£1.4bn to fix ‘collapsing’ schools as Reeves pledges to make education and free childcare a budget priority

Rachel Reeves has announced she will spend £1.4 billion to rebuild the crumbling building. schools as she promises to prioritize education And child care V Budget.

Investments in free breakfast clubs for schoolchildren will also be tripled, with a further £1.8 billion allocated to expand government-funded nursery care.

The Chancellor said children “should not suffer” because of A £22 billion black hole. The Labor Party says it has been abandoned by the last Tory government.

However, experts cautioned that most of the funding will be enough to maintain existing programs.

More than 400 schools that are part of the government’s flagship Tory regeneration program are still without builders.

Companies have been awarded construction contracts to rebuild just 62 homes by this summer, a BBC investigation has found.

The Treasury said the £1.4 billion, £550 million more than last year, would “ensure delivery” of the scheme first announced in 2020 and restore around 50 sites a year.

A further £1.8 billion will be used to expand public childcare, while a further £15 million will be used to open nurseries in schools.

Labor has pledged to deliver on the Tories’ promise to provide 30 hours of childcare a week during term time for all children over 9 months from September. But the party warned that large-scale expansion of the essential childcare sector would be challenging.

Last week Independent Ministers have dropped the word “free” to describe the policy, it has emerged, as anger grows over nursery fees. Under plans announced earlier this month, primary schools can now apply for up to £150,000 of the £15 million. The first phase of the plan is expected to support up to 300 new or expanded nurseries across England.

Ms Reeves announced at Labour’s party conference a £7 million trial of free breakfast clubs in 750 schools in April.

But she announced that figure would rise to £30 million in 2025-26.

Labour’s manifesto pledged to spend £315 million on providing children with a good breakfast at school by 2028-29.

It has been announced that a further £44 million will be spent on helping relatives and foster carers, including a pilot for a new ‘kinship allowance’ to help families pay the costs of caring for a loved one.

The Chancellor said: “This Government’s first Budget will set out how we strengthen the country’s foundations. This will mean making difficult decisions, but also starting a new chapter for Britain by growing our economy by investing in our future, rebuilding our schools, hospitals and broken roads.

“Protecting education funding was one of the things I wanted to do first because our children are the future of this country. We may have inherited a mess, but they shouldn’t have to suffer because of it.”

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the funding would help “bring education back to the forefront of national life”.

“This is a budget aimed at rebuilding the country’s foundations, so there can be no better start than the life chances of our children and young people,” she said.

“Our legacy may be terrible, but I will never allow any child to learn in a dilapidated classroom.”

However, Christine Farquharson of the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank said that “in a hard financial context” the commitments “largely reflect decisions to continue programmes”.

More than 100 schools, nurseries and colleges in England were forced to close days before the autumn term last year due to concerns about potentially unsafe reinforced autoclaved concrete (Raac).