Nearly £162m additional funding is needed for music education over the next five years, according to a report published on 4 February.
‘Facing the Music: meeting the ambitions of the National Plan for Music Education’, written by Billy Huband-Thompson and Alice Dawson, was commissioned by the cross-party think tank Demos in partnership with The UK Association for Music Education, Music Mark. Over the course of its 47 pages, it outlines the costs of delivering the refreshed National Plan for Music Education (NPME2) and the challenges that need to be overcome in the process.
The report estimates that over the course of the next five years, an additional £161.4m (£32.3m per annum) will need to be found to cover new and hidden costs of regional music hubs, partnerships of music services, music departments, venues, clubs and other organisations.
Among the issues identified were:
- Inflation causing cost challenges across the board, including pressures on staff salaries and increased venue hire
- A shortage of specialist music teachers
- Accountability measures, such as the EBacc (English Baccalaureate), seeing music and the creative arts squeezed out of schools
- A lack of appropriate local venues, limiting performance opportunities for children and young people in certain parts of the country
The report also presents five recommendations for the government to deliver the NPME:
- Boost funding to help Music Hubs deliver music education for all by meeting their £32.3m annual cost – just 0.03 per cent of the total UK education spend
- Liberate Music Hubs from restricted funding and reporting constraints, with greater flexibility on how the Capital Grant can be used
- Restore the essential place of music education in schools, dialling back accountability measures that squeeze the arts out of music education and offering more generous bursaries for music education specialists
- Mobilise support from the wider music sector and industry
- Rejuvenate 'cultural deserts' through targeted local investment, simplified funding arrangements, and an investment in community spaces, including venues
The report’s data was drawn from a survey, from Arts Council England, and from workshops with those involved in delivering the NPME in schools and music hubs.
The National Plan for Music Education was launched in 2011 and last updated in 2022 under then prime minister Boris Johnson. Its ambitions are shared by the present government, with prime minister Sir Keir Starmer vowing to ‘reverse the degrading of creative arts and music’. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has criticised previous governments for turning areas of the country into ‘cultural deserts’ and has pledged to ‘turbocharge’ the creative industries, which in 2023 contributed £7.6bn to the UK economy, including £4.6bn in export revenues, and supported 216,000 jobs.
Billy Huband-Thompson, Lead Researcher at Demos and co-author of the report, said: ‘Through our research, we have heard how music leaders and teachers are going out of their way to provide an excellent music education. However, too often their work is held back by funding constraints, staffing shortages and workload challenges.
‘Music is too often a peripheral part of children and young people’s education, with pupils’ background and where they grow up shaping the opportunities they can access. If the prime minister is serious about reversing the degradation of music, the government needs to step up its financial commitment and put music education at the heart of school life.’
Bridget Whyte, CEO of The UK Association for Music Education – Music Mark, added: ‘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.
‘The hub partnerships can and do generate income locally, but government investment needs to be realistic and keep pace with inflation and pupil population growth. Unless there is a realistic revenue grant, the ability to continue to address spiralling staff, venue, equipment and transport costs while meeting the aim of musical opportunities being available to every child cannot be realised.’
The full report can be read here.
