Commenting on the Chancellor’s Budget statement, Dr Mary
Bousted, Joint General Secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
“Investing in the education of this generation of children and
young people, those hit so hard by Covid, is essential to
economic recovery. Government, however, has turned its back on
them. There is a continued failure to make the investment
in education that is needed.
“Schools still have lower real-terms per pupil funding than in
2010. This is an unprecedented squeeze on school
finances. The Government have cut capital spending by
£32.3bn since 2010, leaving schools in a state of disrepair with
thousands in an extremely poor state.
“If we are to tackle the serious recruitment and retention
problems and repair the damage to education, major changes are
needed to the Government’s unjustified and dangerous austerity
policies. Improving pay for ordinary people is not only essential
to defending them against the impact of the worst cost-of-living
crisis in decades – it is also essential to support spending
power and economic growth. On today’s evidence, the Government
clearly prefers austerity policies despite the damage they
cause.
“Teachers and support staff have suffered greatly from attacks on
the public sector. Significant real-terms pay cuts since 2010
have directly contributed to the recruitment and retention crisis
in education. Lower inflation tomorrow does nothing to repair the
damage wreaked by rocketing inflation to date.
“The Government should be supporting and valuing our members for
the vital job they do, but instead they undermine it. The
Chancellor could raise huge amounts through fair wealth taxes,
including equalising capital gains with income tax rates, and
invest this in education for the good of the country as a whole.
He chooses not to. These are political choices that will compound
the damage to public services, including our education
service.
“The NEU’s demand for fully funded, above-inflation pay rises for
teachers and support staff in schools and colleges is also
supported by parents. They know that a Government which fails to
invest properly in education also fails our young people and
damages our economy. Today’s budget statement shows that this
Government is ignoring the consequences of political choices it
has made. The public will hold the Government to account for that
damage. needs to start negotiating
with us if we are to turn this ship around.
"Working parents in the UK face much higher childcare costs than
families in Europe. Increasing affordability must not come at the
expense of quality or the largely female childcare and early
years workforce. The change to the cap for parents who are
eligible for Universal Credit is a good step, which the NEU has
recommended, but the sector overall has serious shortfalls in
funding which undermine viability. We need the Government to fund
all entitlements sufficiently, so parents do not have to pay high
‘top-up’ charges to cover costs.”
