Sutton Trust response to the Spring Budget

The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, delivered the Spring Budget today.

Commenting on the Budget Statement, Nick Harrison, CEO of the Sutton Trust, said:

“This was a woefully inadequate Budget considering the PM had previously committed that education would be the Government’s main funding priority. If the Government really wants to ‘level up opportunity for young people’, it should be making the essential investment that’s desperately needed to tackle the numerous challenges facing the education system. This means rebalancing funding back towards schools in the most disadvantaged areas, increasing the Pupil Premium in the early years and in schools, and bringing back maintenance grants for the poorest students. The Chancellor’s silence on the growing attainment gap between the most and least disadvantaged pupils speaks volumes, with indications that the National Tutoring Programme will be scrapped this summer.

“The announcement to increase annual early years funding is welcome, but it’s disappointing that there’s still no progress in addressing the major inequality in access to early years education, which is only set to worsen due to the Government’s expansion plans.”