Education legal services company Edapt has warned of an increased number of redundancies already hitting the school sector, with more on the horizon as the school funding storm brews.
Recent government announcements have painted a bleak picture for school funding, with government money to cover increased employer national insurance contributions falling short and the teacher pay headroom not affording schools a notable rise.
Edapt has recorded double the number of redundancy and restructuring cases from January to March 2025 than it saw in the whole of 2024, meaning cases are now in triple figures.
Colin Walker, a national casework officer for Edapt, told Tes that the service is seeing a “clear rise in casework relating to redundancy and restructuring”.
“In the independent sector, financial pressures, often linked to the introduction of VAT on fees, are leading to staff cuts and curriculum adjustments,” he said.
Leadership responsibilities cut, curricula narrowed
A recent survey by the NEU teaching union found that a third of private school teachers have taken a second job to make ends meet in light of the cost-of-living crisis.
However, in the state sector, redundancies are increasingly being driven by “narrowing curriculum offers, with some schools even closing sixth forms,” Mr Walker added.
“We’re also seeing more cases where staff aren’t made redundant but have leadership responsibilities removed and are redeployed into classroom roles,” he said.
Examples of recent redundancy cases Edapt has worked on include an academy making six full-time-equivalent roles redundant across a range of subjects.
Another case saw special educational needs and disabilities teachers at a local authority forced to interview competitively to avoid redundancy after a structural reorganisation.
Job cuts situation will ‘deteriorate further’
The Association of School and College Leaders has also seen increased numbers of calls to its hotline, with Monday of this week marking its busiest ever day. Pepe Di’Iasio, ASCL general secretary, told Tes that the rising volume of calls was a “direct result of mounting financial pressure on trusts and schools”.
“Many are now operating in-year deficits, and are forced into restructures to balance their budgets…This is not only distressing for those directly affected but also risks increasing workload pressures on remaining staff,” he said.
Mr Di’Iasio fears that this situation could “deteriorate further” if the government proceeds with an unfunded pay award, as suggested in its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body.
The NASUWT teaching union has also seen an “upward surge” in contacts regarding school restructuring and redundancies.
“There can be little doubt that significant budgetary pressures are hampering the ability of schools to maintain provision, protect jobs and invest in the capacity of their workforce,” said Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT general secretary.
All schools and trusts must ‘give thought’ to redundancies
However, this may only signal the beginning of the redundancies wave set to hit the school sector.
Heather Mitchell, employment partner at Browne Jacobson, told Tes that the legal firm is “expecting a significant increase this time next year” in terms of schools planning redundancies.
“Often schools are planning almost a year ahead for redundancies,” Ms Mitchell said. “What we will likely see is that, in a year’s time, you will have absolutely loads of staff who are in the midst of a restructure, and those restructures will probably be starting to be planned in the autumn term.
“Every school will be looking at their budget and, considering staffing makes up at least 80 per cent of budgets, every school and trust will have to give thought to redundancies.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This government inherited a challenging fiscal context, including a £22 billion black hole. Nevertheless, the Budget delivered on our commitment to put education back at the forefront of national life, protecting key education priorities including core funding for schools.
“We recognise the challenges schools are facing, but despite the challenging economic context, we are putting a further £3.2 billion into schools’ budgets.”
The spokesperson added: “Alongside investment, we have been clear that we will support leaders to use funding as efficiently as possible, including by offering schools a suite of existing and new productivity initiatives to help them reduce costs and manage their budgets.”
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
