Schools minister Nick Gibb has dismissed calls from unions to restore £370 million stripped from next year’s school budgets after a funding gaffe.
Last Friday, the Department for Education admitted it had inflated the schools budget for 2024-25 by 0.62 per cent after miscalculating pupil numbers. It means schools will receive less than they were told in July to expect for that year.
In the wake of the news, unions ASCL, NAHT, NASUWT and NEU wrote to Gillian Keegan, the education secretary, to warn schools were facing “the very real prospect of cuts to provision”.
They called on ministers to honour the £370 million error, which would have increased school funding by 2.7 per cent per pupil.
