This is a short summary of the elements of the Autumn Budget from the Government and how it could relate to anti-bullying work for children. Unfortunately, there were no direct mentions of funding for tackling childhood bullying in the budget.
- Read the full Autum Budget here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/autumn-budget-2024
- Watch the speech here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/l0056tcy/autumn-budget-2024
- Children’s Charity Coalition response: https://childrenatthetable.org.uk/autumnbudgetresponse2024/
In her the speech the Chancellor said: “Our plan to make work pay will also protect working people. I know that the party opposite are deeply interested in our plans here, having seen their colleagues repeatedly dismissed at short notice. I know that they are worried about their future under the Right Honorable Member for North West Essex (Kemi Badenoch), so they should rest easy, knowing that our plan will protect working people from unfair dismissal and will safeguard them from bullying in the workplace as well as improving their access to paternity and maternity leave.”
It is great to see bullying in workplace raised but we would like to see government funded action to tackle bullying in childhoods as well.
2.71: Provide £26 million to open new mental health crisis centres, reducing pressure on A&E services. The government is committed to tackling the root causes of mental health problems and supporting people to remain in, return to or find work
Are there any opportunities to provide training and information to these crisis centres who may be presented by people who have experience of bullying and need support?
4.8: To raise school standards for every child, the core schools budget will increase by an additional £2.3 billion next year, increasing per pupil funding in real terms. This further supports delivery of the government’s pledge to recruit 6,500 teachers.
We welcome this much needed funding in schools as we hear time and again from schools they lack the resource to be able to implement whole-school strategies and provide training to school staff.
4.8 As part of this, the government is providing a £1 billion increase to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision funding, equivalent to 6% real growth. This is an important step in realising the government’s vision to reform England’s SEND provision to improve outcomes and return the system to financial sustainability. The government will work closely with parents, teachers and local authorities to take forward this work.
Disabled children and those with SEN (SEND) are significantly more likely to experience bullying. We would like to see more support available to schools and other settings to address this as part of this vision of SEND provision.
4.11: The settlement delivers on the government’s ambition to give all children the best start in life by increasing spending on early years and family services to over £8 billion in 2025-26. This includes:
- an additional £1.8 billion to continue the expansion of government-funded childcare and help more parents, particularly women, stay in and return to work.
- investing over £30 million in the rollout of free breakfast clubs next year, to fund breakfasts in thousands of schools and help working parents.
- £69 million to continue delivery of a network of Family Hubs.
Are there opportunities to support Family Hubs where families that seek their help need support in relation to childhood bullying?
2.66: Further supporting recruitment of 6,500 new teachers in England, through increases to the core schools budget of £2.3 billion.
These new teachers will need to have anti-bullying skills and we would like to see initial teacher training covering anti-bullying.
2.75: The government is also providing £6.7 billion of capital funding in 2025-26 for education in England, a real terms increase of 19% from 2024-25. This includes £1.4 billion for the school rebuilding programme, an increase of £550 million on this year. The settlement also invests over £2 billion into maintenance for schools and £950 million for skills capital.
There is research to show that building design and school bullying are interlinked with better quality school buildings that take into account wellbeing and safety of pupils particularly in relation to adult supervision can help prevent bullying[1].
2.82: The devolved governments will receive an additional £6.6 billion through the operation of the Barnett formula in 2025-26. This includes £3.4 billion for the Scottish Government, £1.7 billion for the Welsh Government and £1.5 billion for the Northern Ireland Executive. This will enable substantial investment into schools, housing, health and social care, and transport across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
We hope this investment will go towards anti-bullying work in the devolved nations.
[1] Klik, K., Cárdenas, D., & Reynolds, K. (2023). School climate, school identification and student outcomes: a longitudinal investigation of student well‐being. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 806-824. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12597