Schools to cut staff in budget squeeze, union says

As reported by the BBC, many schools in England are considering cutting teachers or teaching hours to save money, says the head teachers’ union, NAHT

Of the 11,000 respondents to NAHT’s snapshot survey, 66% said they will have to make teaching assistants redundant or cut their hours. Half say they could do the same for teachers.

Energy costs and teacher pay rises are putting pressure on school budgets.

The government said it had increased school funding by £4bn this year.

Ahead of the government’s autumn statement next week, which is expected to bring widespread public funding cuts, the NAHT asked heads and other senior school staff about managing their budgets.

The 11,000 responses from NAHT members, who mostly teach in primary rather than secondary schools, give a good overview of the decisions they are making this school year.

More than half of those who replied (54%) said they would not be able to balance their budgets unless they make spending cuts.

Many also warned they would have to reduce support for children, such as counselling for mental health issues, or extra help for individual pupils.

Some schools have already told the BBC they might have to axe school trips and music lessons to avoid cutting staff, as they struggle to pay teachers their five per cent rise.

Teachers are considering going on strike over the pay rises, which education unions say are far below inflation, but the government describes as the highest in a generation.

The Department for Education said it understood the challenges caused by high inflation, adding that all schools could benefit from the Energy Bill Relief Scheme and the core funding for schools had risen to £53.8bn this year.

Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s shadow education secretary, said the prime minister could help “suffering” schools by ending tax benefits for private schools, and investing that money “in our brilliant state schools”.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said in the summer that if he won the next general election he would stop private schools from having the benefit of charitable status, which gives certain advantages such as being able to pay less tax.