The Department for Education is wielding the axe on schools-related schemes as it faces up to a potential £1.5 billion budget black hole to fund teacher pay rises.
Government funding for national professional qualifications and teacher top-up courses has been scaled back, while a governance recruitment scheme will be axed in September, it was announced this week. It is likely that there will be more cuts to come.
The DfE used one-off capital and tutoring underspends to pay its near £500 million contribution to the 6.5 per cent pay deal reached with unions last summer.
The department must now find nearly £850 million savings to fund the impact of that pay rise in the 2024-25 financial year.
