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 the (a) reduction to the National Insurance threshold and (b) costs for employing part-time (i) teaching assistants and (ii) school support staff on (A) special education providers and (B) local authorities' high needs budgets.

The government has agreed that the department will be compensated for the increase in National Insurance Contributions (NICs) paid by state-funding schools. Work is underway to determine how much the department will receive for those employers within its remit.

Compensation for special education providers funded from local authorities’ high needs budgets will be additional to the £1 billion increase to high needs funding announced at the Autumn Budget 2024. Due to timing constraints, NICs funding will need to be provided as a separate grant, alongside the dedicated schools grant, in 2025/26.