The Department for Education expects additional school funding to help “ease” the pressure of rising energy bills when a support scheme ends in March, its top boss has said.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced last week that school budgets will increase by £2.3 billion in each of the next two years, though £300 million is not new funding.
The settlement is supposed to take funding levels back to 2010 levels in real-terms, though much of the cash will be eaten up by the estimated £1.3 billion cost of pay rises this year.
Schools are currently receiving support with their energy bills in the form of an effective cap on the prices paid, said to be worth £4,000 for a school paying £10,000 a month for energy, but the scheme is due to come to an end in March.
