Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of providing financial support to specialist education colleges to help mitigate the increase in employer National Insurance contributions.

The department is receiving compensation in recognition of the increase in National Insurance contributions (NICs) paid by institutions it funds, including colleges, schools and other state-funded special education needs and disabilities provision. Work is in progress to determine how that funding will be distributed, and more information will be provided as soon as is practicable. This NICs funding will be in addition to the £300 million and £1 billion funding increases announced at the Autumn Budget 2024 for further education and young people with high needs respectively, in 2025/26.