A new report has found a £161.4m funding shortfall in the government’s budget for music education. If not covered over the next five years, the funding “black hole” of new and hidden costs could pose a serious threat to music education in England.
The report, authored by think tank Demos, was commissioned by Music Mark, a membership organisation for music educators across the UK.
The report draws on newly conducted survey data, including workshops with educators and leaders of Music Hubs – regional bodies that coordinate music education in England. Data from Arts Council England, which delivers the Music Hub programme, was also used.
The prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who was a music student at Guildhall School of Music in his youth, has pledged to “reverse the degrading of creative arts and music”. The National Plan for Music Education, which this report analyses, was issued by the previous Conservative government in 2022.
The report notes a shortage of specialist music teachers, schools squeezing out music education from their curriculums, and a lack of appropriate venues – with inflation putting pressure on the costs of venue hire and staff salaries.
“This independent report confirms what we at Music Mark have been saying for some time,” said Bridget Whyte, the CEO of Music Mark. “The ambition within the new National Plan for Music Education is welcomed, but the reality is that the funding given to the Music Hub network to deliver that ambition for all children and young people in their area is not enough.”
In a separate announcement, the Department for Education revealed this week that it will cease funding to the fifteen National Youth Music Organisations, which work across a multitude of musical genres – from black music to folk, jazz to Indian classical, choral singing to musical theatre.
“It is deeply worrying that the DfE have decided not to continue their direct funding to the NYMOs,” Bridget Whyte said. The groups, many of which focus on supporting young people who face disadvantage or disability, are co-funded by the Department for Education and Arts Council England.
The impacted organisations include the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, National Children’s Orchestra, Music for Youth, National Youth Choir, Orchestras for All, Sound and Music, British Youth Music Theatre, and others.
“Music education should not be an expensive luxury reserved for the few, but a right deserved by all children,” Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason commented, after the release of the report. “My own children benefitted hugely from the music education they received in their state primary and secondary schools, and they are devastated by the reduction of funding.
“Access to music depends on investment,” Kanneh-Mason continued. “Without it, the majority of our school population are losing the value and the necessity of music-learning.”
