School funding boost announced by minister

Hundreds of millions of pounds in funding has been announced to help improve provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Nadhim ZahawiNadhim Zahawi
Nadhim Zahawi

The Government has provided £680m to create 40,000 more good school places in primary and secondary schools, building on the 825,000 new school places created since 2010.

The Department for Education said the new allocation also included a £50m funding boost for councils to create additional school places and top-end facilities to cope with growing demand for services.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The boost could help create around 740 more special school places and provide new specialist facilities to support children with complex needs, such as sensory rooms and playgrounds with specialist equipment, a Government spokesman said.

Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “This funding will help to create thousands more school places across the country, with a clear focus on transforming the experience of education for children with special educational needs or disabilities.”

Yorkshire and Humber schools to receive a funding boost of almost £55.7m to build more mainstream school places. Schools in Yorkshire and Humber will also benefit from an extra £3m to improve facilities and build more school places for children with special educational needs.

But Labour was critical of the announcement. Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner said: “Our schools finances are approaching breaking point, yet the Government can only re-announce old policies and old funding.”