequate. Recovery tsar Sir Kevan Collins proposed a 拢15bn package and resigned when it was rejected. Even with the announcement today, the chancellor is operating at around a third of that price. This is simply not good enough. Recovery will take years of work and investment.鈥�
The Treasury鈥檚 documents suggested that additional pay rises for teachers proposed by the government would have to be met out of existing school budgets.
Sunak also confirmed that an extra 拢2.6bn would be allocated over the next three years to create 30,000 more school places for children and young people with special needs and disabilities.
The new places would be created in both mainstream and special educational needs schools, as well as spending to improve access in existing buildings and to construct special and alternative provision schools.
The funds should relieve pressure on local authorities to provide special school places, with many having to overspend their budgets on independent schools to met their legal obligations.
Mike Hobday, director of policy at the National Deaf Children鈥檚 Society, said: 鈥淭his extra investment by the government is welcome and we hope it will help deaf children but the fact remains that the special educational needs system has been chronically under-funded for years.
鈥淲e now urgently need more teachers of the deaf, as numbers have fallen by 15% since 2011. While the plan to build new specialist classrooms is helpful, bricks and mortar alone won鈥檛 ensure the next generation of deaf talent doesn鈥檛 fall by the wayside. We need investment in school support and specialist services.鈥�
