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The Department for Education 2024/25 Overview highlights a department spending £95.5 billion to deliver the government’s “Opportunity Mission,” focusing on early years, schools, skills and family security.
While school and early years funding has increased and new initiatives such as extended childcare entitlements, teacher recruitment drives, Skills England, and T Levels aim to boost opportunity and productivity, major risks remain.
These include high needs and special educational needs pressures on local authorities, a £13.8 billion school maintenance backlog (including RAAC safety issues), workforce shortages in teaching, and growing financial risk in the higher education sector.
The report also notes ongoing challenges with forecasting student loan values, fraud and error in grants and loans, and the need for stronger prevention based interventions to reduce long term demand on social and educational services.
