The UK government has pledged £1.4bn to rebuild 50 schools in England each year to ensure children are not being educated in dilapidated classrooms. The announcement comes after head teachers’ unions called for increased investment in school buildings. Chancellor Rachel Reeves made the spending commitment ahead of the Autumn budget after it was revealed that the Department for Education has been missing its targets for hiring builders. Labour has reportedly warned of “difficult decisions” on the public finances, including tax increases and spending cuts worth £40bn.
In addition to the funding for school rebuilding, Reeves also announced plans for the expansion of free childcare hours and breakfast clubs in primary schools, highlighting the government’s intention to “protect” education in the budget. The treasury confirmed that funding for the next financial year would mean a £550m increase on this year’s spending, helping to ramp up progress towards 50 rebuilds per year. However, overall spending on school and college buildings will be announced in the full budget announcement.
The School Rebuilding Programme, first announced in 2020, aims to rebuild or refurbish around 500 schools in a decade, with only 23 having been completed to date, and a further 490 waiting for work. The BBC revealed that the original projection of 83 contracts being awarded by March 2023 has been revised to just 62, as builders have become nervous about the possibility of construction costs exceeding their budgets. The government has requested an average of £4bn per year between 2021 and 2025, while the Department for Education recommended £5.3bn per year was required to maintain schools once the rebuilding programme had been expanded.
The National Audit Office noted last year that funding levels in England had contributed to the “deterioration” of the wider school estate with the Department for Education reported to have a “significant shortfall” in restoring the school estate to a satisfactory condition. While the money for school buildings has been deemed as helpful, according to Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the head teachers’ union, the NAHT, there remains “a significant shortfall in terms of what is needed to restore the school estate to a satisfactory condition.”
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