Schools in the UK are reportedly contemplating three or four-day weeks to cope with rising energy bills and teacher pay increases. School leaders and headteachers are holding meetings over the summer holidays to discuss how to manage with a financial crisis looming.
The UK is battling rising inflation rates which could surpass 15 per cent next year. The energy price cap does not apply to schools like ordinary households, and non-domestic gas and electricity prices rocketed by 93 per cent in 2021.
Dr Robin Bevan, the headteacher at Southend High School for Boys in Essex, told The Telegraph: “If a four-day week is not already being planned, it will certainly be being considered” by some schools. In the absence of long overdue above-inflation investment in school funding, it’ll become a realistic prospect sooner rather than later."
