- Senior school leaders report cutting teaching assistants
(71%), support staff (49%) and teaching staff (30%) since last
year.
- 86% still believe Pupil Premium funding isn't enough, while
43% continue to use it to plug other gaps in their school's
budget.
- 43% have cut back on support for pupils with SEND.
- 4 out of 5 senior leaders expect to make further cuts in the
year ahead.
Schools are continuing to cut back on staff, subjects and SEND
support, according to new polling published today. Despite
overall increases in school funding over the past year, most
schools are still struggling with squeezed finances.
The survey of 1,105 teachers, conducted by the National
Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) for the Sutton Trust,
reveals many senior leaders reporting cuts to teaching assistants
(71%), support staff (49%) and teaching staff (30%).
4 in 10 senior leaders (43%) reported cuts to support for pupils
with SEND. These cuts were particularly acute in primary schools
(45% vs 25% for secondaries). This underlines the urgent need for
action on staffing capacity if mainstream schools are to educate
more pupils with SEND.
Around 3 in 10 secondary school leaders continue to report cuts
to subject choices at GCSE (30%), and at A Level (28%). 49% of
all school leaders reported making cuts to IT equipment, 47% to
trips and outings and 32% to sports and other extracurricular
activities. Again, the scale of these cuts was more drastic for
primary schools, which were also twice as likely to report cuts
to sports and extracurricular activities than secondary leaders
(34% vs 15%).
Meanwhile, ahead of a government consultation on the funding
model for disadvantaged pupils, views on the Pupil Premium (extra
funding for pupils from low-income homes) have barely improved
since last year. A huge 86% of senior leaders still believe the
Pupil Premium is not enough. And despite overall increases in
school funding, 43% of senior leaders reported that they're still
having to use Pupil Premium to plug gaps elsewhere in their
school's budget.
The polling does indicate some improvements over the past year.
Most notably, the proportion of secondary senior leaders
reporting cuts to teaching staff saw the largest improvement, at
38% down from last year's high of 51%.
But optimism about the future is limited. For the first time, the
Sutton Trust asked teachers whether they expected their school
would have to make cuts in the next academic year (2026/27). 4
out of 5 expect to make cuts in the year ahead (81%). The most
common areas for anticipated cuts were on teaching assistants
(59%) and tutoring (41%).
This also reflects the continued decline of in-school tutoring in
recent years. Around half (52%) of senior leaders reported having
had to make cuts to one-to-one and small group tutoring for
financial reasons. Meanwhile, 72% of those in schools that had
taken part in the post-pandemic National Tutoring Programme
reported providing much less tutoring since that scheme ended.
This matters, because in-person tutoring is an effective means of
closing the attainment gap between the most and least
disadvantaged pupils.
The Sutton Trust is calling for a boost to funding where it can
make the most difference. This should start with rebalancing the
national funding formula back towards the most disadvantaged
communities, and restoring the Pupil Premium back to its 2014/15
levels, as its value has been decimated by inflation over that
time. This will help to deliver on the government's bold ambition
to halve the disadvantage gap by 2040.
Extra resources for school staffing and access to specialist SEND
support are also urgently needed, if mainstream schools are to
deliver on the government's ambitions to improve the availability
and quality of SEND support.
Commenting, Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust,
said:
‘Schools are in a financial crisis that's more than a decade and
a half in the making, and we're seeing the long-term results of
those cuts today. Meanwhile, the funds intended for the most
disadvantaged children are being further devalued and diverted
elsewhere. And there remains considerable uncertainty about how
the huge SEND reforms will be paid for.
‘With ambitious government reforms on the horizon, now is the
time to target measures that will rebalance funding towards the
pupils and schools that need it most. At some point, we need to
decide whether we're serious about education in this country or
not.'
Ends
Notes to Editors:
- Unless otherwise stated, all figures refer to both primary
and secondary school leaders.
- The National Foundation for
Educational Research (NFER) is a leading independent provider
of education research. The NFER runs Teacher Voice Omnibus
Surveys three times a year, in the autumn, spring and summer
terms. The robust survey achieves responses from over 1,000
practising teachers from schools in the publicly funded sector in
England. The panel is representative of teachers from the full
range of roles in primary and secondary schools, from head
teachers to newly qualified class teachers. 1,105 practicing
teachers from 958 schools in the publicly funded sector in
England completed the survey online between 6 - 11 March 2026.
