NAHT
Call us: 0300 30 30 333
Home Menu

Funding

 
Funding icon.jpg

Schools are at breaking point as funding is not keeping up with the expenditure schools face. The government’s funding commitment for schools is not adequate and equates to a real-terms cut in education spending. The situation is critical for schools, so NAHT is campaigning to:

Lobby the government to provide sufficient funding for the education of all pupils 

 

  • Support the School Cuts campaign
  • Lobby for provision of accessible and available health, social care and other therapeutic services to support pupils' educational progress and attainment
  • Lobby for sufficient funding for the High Needs block
  • Lobby for sufficient funding to support pupils with SEND in all mainstream schools
  • Lobby for more funding for early years education; including specific funding to stabilise and protect the maintained nursery school sector
  • Support the Raise the Rate campaign to ensure sufficient funding for students in sixth form / FE / KS5 education
  • Maximise the funding for pupil premium for schools through auto enrolment
  • Press the government to provide appropriate support to schools for financial planning and resource management
  • Develop a better understanding of the unique challenges facing small schools and lobby the government to ensure their long-term sustainability
  • Lobby government to introduce the hard funding formula

Lobby to ensure that schools have sufficient funds to provide a safe environment for pupils and staff

  • Press for the phased removal of asbestos from the school estate
  • Lobby the DfE to secure sufficient capital funding and restoration of the school estate where required
  • Press the government to ensure that health and safety regulations maintain the highest standard of safety within schools
  • Lobby the DfE to support members to effectively manage the school estate

The Future of Maintained Nursery Schools

Securing the long-term future of maintained nursery schools remains a high priority for NAHT.

While we welcomed the government’s recent announcement that they would be extending the supplementary funding nursery schools receive, we remain clear that there needs to be a sustainable long-term solution. Maintained nurseries cannot survive on short-term measures and warm-words alone.

Last week, we joined a coalition of key stakeholders in writing to the Minister responsible for early years to raise this issue.

We welcomed his public commitment to maintained nursery schools but reiterated the need for a long-term solution. We also took the opportunity to raise a number of related issues, including the fact that the supplementary funding has not risen in-line with inflation and has therefore been subject to a real-terms cut in recent year.

We asked that the minister make contact with local authorities (LAs) to reiterate the government’s commitment to nursery schools. We have become concerned about the number of LAs that have been contacting nursery schools asking them to make contingency plans should the supplementary funding be stopped. This clearly runs counter to the government’s recent announcement and places unnecessary stress on leaders in those schools.

In February, the NAHT Early Years Council will be meeting with the Minister and we will use the opportunity to reinforce these points.

First published 17 January 2020

First published 20 January 2020
;