‘Eleventh hour’ music education hub funding sparks renewed calls for more investment

The allocation of funding for music education hubs in England two weeks ahead of the new financial year has sparked fresh calls for increased funds from the Department for Education (DfE).

UK association for music education Music Mark has said that the government’s funding must ‘keep pace’ with inflation, growing numbers of children and young people, and other UK nations.

‘Stress and concern’

England’s music hubs were notified of their share of £76.1m total funding for 2022/23 on 18 March, two weeks ahead of the start of the new financial year on 1 April. 

According to Music Mark, the delay has caused ‘considerable stress and concern’ for senior hub leaders, and the ‘11th hour news’ means that some now ‘face the challenge of planning for delivery with reduced means’. This is likely to apply to hubs in London, as the city's share of the total pot has been further cut for the financial year ahead.

When allocation announcements were similarly late last year, a formal complaint was lodged against the DfE due to the ‘appalling, utterly deplorable and indefensible situation’.

England falling behind

Timings aside, the situation has sparked fresh concerns from Music Mark about the amount of funding provided to music education hubs. 

Hub funding in England is the lowest per pupil across all four UK nations - a grant of £75.1m equates to a per pupil investment of £8.56. The per pupil investment is £11.35 in Scotland, £10.36 in Northern Ireland, and £9.51 in Wales.

The Scottish budget for 2022/23 announced in December 2021 also included a £12m investment to remove music tuition charges in schools. 

Inflation at 5%

With the grant for hubs having remained almost stagnant since 2015, Music Mark has calculated that inflation since then means that the ‘minimum figure’ needed for hubs is now around £93m.

Using the Bank of England’s inflation calculator, Music Mark worked out that a £75m grant in 2015 should have been £88.5m in 2021, based on an average inflation rate of 2.8 per cent a year.

The figure of £93m has been worked out based on the current reported inflation rate of around 5 per cent, although even this ‘isn’t enough’, says Music Mark.

Redistribution argument 'not valid'

Over recent years, music education funding allocations have been redistributed away from London as people have moved around the country during the pandemic. In 2021/22, the grant for London was cut by £100,000, and a further £82,000 has been removed for 2022/23.

Music Mark says that 'the argument that there are fewer pupils and therefore less funding is required' is 'not valid', adding that pupil numbers nationally are increasing rather than decreasing, meaning that children in some boroughs will be ‘feeling these reductions most keenly’.

Stuart Whatmore, head of Tri-Borough Music Hub told MT: 'As the London regional rep for Music Mark, I am acutely aware of the pressure my colleagues are under as the pandemic still impacts on day-to-day management and delivery of music provision and reporting requirements for hubs has exponentially increased.

'So to find out that many of the London Boroughs have received a further cut to their grant has added to the stress levels and is making our job even harder. This is a London-wide net loss of £180k over two financial years, meaning I do wonder how sustainable this pressure to do more for less can be on both provision and our mental health.'

'Keep pace'

An online statement from Music Mark reads: ‘As the sector in England awaits the publication of a “refreshed” National Plan for Music Education, Music Mark therefore calls on the government to consider whether additional funding can be found to keep pace; to keep pace with the growing numbers of children and young people, with inflation, and with the other UK nations.’

The NPME is due imminently, although 99 per cent of music teachers surveyed by the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM) said they wanted to be consulted on the Plan before implementation.

Read Music Mark's full statement.