Expect "Christmas cuts, not presents" for ALL areas of social support, says Stamford expert
It's after the majority of school bosses announced staff numbers and teaching hours would have to be reduced
A politics expert from Stamford says cuts to education could be just the tip of the iceberg and expects all areas of social support to take a hit in funding over the next few years.
Former head of politics at Stamford College, David Tuck, tells us Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will have some very unpopular decisions to make to try and rescue public finances:
'Rishi Sunak knows that it's going to be difficult and that it's going to be very unpopular. The difficult truth that we're facing is that it's not that the Government won't do anything to help, it's that it can't - the Government is going to have to tax more and cut public spending to balance the books.'
'Expect public spending cuts for the next two years and probably going into the next parliament. There is little Christmas cheer in the public finances and all areas of the welfare state - from schools to hospitals - are facing Christmas cuts, rather than Christmas presents.'
In terms of the education sector - Mr Tuck said he wasn't surprised to hear bosses already facing the problem of reducing staff numbers and teaching hours:
'Faced with such dramatic cost increases, school leaders will be looking to cut staff. From senior managers to teachers, to teaching assistants. This will affect schools in Stamford and Rutland as well as the UK.'
Catastrophic staff redundancies
New research shows more than half of schools in England are looking at potentially "catastrophic" staff redundancies due to underfunding and rising costs.
The headteachers' union is warning a snapshot survey of more than 11,000 school leaders in the country shows two thirds of headteachers will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours.
Half (50%) of respondents said they are looking at reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours.
National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) general secretary Paul Whiteman said educators were being hit by a “perfect storm of costs” as school leaders battled to balance budgets amid “eye-watering energy bills”, spiralling costs and underfunding.
“With no fat left to cut following a decade of austerity, many thousands of schools are now looking at falling into deficit unless they make swingeing cuts.
"Education is truly in a perilous state”
“The only things left to cut are things that will have a real immediate impact on children – and especially those who are already the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. This goes against everything school leaders strive for, and the anger and desperation I am hearing from my members is unprecedented.
“Schools are finding that they have no option but to make redundancies. A reduction in teaching assistants and teachers will be catastrophic, leading to larger class sizes and less support for children with the greatest needs. This cannot be allowed to happen.”
Survey results
The survey’s findings which were released on Tuesday, also had 54% of school leaders say they will go into deficit this year if they did not make further cuts.
Just 5% respondents said they will be able to pay their costs next academic year (23-24) without going into deficit – meaning more than nine in 10 schools won’t be able to balance their budgets without drastic action.
Close to half (47%) of schools said they would be forced to reduce non-educational support and services for children next year, while
Over four in ten (44%) said they would have to reduce spending on additional targeted interventions for pupils requiring additional support.
A third (31%) said they will have to reduce the number of children receiving tutoring support through the National Tutoring Programme (NTP).
“Schools will no longer be able to afford those crucial services that are there to support pupils – things that children rely on not just for education but for their health and wellbeing. Things like in-school mental health services, counselling, and speech and language therapy,” Mr Whiteman said.
“Having refused to fund the proposed post-Covid recovery plan last year, this Government is effectively abandoning the most vulnerable children in society a second time by decimating the support schools can offer during a renewed time of crisis.”
NAHT’s survey was taken between September 21 and 14 October 14, receiving more than 11,000 responses from mostly primary school leaders in England.