MPs pledge to listen to headteachers comments on funding cuts

MPs have pledged to contact headteachers in their constituencies to find out how more funding cuts will affect their schools, following a joint union event.

At an event held at the House of Commons, unions including the ATL and NAHT told MPs how much money schools in their area may lose by 2020 if the proposed new national funding formula is introduced.

Lib Dem leader Tim Farron and former children’s minister Maria Eagle were among the 25 MPs who attended

Labour MP for Batley and Spen Tracy Brabin said she was “shocked” to discover her schools may lose £9.5million.

She said: “Headteachers were telling me that even before this new funding formula they were struggling. Now they are saying they will have to lose staff.

“It feels like we are turning back the clock and returning to the 80s when we had schools where buckets were used to collect water from leaky roofs because there was no money for repairs.”

Shadow minister for foreign affairs and MP for Heywood and Middleton Liz McInnes said she had also been contacted by a number of heads who are very concerned about the money they stand to lose under the new funding formula.

ATL policy adviser Anne Heavey, who spoke to MPs at the drop-in session, said: “We urged MPs to speak to heads to find out what they will lose per student and what that will mean in terms of staff redundancies, bigger class sizes, school repairs and so on.”

“We also want heads to contact their local MP to tell them what more cuts will do to their school and their students’ education.”