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2 May 2026

Tag: school funding

DfE raids own coffers for a tenth of £3.1bn catch-up cash

More than a tenth of the government’s £3.1 billion education catch-up funding is coming from existing Department for Education budgets, ministers have admitted. Education secretary Gavin Williamson has provided a full breakdown of how much money will be spent across various education recovery pledges over the coming years, after MPs demanded answers in June. In […]

Two-thirds of heads warn schools face cuts despite ‘record’ funding

Two-thirds of primary school leaders say sharp cutbacks could be needed to balance their books in two years’ time, according to a union survey. The NAHT union warned almost a third of those polled had already made cuts in the past year, with some heads revealing they had cut teaching assistant and site manager roles […]

National insurance rise: Government to ‘compensate’ public sector employers

The government plans to “compensate” schools and other public sector employers for national insurance contribution increases under new health and social care reforms. Prime minister Boris Johnson today set out plans to increase national insurance contributions by both employees and employers by 1.25 percentage points from next April. The so-called “health and social care levy”, […]

Study finds pupil premium cuts £43m worse than DfE admits

Schools will miss out on £43 million more in pupil premium funding for the poorest children than admitted by the government, new analysis suggests. The Education Datalab research indicates almost 104,000 children receiving free school meals will not attract extra funding after the government’s “stealth cut”. The Department for Education’s own analysis published last month […]

£45 million for schools to prevent violence ‘nowhere near’ amount needed

Experts have warned £45 million package of school funding is “nowhere near” enough to tackle youth violence, highlighting a decade of cutbacks to public services and the need for more wide-ranging reforms. The government announced the funding on Monday as part of a wider “beating crime plan”, promising to launch schools-based taskforces in “serious violence […]

Treasury marks DfE’s 11,500-word homework laying out its vision

The Department for Education has published an 11,590-word “outcome delivery plan,” detailing the wide-ranging goals and performance metrics it agreed with the Treasury last year to justify its funding. Sector leaders welcomed the move to greater transparency and accountability. But they said the DfE’s plan lacked detail overall and lacked metrics in significant areas, including […]

National funding formula: Extra cash for 1,300 remote schools

The government has more than doubled a funding pot for small schools in remote areas, with up to 1,300 more schools eligible for the cash next year. The Department for Education outlined on Monday how NFF cash will be allocated in 2022-23, including what individual schools would receive if every council adopted the “hard” NFF. […]