Recommendation 15

In 2018, our predecessor Committee, in light of its concerns about the wider issues affecting the school system, asked Ofsted to reflect on the main risks to schools’ effectiveness and the systemic causes of poor performance, including the impact of funding pressures.32 In response, in 2019, Ofsted carried out qualitative research into the potential risks to the quality of education and school effectiveness when schools are under financial pressure, and the ways that schools respond to financial pressure. In its research, Ofsted found that schools had made difficult decisions in response to financial pressures, including reducing spending on staff, learning resources and premises. It found that 46% of primary headteachers and 81% of secondary headteachers reported that their school had reduced teacher numbers in response to financial pressures in 2017–18 and 2018–19. In addition, 80% of primary headteachers and 72% of secondary headteachers reported making changes to the support provided to pupils with SEND because of financial pressure.33