Our Spending Review Submission
The Fair Education Alliance recently submitted a bid to the Treasury in anticipation of the upcoming Spending Review. The Treasury and the departments requesting funding face difficult choices ahead as they seek to balance the available resources. However, children and young people - especially those from low-income households, who have the odds stacked against them in terms of academic outcomes, skills, and employment - must be supported to reach their potential. In drafting this submission, we focused on two main areas of change:
Reforming Systems
We need to address the systems that currently pose barriers to our work, and that would enable significant change if unlocked. The top priority within this is investing in joint learning across the Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Education. This collaboration will help us better understand the causes of dramatic increases in particular types of Special Educational Needs (SEN), identify what support is needed for various pupils in different settings, and explore how to deliver support more sustainably. Without this knowledge, we can’t effectively target early intervention or provide the necessary increases in school funding which are essential for the ongoing support from many of our members.
We’re also continuing to call for a National Wellbeing Measurement Programme, as part of the ‘Our Wellbeing, Our Voice’ coalition (together with our member #BeeWell, The Children’s Society and Pro Bono Economics), Common Outcomes across public services, and a continuation and expansion of the Family Hubs and Start for Life Programme. These initiatives will improve the information, structures and systems needed to tackle the root causes of issues like absence and poor mental health, as well as their interconnections.
Addressing Injustices in Funding
We emphasised the need to correct specific injustices in funding aimed at supporting children from low-income households, which currently prevent young people from getting the support they need. The Government should implement automatic enrolment for free school meals, so no eligible child misses out. Additionally, they should also extend eligibility to those on Universal Credit, ensuring that no child experiences hunger due to financial struggles. We must meet students' basic needs where we can, so they can focus on learning.
We’re also joining a coalition led by Get Further in calling for a 16-19 Student Premium. Young people are required to be in education, employment, or training until the age of 18, but the Pupil Premium ends at 16. We must ensure that young people continue to get the targeted support they need through this phase of education.
We encourage you to read our submission and to continue to share your submissions and proposals. Together, we can identify the areas of greatest need and create a long-term vision for what will most positively impact children and young people.