What does the Budget mean for schools across the country? - Matt Bromley
One of the most attention-grabbing announcements in the November Budget was the government’s decision to remove the two-child limit in Universal Credit – which comes after various teaching unions warned the Prime Minister there was a “critical need” to scrap the policy. In a joint letter, they said, “No child deserves to live in poverty, full stop.”
The Chancellor claimed this change, which will be phased in from April 2026, will “lift around 450,000 children out of poverty.” For schools, what matters most is the likely real-world impact - which is that more families will receive support for their third and subsequent children, fewer children will arrive at school hungry, tired, or stressed by financial pressures at home, and – although this won’t happen overnight – there will be a general easing of hardship over the next 12 to 24 months.
The Budget also confirmed measures to reduce average household energy bills by £150 from April 2026. This sits alongside the existing Warm Home Discount, which continues to offer additional support for eligible families – for some households, the combined benefit could reach around £300. For schools, any lessening of cost pressures on families has potential knock-on effects such as reduced uniform hardship, more reliable attendance, and fewer requests for emergency support.
However, the Budget included a range of tax and threshold changes such as freezes on certain personal allowances, adjustments to taxes on dividends, savings and property income, and a National Insurance change affecting some salary-sacrifice pension arrangements. This means that many families will see slower real-terms income growth unless wages rise in parallel. Hardship-support mechanisms in schools may therefore still come under pressure even as some families receive targeted help from the benefit system.
A few targeted funds were also announced - including for school libraries and local playgrounds. The Chancellor pledged £5m for books in secondary school libraries in 2026–27. This is a small pot - it equates to £1,400 per school - but it builds on an earlier pledge of £10m in funding to provide every primary school in England with a library by 2029. According to the government, 1,700 primaries currently do not have one. Both investments coincide with the government’s planned National Year of Reading 2026.
In addition, there’s around £18m nationally to refurbish 200 local play areas. Budget documents do not detail where these playgrounds will be, and whether they are within school settings or not. But, even if they're not, improved community spaces still correlate with improved children’s wellbeing and thus benefit schools.
Saving perhaps the worst till last, despite the hopes of education sector leaders, the Budget did not contain an increase in overall school revenue funding. This year’s spending review set out plans to raise the schools’ budget from £64.8bn this year to £69.5bn in 2028. But sector leaders had hoped for extra cash in the Budget to fund rising cost pressures, including under-funded pay rises.
Matt Bromley is CEO of bee and chair of the Building Equity in Education campaign. He is the author of numerous books on education, the latest being Making the Classroom Work for Every Child, and a novel called Mother Fear. Find out more at http://bee-online.uk