Worth £600m in 2016/17, it will be replaced with a new "central school services block" worth just £50m. The move, first announced in the 2015 Autumn Statement as one of a number of measures designed to undermine local authorities' role in education, has been pursued against the advice of children's services leaders.
Despite the government's assurances that extra money will be going into general education budgets to offset that lost from the ESG, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has warned that it will result in vital support for economically deprived pupils and those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) being lost (see analysis). Schools will find it harder to access educational psychology, speech and language therapy, and behaviour consultants as a result. These services are already under pressure - £400m was taken out of the ESG in 2015/16 - and will make it even harder for children to achieve academically.
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