North East and Teesside education charity 'disappointed' in the Budget
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced her Budget yesterday
A charity that represents all of the schools in the North East and Teesside says the budget was 'deeply disappointing but not surprising.'
Schools North East says the Chancellor's announcement yesterday delivered no meaningful new funding for schools.
They say schools across the country have faced a prolonged funding squeeze, with per pupil funding only returning to 2010 levels in the last academic year.
School leaders across the region report that rising costs - including staffing, energy, transport and SEND provision - have stretched budgets to their limits, forcing difficult decisions that reduce capacity to support the most vulnerable pupils.
The charity adds that schools will once again have to make “internal savings”, after more than a decade in which school funding has seen the biggest real-terms fall in 40 years.
Chris Zarraga, Director of Schools North East, said, “Schools in the North East have been asked to deliver more academic success, more inclusion, more safeguarding and more wellbeing support – all with less real-terms funding and shrinking external services. However, schools face rising need, collapsing multi-agency support, and falling rolls, but the Budget offers no recognition of these pressures, let alone solutions.”
Schools North East say they are calling for five urgent measures:
- A Regional Structural Disadvantage Premium to recognise long-term deprivation and weak service infrastructure.
- Falling Rolls Protection to stabilise schools facing the sharpest demographic decline in the country.
- Targeted SEND workforce and assessment capacity investment to end unacceptable delays in EHCPs and specialist support.
- An Inclusion Premium for schools with high concentrations of SEND pupils.
- A commitment to rebuild the multi-agency support around schools — from family support to mental health and early intervention.
New case studies published by Schools North East this week reveal schools absorbing responsibility for services that have collapsed around them — from CAMHS to social care — while battling long delays for specialist assessments and rising need with rapidly growing complexity. With multi-agency systems no longer functioning as intended, schools are being forced to operate as the last remaining public service for many communities.
The charity says without long-term investment, schools will remain trapped in an unsustainable cycle of crisis management, rather than being enabled to deliver meaningful change for children and young people. Schools in the North East cannot continue to carry the weight of a funding system that has failed to keep pace with rising need, deep regional inequalities, and growing SEND pressures.
Structural inequalities between North and South
Schools North East say this Budget fails to address the serious concerns, often raised by them, about the structural education inequalities between the North and South of England. Attempts to close the disadvantage gap in education cannot be achieved while ignoring deeply unequal starting points and structural inequalities.
They added by contrast, areas like London benefit from dense specialist provision, faster access to health and therapeutic services, better-resourced multi-agency support, and superior school buildings. While London’s infrastructure allows it to better absorb rising need, North East schools are expected to operate with shrinking budgets and increasing responsibilities, widening the regional divide year after year.
Schools White Paper
The charity says looking ahead to the forthcoming Schools White Paper, expected early in 2026, no reform agenda for education, and the SEND system in particular, can succeed without adequate resources and funding.