Improving opportunities for our children and young people will be
a key feature of the Chancellor's first Budget, including £1.4
billion to rebuild crumbling schools.
The investment to rebuild school buildings, alongside funding for
children's social care, breakfast clubs and early years childcare
reflect the government's commitment to putting education back at
the forefront of national life, breaking down the barriers to
opportunity for all children.
The decision to protect education priorities at the Budget comes
at a crucial time for the sector with the government inheriting a
£22 billion blackhole in the public finances and having to take
tough decisions.
The Chancellor has committed £1.4 billion to ensure the delivery
of the existing School Rebuilding Programme, with 50 rebuilds a
year delivering on promises made to parents, teachers and local
communities that crumbling school buildings will be
rebuilt.
The confirmation of the funding for education follows a 5.5% pay
increase for school teachers agreed earlier in the year as the
government sets out to reset relationships with the sector.
Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
This Government's first Budget will set out how we will fix the
foundations of the country. It will mean tough decisions, but
also the start of a new chapter for Britain, by growing our
economy through investing in our future to rebuild our schools,
hospitals and broken roads.
Protecting funding for education was one of the things I wanted
to do first because our children are the future of this country.
We might have inherited a mess, but they should not suffer for
it.
Secretary of State for Education, said:
This is a Budget about fixing the foundations of the country, so
there can be no better place to start than the life chances of
our children and young people.
Our inheritance may be dire, but I will never accept that any
child should learn in a crumbling classroom.
We are determined to break down those barriers to opportunity,
whether it's brilliant early years, free breakfast clubs or high
and rising standards in our schools, this government is putting
education back at the forefront of national life.
£1.8 billion has also been confirmed to support the expansion of
government-funded childcare, helping deliver the roll-out through
local authorities - with a further £15 million of capital funding
allocated to expand school-based nurseries. Primary schools can now
apply for up to £150,000 of the £15 million, with the
first stage of the plan set to support up to 300 new or expanded
nurseries across England creating much-needed places in
areas most in demand.
To support parents, particularly those from disadvantaged
backgrounds, the government today also confirmed it will triple
its investment in breakfast clubs to over £30 million to help
ensure children are ready to learn at the start of the school
day, and helping drive improvements to behaviour, attendance and
attainment.
Meanwhile to keep more children in stable and loving homes, the
new government has also announced £44 million to support kinship
and foster carers.
This will include trialling a new kinship allowance in up to 10
local authorities to test whether paying an allowance to cover
certain costs – like supporting a child to settle into a new home
with relatives – can help increase the number of children taken
in by family members and friends.
It will also help recruit more foster parents by ensuring that
every local authority has access to a regional recruitment hub.
These hubs help raise awareness about fostering and offer
prospective carers a centralised platform to find information,
ask questions and get support from the start of their fostering
journey.
This is expected to generate hundreds of new foster placements,
reduce local authorities' reliance on the expensive residential
care market and offer children a stable environment to grow up
in. The government has also confirmed its commitment to further
reforms to children's social care in future spending reviews to
make sure every child, irrespective of background, has the best
start in life.
Chief Executive at Kinship, Dr Lucy Peake said:
We are pleased that the Government has made a commitment to
trialling a new Kinship Allowance so that more children can be
raised in well-supported kinship care with family and friends who
love them, delivering better outcomes for children and for the
public purse than the care system.
We look forward to further reforms to children's social care
which should ensure that all kinship families get the financial,
practical and emotional support they need and deserve.
