Chancellor Rachel Reeves pledges £1.4 billion in budget for crumbling schools and childcare

Rachel Reeves has pledged £1.4 billion to rebuild crumbling schools and triple funding for free breakfast clubs as she prepares for her first budget.

The chancellor said children “should not suffer” because of Britain’s depleted treasury, despite the crisis Work The government must plug what it calls a £22 billion “black hole”.

However, economists said the funding would generally ensure existing plans continue, rather than paying for many new initiatives, and teachers said much more money was needed.

The Treasury said the £1.4 billion would “ensure the delivery” of the school rebuild programme, which was announced in 2020 under then Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The goal is to rebuild or refurbish approximately 500 schools within ten years progress was slow.

The £1.4 billion is believed to be an increase of £550 million on last year in support of the programme.

Last year there were more than 100 schools, nurseries and colleges in England forced to close days before the autumn term due to safety issues with reinforced autoclaved concrete (Touch).

Budget financing for daycare centers, breakfast clubs and childcare

The Treasury also confirmed that £1.8 billion would be allocated to expanding publicly funded childcare, with a further £15 million in capital funding for school daycare centres.

The Treasury said the first phase of the plan would fund 300 new or expanded nurseries across England.

Mrs. Reeves also said she would “triple” investment in free breakfast clubs to £30 million by 2025-26, after announcing a move at Labor’s party conference in September A £7 million trial in up to 750 schools will begin in April.

Labor has pledged in its manifesto to spend £315 million on breakfast clubs between 2028 and 2029.

Christine Farquharson, researcher at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said the new figure of £30 million appears to be a “boost on the £7 million previously announced”.

“But this is still only a tenth of what Labor’s manifesto wants to spend by 2028-29, so the bulk of the rollout lies ahead,” she added.

The Chancellor said: “This Government’s first Budget will set out how we will rebuild the foundations of the country. It will mean difficult decisions, but also the beginning of a new chapter for Britain.

“Protecting education funding was one of the things I wanted to do first because our children are the future of this country. We may have inherited a mess, but they should not suffer because of it.”

New pilot seeks to support more ‘stable and loving homes’

A further £44 million will help kinship and foster carers, including trialling a new kinship benefit to test whether it can increase the number of children cared for by family and friends.

The government hopes it will “keep more children in stable and loving homes.”

Ms Farquharson said that “in a tight budgetary context” the commitments “largely reflect decisions to continue the programmes”.

She said: “Putting £1.4 billion into the school rebuilding program next year will be enough to take what was always intended to be a ten-year program into its sixth year.

“£1.8 billion to roll out new childcare entitlements similarly confirms the plans set out under the previous government.”

School leaders outline what else is needed

School leaders warned that the funding announcement left a “significant gap in terms of what is required to restore the school complex to a satisfactory condition”.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers Union, said: ‘It is reassuring to hear that school funding will be protected next year and that education will continue to be prioritized as schools face continued financial pressure.

“It is now important that the government is very clear about what it means by ‘protected’.

“We urge the government to use the decline in student numbers that some schools are experiencing to increase funding per student, both in the short and longer term.”

He said the £1.4 billion was “useful” but urged the Treasury to use the spending review next spring to commit to a “major school rebuilding programme”.

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A Conservative Party spokesperson said: “In government, the Conservatives have had a relentless focus on giving every child the best start in life.

‘We launched the largest ever expansion of childcare, recruited 27,000 teachers and raised school standards.

‘On the other hand, Labor is breaking their promises to the public.

“Just like their broken promises about raising taxes and tampering with budget rules, they have broken their promises to students – by imposing a new tax on education and plotting the cancellation of dozens of new school projects.”

What else can we expect from the budget?

Ms Reeves will also introduce her first budget on Wednesday to announce a change to the UK debt rule.

It aims to pave the way for the government to spend billions more on long-term infrastructure projects.

That is also expected of her increase employer premiums by a maximum of two percentage points and lowering the threshold above which employers contribute – measures that together would raise around £20 billion.

Capital gains tax, inheritance tax and fuel duty are other options to boost the revenues Ms Reeves has on the table as she tries to put the economy on firmer footing.