With the cost-of-living dominating our news feeds over the recent months families have been feeling the squeeze. As well as the nation, our schools have also been feeling the pressure with soaring energy bills. I want to see if schools will still be able to keep the heating on for those students that may not be able to turn it on at home.
School funding before the cost-of-living crisis
Photo Credit: MChe Lee / Unsplash
Schools have had their funding tightened in recent years. In a report published by the Industrial and Financial Systems (IFS), they found that spending in schools has fallen by 9 per cent from 2009-10 to 2019-20. This fall did come due to a 60 per cent increase in funding during the 2000’s.
Schools will be able to access an extra £4.4 billion for their budgets in 2024-25. However, in the bigger picture it has only realigned school spending with what was spent in 2010. This has resulted in “15 years with no overall spending growth” the IFS said.
Unfortunately, these increases have not been seen across the board. For those schools in deprived areas, spending per pupil has had to take huge cuts. Between 2009-10 and 2019-20 the most deprived schools saw a 14 per cent drop in per pupil spending.
This means for pupils that are attending these deprived schools, those responsible for the school’s finances are under incredible pressure to ensure that children’s wellbeing and education is not affected.
Teachers are also intervening to try and help students. In an article released by the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) their survey revealed that responded said they have given food or clothing to their pupils.
What help are schools getting?
Photo Credit: Vladislav Vasilev / Unsplash
In September, the government outlined plans to help reduce the pressure that schools are feeling with their energy bills, that were set to last to March 2023. The plans will be reviewed by the end of December, where the government will assess if the support continues past the initial six month scheme.
A cost cap has been introduced that means schools will not pay more than £211 per megawatt hour for electricity and £75 per megawatt hour for gas. According to the government, this will save a school that is paying £10,000 per month before the cost-of-living crisis £4,000 per month on their energy bills.
According to Nordic Energy a megawatt hour is the same as one megawatt of power being used continuously for an hour.
I spoke with a head teacher from Dudley to get an understanding of what concerns they have when this support ends.
They said: “The problem we have is where does that new money come from? Our biggest cost is staffing so do you have to cut back on the number of teaching assistants or teachers? Or do you have to try and squeeze that money out of other areas?
“It’s hard to know that until the end of the year and you can see what you are left with.”
Alongside cost caps for energy, in the recent autumn budget Chancellor Jeremy Hunt revealed amongst public sector spending cuts, an extra £2.3 billion has been allocated to schools for 2023-24 and 2024-25, totalling £4.6 billion pounds. This has been introduced to help schools ‘invest in high quality teaching and to target additional support to the children that need it’ according to the budget summary.
The head teacher added: “The government policy seems to be very reactionary as opposed to a long-term plan to help secure income.”
However, in some areas, schools are being helped on a local level. Sandwell council have set aside £300,000 for schools in the borough. It will be used to set up breakfast clubs as well as making sure children who just miss the free school meals criteria are able to go to school not being hungry.
How is the cost-of-living in schools affecting teachers?
To see the impact the cost-of-living, I spoke to Michelle Codrington-Rogers who is a teacher at Cherwell School in North Oxford. Alongside teaching, Michelle is also the Honorary Treasurer for the NASUWT.
Photo. Credit: Aaron Stokes
Michelle has worked at the school for 14 years which she attended as a pupil. During our conversation, it was made clear just how much teachers had to cope with before the cost-of-living crisis.
Michelle said: “We’re seeing teachers having to make a decision between whether or not they can provide for their own children and families.”
Video Credit: Aaron Stokes
With the added pressure of the cost-of-living crisis it has caused some staff to start leaving the profession and others are weighing up their options.
She explained: “I think we’re also seeing people who are also weighing up to go.
“So many people who were just holding on by their fingertips felt like they could keep going.
“However, others who’ve just said I can’t cope with going back into school.”
As a result of this, teachers are now facing even more pressure because of people leaving the profession. In a report published by the government, it has been found that out of 60,756 applicants only 22 received an offer with a further 642 are waiting to get their employers decision in September this year.
The stand-out figure was 47,602 applications were unsuccessful in this period. This has come from some schools having to check if they can afford to fill vacant positions.
The head teacher explained: “When someone leaves, we have to ask can we afford not to fill that position to save that additional money?”
Before the cost-of-living crisis hit schools, teachers were already facing extreme pressure in their role.
Michelle said: “Ever since I’ve been teaching there has always been at least one person crying in the toilets. That’s teachers were talking about.”
What pressure are our schools facing?
During my conversation with the head teacher, it was made clear that schools are under pressure not only to support the pupils, but the school community. They said: “One thing we are doing over the Christmas holidays is keeping our school open so that young people and parents have a warm environment to come to.”
However, trying to sustain this will be tricky for the school. The head teacher told me: “We’ve just come out of our energy contract, as a result our energy bill is due to increase by an eye-watering 60 per cent.
“Unfortunately, it does mean real term cuts. We have to find that money from somewhere, that might be a reduction in school trips.”
Schools are having to consider ideas that never previously would have entered their thought process. The head teacher said: “We might have to resort to shutting the heating off earlier in the day. The sort of measures I never thought I would have to take as a head teacher.”
Decisions like this must be in the minds of head teachers up and down the country to ensure their schools survive through this crisis.
Currently, schools are just about able to cope with the immense pressure that has been placed on them. The next few months ahead will be their real test once support gets scaled back and budgets are tightened even further, especially for schools running already “streamlined” budgets.
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