The Budget: Sunak returns pupil funding to “2010 levels”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that per pupil funding would return to “2010 levels” in real terms by 2024-25, making an extra £4.7bn available.
Sunak makes £2.6bn available for new school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities in England, more than tripling current capital funding levels to over £900m by 2024-25.
On the pandemic, Mr Sunak said a further £2bn would be made available for educational recovery. This is significantly less than recommended by educational experts.
For older students, the Budget includes a £3bn “skills revolution” funding, which will be used to fund post-16 education.
Some £1.6bn of the skills education funding will be used to provide extra classroom hours for up to 100,000 16 to 19-year-olds studying for T-levels, technical-based qualifications.
The Treasury will create 24,000 traineeships and use £550m to quadruple the number of places on skills boot camps in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and nuclear.
Existing colleges in England will receive £830m with extra funding for new equipment and facilities.
Apprenticeship funding will rise by £170m to £2.7bn in 2024-25, while free Level 3 courses – equivalent to A-levels – will be expanded in subjects like maths, chemistry, and biology.