Headteachers from 17 counties across England have written to ministers to warn schools are ‘running on empty and need clarity and support now’

Headteachers have dismissed accusations that they are playing party politics in their campaign for more funding, and will this week send letters to MPs warning that their schools are “running on empty”.

As pressure mounts on the government to make a statement on additional funding for England’s schools, more than 4,000 headteachers across 17 counties are writing to their MPs urging them to use their influence to secure substantial additional funding for all schools. It follows a similar letter to more than 1 million families last month.

Last week headteachers were accused of trying to sway the general election by attacking Conservative policies in a series of letters about the funding crisis to parents, a charge denied by the Worth Less? school funding campaign.

It has however been widely acknowledged that school funding and the combined campaign by parents and teachers was a key issue on the doorstep during the election campaign.

Jules White, headteacher of Tanbridge House school in Horsham, West Sussex and one of the coordinators of the campaign, said: “Despite unfounded concerns that the Worth Less? funding campaign has a politically motivated dimension, headteachers across 17 counties are undaunted as they seek the best possible funding settlement.

“The clock is again ticking, as heads seem to be no closer to knowing what their budgets will be in the future and crucially whether funding will be in any way adequate. Schools are running on empty and need clarity and support now.”



The letter warns that teachers and support staff are being laid off, class sizes are getting bigger, subjects are being cut and welfare services for the most vulnerable children are overstretched. It says the cuts are negatively impacting on children and the situation is unsustainable.

“We are also very concerned that schools are being placed in the unwanted position of having to ask parents for regular financial contributions in order to prop up our devastated budgets,” the letter continues.

The headteachers call for clarification on the additional £4bn promised in the Conservative manifesto but linked to the scrapping of free school lunches, which is still shrouded in uncertainty.

The letter also asks for the new national funding formula to be introduced urgently. Last week education secretary Justine Greening pledged that no school would lose money under the revised formula but no further details have emerged.

Questioned about the impact of the possible lifting of the 1% public sector pay rise cap on school budgets, White said it would be welcomed but must form part of an overall package of support for schools.

“The last thing that our funding campaign wants is to see school costs rise even higher and overall school budgets squeezed to strangulation point. Our campaign remains relentlessly focussed an adequate school, funding not our own pay packets.”



A spokesman for the Department for Education said the core schools budget had been protected in real terms since 2010 and was set to rise from £41bn in 2017-18 to more than £42bn in 2019-20 with increasing pupil numbers.

“We have also consulted on a national funding formula for schools to make funding fairer,” the spokesman said. “We received over 25,000 responses to the consultation, which we are analysing in detail and will respond to in due course.”

The Local Government Association, meeting for its annual conference in Birmingham this week, is also seeking to capitalise on the government’s post-election vulnerability to push its own agenda for a greater role for councils in schools once again.

After years of being eased out of local education as a result of growing academisation, the LGA is calling for councils to be given a lead role in driving forward school improvement. It also wants additional powers to decide where new schools are built and to force academies to expand where necessary to create 420,000 extra places by 2020.

It is also calling for councils to be given local flexibility over how the national formula is implemented locally and additional funding to reflect rising demand to support pupils with special educational needs and disabilities.

Richard Watts, chair of the LGAs’s children and young people board, said: “What we are seeing at the moment is the potential for real opening up of education policy to new ideas.”

The education department, meanwhile, was accused of underspending its budget for sixth form education, which is particularly affected by funding pressures, by £200m this year – according to figures revealed by ministers.

An answer to a parliamentary question from Caroline Lucas, co-leader of the Green party and vice chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Sixth Form Colleges, revealed that £5.7bn of the department’s £5.9bn budget for 16- to 19-year-olds went to sixth forms in 2016/17 financial year.

Lucas said: “I know from my own constituency that school sixth forms and colleges are facing huge financial pressures, so it is hard to understand why £200m of the sixth form education budget has not reached the education frontline.”

A survey by the Sixth Form Colleges Association last year found that 66% of colleges had cut courses because of funding pressures and 58% had either reduced or eliminated enrichment activities.

