Following today's Spending Review, which provided an update on
public services funding for the current financial year (2020−21),
as well as departmental budgets for 2021−22, the Education Policy
Institute (EPI) has set out its response to announcements
outlined by the Chancellor on education and children and young
people's mental health.
Commenting on the government's school funding
settlement for 2021/22, set out in today's Spending Review,
Natalie Perera, Executive Director of the Education Policy
Institute (EPI), said:
"While it is a positive step that the government is
honouring its commitment to increase the schools budget by £2.2bn
next year, it is disappointing that no additional funding is
available to continue to provide catch up support for pupils who
have had their education disrupted as a result of the
pandemic.
"The most disadvantaged pupils in particular, who
often do not have adequate resources at home, such as laptops,
and who will have lost the most learning time, will continue to
need additional support at school. The adverse effects of
Covid-19 on pupils’ education is likely to continue long after
next year.”
On the distribution of school funding,
Natalie Perera commented:
“While we welcome the government’s commitment to
increasing the schools budget by £2.2bn, we urge Ministers to
take a closer look at how that funding is distributed. Our
analysis shows that under the government’s current funding plans,
schools serving more affluent pupils are likely to see higher
increases to their funding than schools serving more
disadvantaged pupils. This is despite the fact that the gap in
attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is
already over 18 months by the end of secondary school, and is
growing.”
On funding for further education, she
commented:
“It is disappointing that further education funding
for 16-19 year olds does not address the falls in per-student
rates in recent years. This phase of education has been most
severely affected by austerity cuts, losing around 12% per pupil
in real terms over the past decade. If the government is
committed to delivering on its skills and “levelling up” agendas,
it needs to provide the FE sector with a more sustainable funding
settlement.”
Responding to plans for children's mental
health:
"While additional funding announced by the Chancellor
for mental health is welcome, it is currently unclear how much
will be directed to support children's mental
health.
"The experience of the pandemic this year is likely
to have had an adverse impact on many young people. The
proportion of children and young people with mental health
disorders has risen from 16% in 2017 to 20% in October this year,
and it is now estimated that 2 million children and young people
suffer from such disorders. It is likely that we will now see
further increases as the pandemic continues to
unfold.
"Given the scale of the challenge we are facing with
children's mental health and wellbeing, it's important that the
government sets out what proportion of extra funding will be
allocated to young people, how it will be allocated, and whether
funds will be ring-fenced."
