Spring 2024 Budget Response: Opportunity missed to invest in children and young people

Today, the Chancellor emphasised the need for growth. Of course, we support the growth of our economy; this is how opportunity will be ensured for the next generation, and the engine by which greater equality can be achieved.  

However, sustainable economic growth must begin with increased support for young people so they can engage with the education system and develop—regardless of the obstacles in their lives—the skills to thrive in work and life, from early childhood to adulthood.  

In our recent open letter we made three targeted asks of the Chancellor, all measures that would close the gap between poorer and wealthier pupils, which stands at its highest point in a decade. Unfortunately, we find ourselves reiterating these asks today:  

• Bolster school funding so those funding streams meant to mitigate the impacts of poverty can better meet rising need and increased costs, including by extending eligibility for Free School Meals and restoring real-terms funding to the Pupil Premium.  

• Introduce 30 hours of funded early years education for all three and four-year-old children, regardless of parental education or employment status.  Whilst today’s announcement of additional investment in rates paid to early years settings will help their sustainability, it won’t support the development of children most in need of support before they start school.   

• Continue to invest in high-quality 1–1 and small-group tuition for the pupils who most need it, as urged last month by a cross-party group of MPs. 

We welcome the Government’s commitments to provide support for low-income households, such as the continuation of the Household Support Fund, the increase in the repayment period for emergency budgeting loans, and the removal of fees for Debt Relief Orders. We also welcome support for pupils with special educational needs, although we need a much more comprehensive strategy and investment than the 15 new free special schools announced.  

We’re disappointed that no measures were introduced to address the root causes of the disadvantage gap in education, as our Fair Education Manifesto describes. The budget was silent on any support for the early intervention services that children desperately need, instead allowing issues and barriers to grow in seriousness and cost. That’s why we’ve joined our member National Children’s Bureau in their Children at the Table campaign, calling for the rebuilding of children’s services and action to alleviate child poverty, starting now. You can read the campaign’s statement here. 

Our children and young people will power the economy of tomorrow; we urge the Government to invest in their futures now.  

Autumn 2023 Budget Response: To spread opportunity and create a more prosperous society, we need investment in education and the services supporting families

At Conservative Party Conference the Prime Minister said, “My main funding priority in every spending review from now on will be education. It is the best economic policy, the best social policy, and the best moral policy. It is the best way to spread opportunity and create a more prosperous society”. Then, earlier this week, he announced ‘delivering world-class education’ as one of his five economic priorities. Education is also one of the Chancellor’s ‘four Es’ of economic growth and prosperity announced earlier this year.  

However, yesterday’s budget hasn’t made education a priority. We made four asks of the Chancellor in our Open Letter, which evidence shows us will help us close the gap between poorer and wealthier pupils: 

• Bolster school funding so those funding streams meant to mitigate the impacts of poverty can better meet rising need, including by extending eligibility for Free School Meals and restoring real-terms funding to the Pupil Premium. 

• Introduce 30 hours of funded early years education for all three and four-year-old children, regardless of parental education or employment status.  

• Continue to invest in high-quality 1-1 and small-group tuition for the pupils who most need it.   

These were not met, nor were other measures introduced that might help us narrow the gap in educational outcomes between wealthier and poorer pupils, which stands at its highest point in a decade. 

Further, the overall lack of investment in public services in this budget is worrying. We know that a lack of resources for the services supporting the families in greatest need is a huge barrier to equality of opportunity, and to the ability of schools to provide a great education for every child. That’s why we called for better join-up and funding of the services supporting families in our Fair Education Manifesto. However, the Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that this Autumn Budget will result in a real terms £19bn reduction in public services spending. We worry that reductions to National Insurance contributions will exacerbate this. 

We do, however, welcome some of the spending commitments that were made in the budget. The announcement of £50 million for apprenticeship training over the next two years is positive, however we urge those developing the detail to consider how this funding can support the employability of disadvantaged young people, who face much higher levels of unemployment and find the tech industries mentioned in the budget particularly difficult to access.

We also welcome the 9.8% rise in the National Living Wage, which will enable working parents and carers to better provide for the basic needs of their children. However, this support does not extend to the children and young people with non-working parents or carers, or those who are in the care of the State.  

We encourage the Government to reflect on the interconnectedness in the services supporting families and children, and to invest now in giving all children the best opportunities, which will help the Government achieve its goal of a more prosperous future for the country.   

Spring 2023 Budget Response: While investment in childcare is welcome, inaction on supporting the poorest children is disappointing

On a day when millions of the country’s children are impacted by teachers’ strikes, and a growing number of these children are facing poverty-related barriers to their education, we read today’s budget announcement with interest. 

We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement that substantial government investment will be made in childcare, with 30 free hours being extended to one and two-year-olds. Early years provision is a critical piece of the puzzle in tackling educational inequality – the lowest-income children are an average of 11 months behind their wealthier classmates when they start primary school. However, today’s announcement is unlikely to close this gap. 

