Chancellor, Rachel Reviews, attends a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street ahead of today’s Spending Review. Image, Lauren Hurley/No 10 Downing Street

Education leaders have responded with scepticism to Chancellor, Rachel Reeves’ Spending Review, announced earlier today, claiming it will ‘not release schools and trusts from their financial shackles’.

The Department for Education’s settlement – which Reeves said would see the core schools’ budget rise by £2bn in real terms by 2029 – puts the department outside the top five recipients of the review for percentage-terms budget increases.

And, while it reiterated the Government’s pledge to spend £2.3bn a year fixing crumbling classrooms, and a further £2.4bn on rebuilding 500 schools, overall it will leave schools struggling to deliver first-class educational services in fit-for-purpose environments, experts said.

Nick MacKenzie, head of education at law firm, Browne Jacobson, said: “A 0.4% per annum increase in the core schools budget over the spending review period is exceptionally tight, particularly when we consider existing and growing pressures in areas such as special educational and disability needs (SEND).

“This won’t release schools and trusts from their financial shackles, with confidence deteriorating among school leaders in their organisational resilience.”

And he described the increase in capital spending as ‘the tip of an iceberg, adding: “Affirmation of the Government’s commitment to improving the school estates via a £2.4bn fund for the School Rebuilding Programme over the next four years was an important step.

“The last Audit Commission report on the condition of school buildings found the condition of the overall school estate is declining, with about 700,000 pupils learning in a school that needs major rebuilding or refurbishment.

“With the annual maintenance budget only increasing in line with inflation, it is hard to see how the decline will be reversed.

“There’s clearly much more work needed to repair the crumbling school estate – with the RAAC crisis of two years ago only the tip of an iceberg.”

Allan Wilen, economic director at Glenigan, agreed that, while there will be an increase in the capital budget, schools will still struggle to carry out all necessary improvements to their estates.

He told Education Property: “Many might feel that the allocation is not nearly large enough to address the extent of dilapidation which exists across many state schools up and down the country.”

And Natalie Perera, chief executive of the Education Policy Institute, said SEND provision, in particular, had been overlooked.

She added: “The most-pressing challenge is the crisis in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision and today’s settlement doesn’t appear to leave adequate funding to deliver the much-needed reforms in this area.

“Reforming SEND provision will require investing in highly trained support staff, adapted learning environments, and consistent, high-quality training for teachers across all schools.”