Schools are making teachers and support staff redundant because they do not have enough money to pay a bumper pay rise awarded by the Government. And the problem is set to grow worse this year because schools face a shortfall of hundreds of millions of pounds after the official pay review body called for another inflation busting pay hike of 4%.

Unions say they are dealing with a surge in requests for support from teachers threatened with losing their jobs. NASUWT Acting General Secretary Matt Wrack said: "We have seen more and more teachers contacting the union over threatened redundancies in their schools."

It follows the Government's decision just weeks after Labour's general election victory last June to give teachers a 5.5% pay rise, coming into force in September. said the cash showed the new administration's commitment to "working in partnership with our wonderful teachers" and pledged the increase would be "fully funded", meaning school budgets would be increased.

But a technical note published by the Department for Education has revealed that school costs rose more than funding in the 2024-25 year. It said: "Comparing the increases in funding and costs would imply that mainstream schools have, on average, a deficit of 0.5 per cent in 2024-25,2 or £250 million, at the national level."

This shortfall will be dwarfed by the huge funding gap facing schools in the 2025-26 academic year after the School Teachers' Review Body, which makes pay recommendations, called for a bumper pay rise of nearly 4%.

The Department for Education had proposed a more modest increase of 2,8% - but admitted schools would have to make "efficiencies", Whitehall code for cuts, to pay for this.

The Department for Education admitted in evidence to the pay review body: "Most schools will need to supplement the new funding they receive in 2025-26 with efficiencies."

An analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies has predicted a pay rise close to 4% would leave schools nationwide with a shortfall of £800 million.

Mr Wrack said: "Pressures on school budgets are making it harder for to maintain quality teaching, protect jobs and invest in their workforce."

And heads confirmed they were being forced to make cuts.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: "Schools have been forced to make repeated cuts after more than a decade of austerity under the previous government - and it is projected that funding for this financial year will not come close to keeping pace with costs.

"We are continuing to hear from school leaders who are being forced to make redundancies as a result of budget deficits, including cuts to leadership roles, teachers, and support staff."

Union leaders have warned that forcing schools to make cuts to fund pay rises .

Conservative MP Richard Holden said were cutting staff. He has been contacted by a school therapist who told him in a letter: "I have recently been informed that I am being made redundant. Most of the schools in the trust are making cuts in order to stay afloat.

"Staff that are being cut or having hours reduced are teaching assistants, social, emotional and mental health staff and other support staff."

But Labour MPs are also concerned. Bishop Auckland MP Sam Rushworth said he would write to Education Ministers about redundances in his constituency and told the House of Commons last week: "I am deeply concerned about the funding of Howden-le-Wear primary school in my constituency. After years of real-terms cuts, it is now making four teaching assistants redundant."

A Department for Education spokesperson said: "This government inherited a challenging fiscal context, including a £22bn black hole. Nevertheless, the Budget protected key education priorities including core funding for schools, to deliver on our Plan for Change.

"We recognise the pressures schools are facing, but despite the challenging economic context, we are putting a further £3.2bn into schools' budgets. We trust schools, who know their pupils best, to make decisions about how best to invest their funding to support every child to achieve and thrive and to get the best value for money from overall resources.

"Alongside investment, we have been clear that we will support leaders to use funding as efficiently as possible including by offering schools a suite of existing and new productivity initiatives to help them reduce costs and manage their budgets."

MP Richard Holden said: "Family businesses, charities, social care providers - in fact any employer small or large is being clobbered by Labour's National Insurance Tax rise that will cost tens of thousands of jobs as well as lead to increased prices and lower pay.

"What's even more shocking is that the schools and doctors who also have to pay the increased contributions aren't even being funded themselves to cover the costs - leading to redundancies across the public sector too.

"Labour's tax hikes are costing jobs and crippling opportunity for your people. I urge them to think again before they do what every majority Labour Government in history has done and be booted from office with more people out of work than when they were elected."