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Date: 10 Mar 2010
Address: http://www.nationalcollege.org.uk/index/about-us/national-college-role/policy-advice/leadership-today/prebudget-report-2009

Pre-Budget Report 2009

The 2009 Pre-Budget Report, Securing the recovery: growth and opportunity, was published on Wednesday 9 December and sets out the government’s plans to secure recovery from the recession and provide a platform for growth and opportunity. The key points relating to our members were as follows.

  • Total education spending will rise from an estimated £88 billion in 2009-10 to a planned £89.2 billion in 2010-11.
  • In 2011-12 and 2012-13, frontline spending in schools will rise by 0.7 per cent a year in real terms.
  • Spending on 16-19 participation will rise by 0.9 per cent a year in real terms.
  • Spending on Sure Start Children’s Centres will be maintained in line with inflation.
  • The Children, Schools and Families Bill includes provisions to make financial capability and economic well-being a statutory component of the secondary school curriculum in England from 2011.
  • All 16 and 17 year olds will be offered a place in education or training through the September Guarantee and every 16 and 17 year old who is not in education or training in January 2010 will be offered an Entry into Employment place supported by an education maintenance allowance (EMA). There will be an additional £202 million in 2010-11 to ensure that the September Guarantee of a place in education or training to every 16 and 17 year old who wants one is met in full.
  • Eligibility to free school meals will be extended to primary school pupils in working families with a household income below £16,190. The extension will be staged, with the first rollout to up to 50 per cent of eligible primary school pupils from September 2010. The aim is that, from September 2011, all primary school pupils in low income working families will be entitled to receive free school meals, benefiting around 500,000 children. In addition, the government will extend the current pilots of universal free school meals for children, so that there is a pilot in each English region. Once fully rolled out, this and other measures announced in and since Budget 2007, mean that around 550,000 children are expected to be lifted out of poverty.
  • A comprehensive programme is in place to identify value for money savings in schools, 16 to 19 participation and Sure Start Children’s Centres. The 2009 Pre-Budget Report announces over £800 million of efficiency savings in front-line areas by 2012-13, including from increased collaborative procurement of goods and services and rationalising back-office costs.
  • The funding commitments made in the Pre-Budget Report aim to ensure that every school in the country can guarantee an education that is individually tailored to each child, including through catch-up support in English and maths for every child aged seven to eleven who is behind expected levels of progress.
  • Free childcare will continue to be available for all three and four year olds, and there will be more free childcare places for disadvantaged two year olds. Every community will have easy access to high quality, integrated early education and childcare, health, employment and family support services through Sure Start Children’s Centres.
  • There are £350 million of savings from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) to be found from central budgets, non-departmental public body (NDPB) efficiency savings and from reviewing pilots and programmes to focus on the most effective interventions.
  • Changes to the departmental expenditure limits have also resulted in an additional £130 million in 2009-10 for the DCSF through access to End of Year Flexibility to fund the Building Schools for the Future and academies programmes.
  • There will be a 1 per cent cap on public sector pay settlements in 2011-12 and 2012-13. This aims to deliver £3.4 billion of savings a year by 2012-13.