Schools in Cambridgeshire will still face “difficult decisions” over finances despite extra government money, the service director for education at Cambridgeshire County Council has said. 

Jonathan Lewis said the extra funding promised by the government was positive, but had not resolved ongoing issues the education sector faces. 

Last month, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, announced in his Autumn Statement that the core schools budget in England would receive an additional £2.5bn in 2023/24, and 2024/5. This was adjusted to £2bn after other factors were taken into account. 

At a meeting of the Cambridgeshire Schools Forum on December 14, Mr Lewis said the additional funding was not a “huge windfall”, but would “more likely create stability”. 

He said having a two-year settlement was positive, but said it would still mean “difficult decisions” for Cambridgeshire schools, including “cuts and different ways of operating”. 

Mr Lewis said: “We stepped into the last forum with disaster written all over it. 

“My reading is it has taken the edges off the pressure, as opposed to necessarily resolved the ongoing challenges that we face as a sector in terms of the funding.” 

Mr Lewis said pay rises were one of the biggest challenges in the sector, and also highlighted that funding for early years and post-16 education was not seeing an uplift. 

He said: “We are seeing impacts in other sectors that are directly linked to education where that funding is not coming through. 

“I think both of those are hugely concerning to us, particularly as minimum wage support in the early years sector is a challenge. 

“Post-16 has not been well funded for a decade and the squeeze there, lower numbers, we could see some real challenges around delivery and coverage.” 

Mr Lewis said he had been told that the energy bill relief scheme would not continue after April 2023. 

He said there had been an announcement around capital funding in schools to go towards ‘mitigating’ the risk, but said he did not think the investment would be enough to “negate energy increases”.  

He explained that schools will potentially have to budget for an increase in energy costs. 

Mr Lewis also highlighted the comments made by the government that the additional funding announced in the Autumn Statement will bring the schools budget back to 2010 per pupil levels of funding. 

However, he said the needs in schools are “very different” now to what they were in 2010. 

He said: “I give the example of the type of needs we were supporting in the special schools in 2010, it is very different now 12 years later. 

“It is great news around spending, but I think the challenges that we face in the sector, the catch up from covid and other pressures, will erode any benefit that is derived from going back to 2010.” 

Mr Lewis said he was also worried about the impact of recession on schools. 

He said: “We know free school meal requirements are coming out, we have literally run the vouchers this week for the holidays and we can see growth is continuing in those children and those needs. 

“Because those children now qualify for free school meals, more money is needed to support their catch up in term of attainment, pupil premium, other things, so our pot of £4m is getting eroded all the time.” 

He added: “Schools are dealing with more challenges that arise from that particular scenario. 

“I know it is not linear that a child goes on free school meals and there is then more needs, but there is obviously demand and pressure building in the system that we need to work our way through.”