Funding the Future campaign

Alongside governing boards across the country, NGA is campaigning to secure the additional funding needed by schools and their governing boards to ensure that children and young people receive the standard of education they deserve.

Campaign

26/10/2022

Funding the future is NGA’s most public, concerted campaign so far. Its primary objective has been and remains to secure the additional funding needed by schools and their governing boards in order to ensure that children and young people receive the standard of education they deserve.

The driving force of the campaign has been on the increasing number of governing boards that have told us that they are unable to manage funding pressures without negatively impacting pupils’ education. This is largely a result of what the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) calculated to be a reduction in real terms of 8% in the total spending on schools between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

The campaign has seen those governing coming together with parents, teachers and headteachers to tell their stories about the impact of funding pressures on their schools and, alongside NGA, lobby MPs both locally and in parliament.

The campaign was instrumental in the government accepting that schools need additional funding, which has led to a £7.1 billion increase being promised over the next three years, the first part of which will actually reach schools by April 2020. The additional funding will not solve all the issues faced by governing boards but it is still progress.

However, rising costs are likely to result in a number of schools facing real terms cuts to their budgets next year. The challenges this presents to governing boards is compounded further by the uncertainty that surrounds the sustainable and long-term funding required for key services such as social care and children’s mental health.

NGA will therefore continue to work with governing boards and the wider sector to ensure that education funding remains on the political agenda and that your voices are heard by politicians. Our renewed focus is on those areas that are under most pressure, specifically high needs, early years and 16-19 funding. We are also committed to supporting those who govern to make the most effective use of what we have and ensuring financial sustainability.