Chancellor George Osborne confirmed in his Autumn Statement and Spending Review on Wednesday (November 25th) that the education sector will see an overhaul in funding that seeks to close the differences in regional spending. 

The chancellor said education was the "door to opportunity" as he lifted the lid on a brand new national funding formula designed to bring about parity in terms of per pupil funding in schools. The new formula, he said, will come into play from 2017. 

Under this new method, the main change is that there will be a national rate for each pupil, with extra funding for those with additional needs available. The move has been welcomed in the sector, largely because many have been campaigning for years about the comparatively high level of funding per pupil that schools in some areas of the country receive. 

Graham Stuart, former chair of the education select committee, has been campaigning for this change and said "in principle this represents a huge step forward". Teachers' unions, however, have reacted more negatively, with many saying that even though there will be parity across the board, funding will generally be lower than in the past. 

Some experts are predicting that the national funding formula will actually see the overall nationwide funding level fall by eight per cent as a result of this new announcement. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) said it believes schools in some London boroughs in particular could be hit hard. 

"There are no winners and losers under the government's funding proposals - there are only losers and even bigger losers," said the NUT's Kevin Courtney.

Similarly, the Local Government Association urged Westminster to make sure changes are "introduced in a phased way to protect those schools facing a relative reduction in budgets", as it said that even though fairness and equal budgets across the country were welcome, it would see some schools feeling like they have been hit hard. 

The biggest areas of loss will be in extra services that some schools are able to offer. Mr Osborne confirmed in his speech that there would be protection of the budget for schools, but added that there will be cuts in some areas. 

Funding for services such as speech therapy, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, music and checks on staff will be reduced, with the Local Government Association estimating that at least £600 million could be lost from this area. 

It wasn't all bad news, of course. The chancellor also revealed that in the next five years, the overall financial support for education and childcare is to increase by £10 billion, giving schools a boost over time.