Who's losing out?

The most simplistic analysis of funding for children's services is that it is 'school' and 'other'. School funding itself is being constrained, and headteachers and governing bodies are making unpalatable and difficult decisions. Mostly these decisions are to protect core universal services - with the inevitable effect that discretionary activities and specialist support will suffer.

And 'other' funding - services provided by the local authority - are being squeezed even more severely than school funding. The problem is that local authority funding provides support for activity that is not practicable to deliver at school level; everything from school sports leagues, to school symphony orchestras, to specialist teaching and equipment - no individual mainstream school can employ, for example, an oboe teacher, a swimming coach, or a specialist teacher teacher for visually impaired pupils. And it is these services that are being cut - simply because there is no money to pay for them.