Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will take steps to provide additional funding for pay increases for administrative staff in schools in Buckinghamshire.

This government recognises the vital role that support staff play in children’s education and we are committed to reinstating the School Support Staff Negotiating Body. This reform will ensure that schools can recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver high quality, inclusive education.

Most school support staff are currently employed on the pay and conditions of the National Joint Council (NJC) for local government services. The NJC is a negotiating body made up of representatives from trade unions and local government employers. The 2024/25 pay offer is currently under negotiation.

On 29 July, we announced that we are providing schools with almost £1.1 billion of additional funding in 2024/25, through the new core schools budget grant (CSBG), to support them with their overall costs this year. This matches what we have calculated is needed to fully fund, at a national level, both the support staff pay offer and the teacher pay award in the 2024/25 financial year, after accounting for the overall available headroom in schools’ existing budgets. We recognise that the picture will be different for individual schools. Schools in Buckinghamshire will receive over £8.9 million from the CSBG.