Kelly Tolhurst MP Welcomes Huge £14bn Government Investment for Schools

Member of Parliament for Rochester and Strood, Kelly Tolhurst MP, has been pleased to welcome the Government’s announcement of a £14 billion investment to all schools over the next three years.

The Prime Minister has been clear in his commitment that every secondary school will receive at least £5000 in per pupil funding and every primary school pupil will receive at least £3750 next year. Schools that already attract the National Funding Formula allocations can expect significant cash increases of 4% per pupil on average.

In Rochester and Strood, the Government has confirmed that each secondary school will receive an average of £5,371 per pupil and each primary school will receive £4,137 per pupil from next year.  This means that every school in the constituency will get approximately £300 extra per pupil compared with the funding they had last year. 

Furthermore, this investment will go towards increasing teacher’s pay with starting salaries potentially increasing by up to £6000 with the aim of reaching £30,000 per annum by 2022-23. As well as this, the Government has also committed that £700 million from this investment to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – this is an increase of over 11% on the funding available this year.

Finally, £400 million will also be used to provide better education for 16-19 year olds and this will ensure that young people have the skills that this country needs following the UK’s departure from the European Union, particularly in areas such as engineering and construction

Kelly Tolhurst said: “This is great news for Medway! Not only has the Government committed to invest in every school, but we will also see a significant rise in per pupil funding for our schools in Rochester and Strood.”

“This investment also recognises the hard work of our teachers and I am pleased that teacher’s pay will increase under this commitment.”