With stories circulating everywhere about the government’s plan to claw-back unspent money in April, schools in England have started to spend money.  Reports from manufacturers and retailers of educational products show a definite upturn in recent weeks.

The fear is that the DfCSF is going to use un-spent money in excess of the 5% or 8% each school is allowed to hold back as a way of cutting the educational bill in England – and possibly in Wales as well.  There’s no news yet on plans in Scotland, and issues in N Ireland are clouded by the problems over the re-organisation that was due to take place on 1 January.

An average underspend by just 2% or 3% beyond the permitted retention level will result in the government having the ability to cut the budget by £2bn – taking back the unspent money this year and cutting the budget by the same amount next year.

In order to sidetrack schools from the issue the new Standards Fund budget has been put forward in England, with virtually no cuts at all – and it is possible that it is this, rather than the awareness of the need to spend before April 5 that is causing the up turn in spending.

Some schools however look as if they are still holding on to money – either leaving it until the last minute, or because they believe the claw-back won’t apply to them.

It will be interesting to see how government respond in the coming few days to this change of attitude in spending by schools.

ii@schoolsare.us