The NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union, along with six other education unions, has today written an urgent open letter to the Secretary of State for Education highlighting the shocking state of school buildings and calling upon the Government to take urgent action to make them safe and fit for the future.
 
Research by the House of Commons Library calculates that between 2009-10 and 2021-22, overall capital spending declined by around 37% in cash terms and 50% in real terms.
 
Such failure to invest in the maintenance and renewal of our school estate inevitably has consequences, and the Department for Education (DfE) acknowledged the situation had reached crisis point late last year, admitting in its Annual Report that some schools are at risk of collapse.
 
This comes at a time when, as noted by the 2022 TUC report Schools Built for the Future there is also an urgent need to invest in retrofitting schools to ensure that they are climate resilient and energy efficient.
 
The DfE does not even know which school buildings are at risk of collapse. We have asked what measures it will take to ensure it has a full and accurate picture of the school estate, what steps will be taken to eradicate the risk of collapse, including interim measures to keep pupils and staff safe and what additional funding will be provided to ensure all school buildings are safe and fit for the future, including for asbestos removal.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:
“This situation is the result of years of chronic under-investment in our education system and the school buildings estate.

“Schools are now counting the cost of the Government’s reckless decision a decade ago to abandon the Building Schools for the Future programme. Rebuilding and refurbishment investment is at a fraction of what is required to keep pupils and staff able to learn and work safely.

“School staff and parents deserve and need to know if their schools are at risk and what is being done to urgently to ensure the safety of their schools.”