Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support schools with budgetary challenges resulting from teacher salary increases.

Overall school funding is increasing by over £3.2 billion in the 2025/26 financial year, meaning it will total over £64.8 billion compared to almost £61.6 billion in 2024/25. The department recognises that the increases for individual schools will vary, with some getting more and some getting less than the average increase.

The guidance ‘Schools’ costs: technical note’ forecasts £400 million of headroom in schools’ budgets nationally in the 2025/26 financial year, before staff pay awards.

This follows the government’s written evidence to the School Teacher’s Review Body, published in December, which proposed a pay award for teachers of 2.8%. Schools will be expected to fund the 2025 pay award from the additional investment provided at the Autumn Budget 2024, alongside their existing funds.

All parts of the public sector are being asked to improve their efficiency. The department will be developing a suite of productivity initiatives to help schools manage their budgets to maximise opportunities for learners.