Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said: “Spiralling energy costs have already contributed to a funding crisis in schools. Today’s announcement is certainly better than no action at all, but it doesn’t solve the crisis.

“Even with this cap many schools will still find they are left facing extremely high bills this autumn and winter. While this may help to stop things getting worse, it won’t necessarily make things better either.

“Until schools have been able to look in detail at how this affects them individually, we won’t know for sure how effective a move this will be. The time-limited nature of the cap will be a worry too – we hope that schools are one of the front-line services that continue to be protected going forward.

“Energy bills are only one of the massive cost pressures facing schools this term. The government’s decision not to fund teachers’ pay this year is an enormous hit to school finances, and many other costs are rising due to inflation too. We are clearly a very long way from being out of the woods when it comes to current funding crisis.”