Hunt, who was appointed as Chancellor last month amid the fallout from his predecessor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, told the House of Commons that the Conservative Party’s aim is to “tackle the cost-of-living crisis and rebuild our economy”.
“Our priorities are stability, growth and public services,” he said, vowing to “protect the vulnerable”.
His statement says: “The core schools budget in England will receive £2.3bn of additional funding in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25, enabling schools to continue to invest in high quality teaching and to target additional support to the children who need it most.”
It also pledges funding of £1.3bn in 2023/24 and £1.9bn in 2024/25 to be distributed to local authorities through the Social Care Grant for adult and children’s social care.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor has announced a 10.1 per cent real-terms increase in benefits including universal credit alongside plans for 600,000 people on universal credit to see job coaches in a bid to “increase hours and wages”.
“I am concerned we have seen a sharp increase in economically inactive employment-aged people since the start of the pandemic,” Hunt said, adding that the Department for Work and Pensions will oversee a review of “the issues holding back workforce participation”, which is expected to be published in the new year.
Other measures announced to support families during the cost-of-living crisis include plans for a cap on social rent increases at seven per cent, an extension of the £55bn fund to support households and businesses with rising energy bills to April 2024 and additional cost of living payments of £900 to households on means tested benefits during 2023.
I feel incredible relief that the government has acted on our campaign to stop pushing hundreds of thousands more children into poverty by deciding to keep benefits in line with inflation. (1)
— Mark Russell 🇺🇦 (he/him) (@markrusselluk) November 17, 2022
The National Living Wage has also been increased for over-23s to £10.42 per hour.
Families are justifiably worried that winter 2023 will be at least as tough as winter 2022. For the longer term, the govt will need to move away from blunt, short-term responses towards sustained re-investment in our social security safety net...
— Child Poverty Action Group (@CPAGUK) November 17, 2022
However, no specific funding was announced for youth services or the early years.
Responding to the budget, Steve Crocker, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said "it is difficult to see any real recognition of the pressures faced by local authorities and schools".
"Additional funding for schools and both adult and children’s social care will help us to get through the winter but does not come close to addressing the ever-increasing funding gap in our budgets. The case for investment in children’s services has never been stronger, particularly if we are to achieve the reforms set out in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care.
"We are all seeing rising demand whilst children are presenting greater complexity of need, yet children are mentioned just four times across the entire published autumn statement. More and more families are experiencing hardship, or have reached crisis, and we know that there is a strong correlation between poverty, deprivation and involvement with children’s services. The impacts of the pandemic and cost of living crisis are already being felt across wider children’s services, including children’s mental health, early help and social care but we are yet to see a national commitment to address this urgent need.
“We must be ambitious for our children and families but at present we risk becoming a ‘blue light service’. Now more than ever we need to work with children and families who are at risk of poor outcomes at the earliest possible stage, but only with adequate long-term national investment can we continue to provide this vital support.”
Early years leaders have criticised Hunt’s focus on schools over the early years, adding that providers will face closure if the National Living Wage increase is not met with additional funding for the sector.
Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, said: “Our sector is being crippled by a combination of sustained underfunding and poor policy-making. Education starts long before a child reaches the school gates. If the government is truly committed to ensuring that every child gets a world-class education, it is absolutely critical that it invests what is needed into our vital sector before the early years is damaged beyond repair.”
He added: “There’s no doubt that those working in the early years sector deserve to be paid more, but years of underfunding has pushed settings to a cliff edge, and with soaring inflation and rising energy prices, it will be impossible for settings to stay open if wages increase to this extent without additional government investment.”
Janet King, sector manager for education and childcare at NCFE, said: “Time and time again we see support for early years fall down the priority list for the government, despite the vital service it provides parents and carers nationally, and the impact it has on a person's life chances. The consistent underfunding, as highlighted by a recent Institute of Fiscal Studies report, is causing a steep decline in the number of those wanting to enter the sector, only adding fuel to the fire of the ongoing recruitment and retention crisis.”
Meanwhile, education leaders have raised concerns that the increased funding for schools does not meet rising costs.
Dr Karen Roberts, chief executive of The Kemnal Academies Trust, said: “It is welcome news that the chancellor has acknowledged schools’ requirements for funding and has made some headway in bridging the gap today. However, with costs rising, on average, by seven per cent, it is not clear where the extra funding needed to plug the gap will be found. My concern is that it will be up to individual schools to find the money.”
According to the statement, the Department for Education’s departmental spending limit is set at £81.2bn for 2023/24 with a capital budget of £7bn while the figures for 2024/25 stand at £82.6bn with a capital budget of £6.1bn.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, which oversees youth work, has an annual departmental spending limit of £1.6bn in 2023/24 and 2024/25 and a capital budget of £1.1bn for 2023/24 and £1.2bn for 2024/25.
