Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) pay rises for staff and (b) increases in energy costs without additional funding on the financial viability of schools for children with special educational needs.

​The Government has been taking careful account of the effect of pay awards for teachers and other staff, energy costs, and other inflationary pressures on school budgets. My right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s Autumn Statement last November announced £2 billion in additional funding for schools.​

​Taking the Dedicated Schools Grant allocations and the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement together, core schools funding (which includes funding for both mainstream schools and special schools) is increasing by £3.5 billion in 2023/24, compared to 2022/23. The core schools budget will total £57.3 billion in 2023/24 and £58.8 billion in 2024/25.​

​The Institute of Fiscal Studies have said that this additional funding will fully cover expected increases in school costs up to 2024 and will take spending per pupil back to at least 2010 levels in real terms. This means 2024/25 will be the highest ever level of spending on schools in real terms per pupil.​

​The additional funding following the Autumn Statement will be allocated to mainstream schools through the new Mainstream Schools Additional Grant (MSAG) in 2023/24, which will be on top of schools’ core funding allocations. A typical primary school with 200 pupils will receive approximately £35,000 in additional funding through the MSAG, and a typical secondary school with 900 pupils approximately £200,000.​

​The Autumn Statement funding will also mean that special schools will receive increases in funding of 3.4%, similar to the average level of increase for mainstream schools, through their local authority. Schools will have flexibility over how they use the additional funding to support their pupils. It will help schools to manage higher costs, including pay awards and higher energy bills.​

​With regard to energy costs, a new energy scheme for businesses, charities, and the public sector was also confirmed on 9 January, ahead of the current Energy Bill Relief Scheme ending in March. The new scheme will mean all eligible UK businesses and other non-domestic energy users, including schools, will receive a discount on high energy bills until 31 March 2024. This is on top of the additional investment in core schools funding announced in the Autumn Statement.​

​The Department knows that every school’s circumstances are different, and where schools are in serious financial difficulty, they should contact their Local Authority in the case of maintained schools or the Education and Skills Funding Agency if they are an academy.