Cambridgeshire will only get a “very minimal uplift” in funding for schools next year, initial funding allocations have suggested. School representatives said some schools are having to consider redundancies as budgets are stretched. One academy trust CEO said the funding pot provided to the county for its schools was “inadequate”.
Cambridgeshire County Council held a Cambridgeshire Schools Forum meeting this week (January 10) with school representatives from the area. Officers said the initial 2025/26 funding allocation from central government for the core schools block of funding had increased by 0.7 per cent, which they said this was a “very minimal uplift” in funding.
Officers added that the funding for the high needs block had been increased by seven-per cent. While they said this increase was welcomed, officers said it was “nowhere near sufficient” for what the area actually needed. The county council asked the forum if it would agree to support a transfer of £2.6million from the core schools block funding to the high needs block.
Officers explained that this money would be used to help support the creation of new Enhanced Resource Bases (ERB), which they said would be a way to help keep children in mainstream education and avoid an “escalation into more expensive provision”. Some school representatives raised concerns about taking money away from the core schools block funding.
Nikki Brown said she could not support the plan as she said it “implies that we have capacity in schools to make that transfer”. She said primary school headteachers in the area had shared “very real concerns around the potential implications on schools capacity to deliver ordinarily available provision” if more money is moved out of school budgets.
Ms Brown said: “If we are suggesting that we move more money out of school budgets I think we have to acknowledge there is a very real danger that what will then happen is we will have more children who are not able to receive the support they need to stay in mainstream school, and they then will end up out of school and in tuition packages and that cycle goes round.
“There was a very strong sense from primary heads that we have reached that point where schools are already having to make cuts. I was sat on a fair access panel this week for a young person who is out of school on an exclusion, and every single primary school that was sat there were saying they were unable to afford the level of support that young person had had in the existing school, and even with that support had then ended up in an exclusion.
“Whilst the figures look great, and I understand the figures kind of paint a great picture, I think it is also about acknowledging that there will be other knock on effects. Whilst we absolutely want to support the development of those ERBs, I think it would be naive to think that if we transfer money out of schools block into the high needs block that we are not going to see another knock on effect of that.”
Helena Marsh, principal at Linton Village College, said she understood the approach of investing to save money, but also highlighted that schools are currently struggling with their budgets. She said some schools are having to consider redundancies or are not replacing people, adding that those staff members may be the ones who are supporting children with extra needs, and said this would have an impact on SEND provision within schools.
Council officers said ERBs on their own are “not the entire solution”, but said they would be part of the solution to try and help children remain in mainstream schools while accessing specialist support. Officers said they also needed to be a broader piece of work looking at the support offered to schools.
Council officers were asked what would happen if the forum decided not to support the transfer of £2.6m. Martin Purbrick, executive director for children, education and families at the county council, said it would be “disappointing”. He said he believed this was an opportunity for the authority and schools to work together on the plans, and said the benefits would be the children able to stay in mainstream education and attend their local school.
Mark Woods, trustee and chief executive officer at the Meridian Trust, offered support for the plan, but hit out at the low level of school funding Cambridgeshire received compared to other areas. He said if the county was funded differently they “wouldn’t even be having this conversation” about transferring money.
Mr Woods said the funding pot for the county was “inadequate” and said they were being placed in a “terribly invidious position” of having to make decisions about what things can be funded. The majority of the forum agreed to the transfer, but said they wanted to see an impact from that extra funding to the high needs block.