Tough choices in a tough context - a missed opportunity?

Earlier this year, we joined with over 120 of our members in sending an open letter to the Chancellor ahead of the spring statement. In that letter, we emphasised the importance of investing in the systems that support children and families so we can build a society that delivers opportunity for all, as well as the Government’s other missions.

We know the Government had no easy choices, only difficult trade-offs, in yesterday’s Spending Review, and we were very pleased to see some of the investments being made even in this climate. For example, we welcome the increased investment in schools, including a 4% pay rise for all school and college teachers from September, and the extension of free school meals to children whose families are eligible for Universal Credit – a change we’ve called for over the past three years.

We further welcome the Government’s announcement of TechFirst – a £187 million investment in bringing AI and digital skills into classrooms – and TechYouth – a programme to give secondary school students the chance to learn about tech careers and gain new skills. For these investments to have the greatest impact, we need an education system that can keep pace with change. This includes urgent attention to the digital divide for low-income households and the schools and colleges that serve them. It also includes ensuring that that all young people – especially those at greatest risk of being left behind – have the foundational and essential skills to learn the technical skills employers will need. Further, we need more expert school and college teachers who can deliver a curriculum fit for a rapidly changing world, and we need those teachers across the whole country.

We are also concerned that there has been no spending allocated to the areas that could have the biggest impact on disadvantage, especially in this three-year review. 

The first of these is Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. We called for joint research by the Department for Health and Social Care and the Department for Education to understand why certain needs are rising rapidly, and where targeted support in schools is most impactful.  We eagerly await the forthcoming White Paper on SEND and hope that it will be the start of better cross-departmental working and reform on this issue.  

Second, in addition to extending free school meals eligibility to all children whose families are eligible for Universal Credit, we called for a national auto-enrolment system for free school meals so no child misses out to due admin. Further, we called for a 16-19 Student Premium, because education and training are mandatory to 18, but targeted disadvantage funding ends at 16. Post-16 education has been sorely underfunded in the past decade, which further exacerbates the effects of the pupil premium ending at 16 – especially if we are to equip young people with the skills to step into the jobs of the future.

Third, we called for data to help us understand the holistic experiences of young people, and what’s having an impact, including through a National Children’s Wellbeing Measurement Programme. The Our Wellbeing, Our Voice coalition has shown the power of measuring wellbeing, so we are disappointed to see that there has been no provision in the Spending Review for such a crucial piece of the Government’s mission-led approach.

Finally, we called on the Government to fund programmes that support services to work together for families in their communities, including expanding the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme, and embedding a common outcomes framework to underpin the Government’s investments in data.  While we’re pleased that the Family Hubs and Start for Life programmes have been funded for another year, we need a long-term strategy for integrated services that put the family at the centre, available everywhere it’s needed. 

While this multi-year Spending Review missed many opportunities to prioritise a more equal future for children and families, Government departments can still begin working toward better join-up and collaboration between departments now. Other recommendations, such as free school meal auto-enrolment, a Student Premium, and further development of Family Hubs, are key to making the Opportunity Mission a reality, yet still require significant additional investment. We hope the Government will work with our members to make these a reality.