• Currently, only 20% of the poorest children are eligible for 30 free hours at age three and four. Today’s announcement does not extend eligibility to those children currently missing out. 

• As we’ve heard from a range of school leaders, high-quality nursery can support a range of early interventions, including building social, emotional and language capabilities that can be diagnosed as Special Educational Needs later on.

• The additional investment comes with a relaxation of ratios – putting further demands on an already understaffed and underpaid Early Years workforce. We must invest in our Early Years workforce, recognising the skill and dedication required, making it an attractive profession, and ensuring that the early years provision children are receiving is high quality. 

We were also dismayed to see no additional investment in addressing the root cause of so many of the inequalities we see growing in education: poverty. We, alongside our partners in the Education Anti-Poverty Coalition, called on government to address rising poverty in two basic ways:  

• An expansion of those eligible for Free School Meals  

• An uplift to Child Benefit of £20 per week.  

Poverty at home is the strongest statistical predictor of how well a child will do in school. Children who are worried, hungry, tired, more frequently ill, and lack resources and adequate clothing, find it harder to learn -- and indeed to even show up to school.  We must listen to the teachers and school leaders who have seen the symptoms of poverty rising in the pupils they serve, and we hope the Chancellor and his partners in Government will reconsider their inaction.  

The Fair Education Alliance responds to the announcement of a strike by the National Education Union

We are saddened to hear of the National Education Union’s (‘NEU’) decision to strike this February and March. The decision makes clear the seriousness of the challenges facing the teaching workforce, challenges resulting from underinvestment in the English education system over a decade. The issues driving this action – pay and workload – are the same issues driving the national teacher recruitment and retention crisis. Teacher shortages are most acute for schools serving the disadvantaged populations of pupils, including poorer communities and those in geographies that struggle to attract and retain talent. We know that high-quality teaching is critically linked to academic outcomes, and at a time when we see the disadvantage gap at the highest point in a decade, it’s more important than ever that we do all in our power to secure excellent teachers for every child.

We urge government to come to a fair pay agreement with the NEU, and also to get serious in tacking teacher workload, so we can attract and retain enough great teachers to serve all children and young people. Alongside this, we must do all we can to create an inclusive environment where all teachers feel able to do their best. That includes supporting parents through flexible working and support to balance work and family, and racial inclusion so our teacher population reflects the children they serve. We look forward to working with our members and others across the sector to do what’s in our power to improve conditions for teachers.

What do young people want from the education sector next year?

Yedidia and Michelle, work experience students, on the roof of the Fair Education Alliance building.

Last week at the FEA, we had the privilege of hosting two wonderful work experience students through TeachFirst. They shared with us what they learned and what they would like to see change in the education system to adapt to life after the pandemic.

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Dear FEA,

As part of our work experience with the FEA, we studied Reconnect London data from a survey of 250 young people in London on the question ‘Following the pandemic, if you could have extra help or support with one thing at school, what would it be?' From these results, it's clear the education system is still suffering. 

Though the responses from students to the open question varied, we were able to identify two prominent issues: catch up and mental health support.  

The survey revealed a rise in uncertainty regarding learning, with 72% of students reporting working from home greatly impacted them. The solution for these students was simple. They requested changes to the way lessons were taught to account for lost learning and more lessons or interventions to help them catch up in areas they felt behind in. Students aren’t renowned for wanting to spend more time than necessary in school, so these requests demonstrate the maturity with which students are handling the situation and more importantly, the need for schools to take urgent action. As a Year 12 student put it, “Extra support with work, a more detailed guide to revision, extended deadlines and patience would be very much appreciated…”.

Another pressing theme was the necessity of support for students who are behind in school because they cannot afford important resources. These included Wi-Fi and tutors – such as those provided through a number of FEA members – to help them catch up. 
 
This academic insecurity also ties in with mental health, which was explicitly mentioned over 21 times, making it the main focus that we as young people want to discuss.  We know students need help, but some schools do not have counsellors, and those that do are overwhelmed. Therefore students reported feeling there is no one to talk to, which can further contribute to being unable to catch up and reach their academic potential. We identified two ideas that young people think could help in addition to counsellors in every school:

• Workshops discussing the reality of mental wellbeing

• More teachers considering students as individual people that have feelings and experiences, rather than simply learners.

As students ourselves, the trends the survey has shown are not surprising. We have seen students unable to have their voices heard, express themselves, or have their needs met.  There are times when it doesn’t feel like support is equally distributed, and instead focused on students who are more likely to get higher grades. This has a negative impact on students, who feel that teachers do not value their attention as much as others. This can lead to reduced performance because of a belief they just aren’t good enough. 
 
From these results, and our own lived experience, we believe the attitudes of parents, teachers and schools should change to account for the barriers young people might be facing, to ensure the best performance in all students.

Many thanks, 

Yedidia and Michelle, FEA work experience students