School leaders’ union NAHT Cymru is accusing the Welsh Government of short-changing children when it comes to funds allocated to education in the 2026/27 draft Budget.

The union has uncovered figures which reveal £329m has been allocated to Wales by the UK government in so-called education consequentials - but just £39m of it has been allocated in core funding for schools in the Budget proposals.

NAHT Cymru is calling for all Senedd members to do the right thing and support its calls for the government to rethink the education allocation.

The plea comes ahead of a Children, Young People and Education Committee meeting on Thursday, where the Cabinet Secretary for Education Lynne Neagle is due to answer questions on the education budget.

Laura Doel, national secretary at NAHT Cymru, said, while local authorities also have the power to increase schools funding, councils themselves have been allocated only a 2.2% ‘inflationary’ uplift when CPI inflation is currently 3.6%.

With the Welsh Local Government Association already reporting a predicted deficit of £137m to school budgets, she says councils don’t have the capital to bail schools out and questions why they should be expected to when government funds are available.

Ms Doel said: “School leaders are desperately trying to make budgets add up and weighing up whether to cut staffing or resources. They are incensed to learn there is money available which was earmarked for education, but which has not been allocated, and have every right to ask what has happened to it.

“There is a total of £380m unallocated in the Welsh Government’s draft Budget and it appears this is being used as a bargaining chip to help ensure it gets its proposals through.

“This money would cover the shortfall in education spending with change to spare, but instead schools are being expected to just get on with an impossible task with no thought to what that looks like for them. Ultimately it is children who are being short-changed.

“We urge the Welsh Government to provide answers about this missing funding and for all parties in the Senedd to ensure our children’s learning is not sacrificed as a result of political horse trading.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor

The draft budget allocation provides an overall increase of £39.2m in Fiscal Resource (revenue) for education and £7.5m in General Capital - equating to a 2.1% increase in revenue and a 2% increase in capital compared to the revised baseline. Those figures can be seen under Tabs 4 and 5 in the Tables Supporting Spending Plans document here. The £39.2m is calculated by adding the £37.41m in inflationary uplifts to the £1.76m in other changes.