The Government has today announced a £1.4 billion investment in our education recovery, including £1 billion to support up to six million disadvantaged young people receive 15-hour tutoring courses.
The Education Secretary is hailing this as a key block of its plan to build back better. The reality is he knows this money is not nearly enough. Indeed it is one-tenth of the £15 billion his own education recovery commissioner has called for.
We know the enormous and uneven impact the pandemic has had on our young people’s education. The risk now is that not only the pandemic entrenches inequality, but that the recovery does so as well.
Notably, there is nothing for mental health, even though we know students cannot simply catch up academically if they are not in the right mindset.
Then there is the task of putting that £1.4 billion into context. Earlier this year, the Institute for Fiscal Studies projected that the average pupil who lost half a year of schooling would lose £40,000 in income over their lifetime.
While the benefits of education cannot be reduced solely to income, the sums should make the Treasury think. Assuming 30 to 40 per cent of future lifetime earnings are paid in tax, that translates to more than £100 billion in tax revenue over the long run.
If the Chancellor thinks he is saving the public finances by cutting corners on our young people’s education, he is mistaken.
It is right that the Government talks about building back better. But action backed by proper investment is much harder to achieve than talk. Where could that be more apposite than in helping our young people catch up on their education?
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