UK Government budget
On Wednesday 26 November, Rachel Reeves announced the UK Government’s budget. The headlines focused on the Chancellor “asking ordinary people to pay a little bit more” after unveiling £26bn of tax rises in a Budget that also saw her scrap the two-child benefit cap. In terms of the economic outlook, the medium-term will see a downgrade to growth in productivity and an increase to forecast inflation. Notably, the ‘fiscal headroom’ that the Chancellor needs to comply with the Labour manifesto’s economic rules has doubled to £22bn.
Beyond the headlines though, there were also significant repercussions for the higher education and research sectors. In HE, the new tuition fee levels in England were confirmed: the maximum fee will be £9,790 (+2.71%) in 2026/27 and £10,050 (+2.68%) in 2027/28. An international fee levy for English institutions was also confirmed, to stand at £925 per student per year of study, with an allowance for the first 220 students per institution. This will raise less than the previously-mooted 6% tax on international fee income.
On research and innovation, the days prior to the Budget saw details emerge of research funding plans, with Science Secretary Liz Kendall outlining how UKRI’s £38.6bn settlement will be split and other changes below the surface. We can expect to see:
- £14bn (36%) for curiosity-driven research.
- £9bn (23%) for “fields of research in which the UK is among the strongest in the world, like AI and quantum, which could deliver breakthroughs in healthcare or pioneering cybersecurity tech”.
- £8bn (21%) for research in UK Government’s priorities.
- £7bn (18%) for innovative company growth.
The protection of QR funding and the revived commitment towards curiosity-driven research are welcome to the social sciences in particular, although the wider context means that no-one should be breathing a sigh of relief just yet. UKRI and UK Government will likely be more ‘hands-on’ with the research system and are open about wanting to fund fewer things to drive up quality, whilst the Science Minister, Lord Vallance, has previously given a clear indication of his preferred approach with potential changes to the REF expected to be announced next month. This has led to discussions about whether the increased focus on research aligned to UK Government priorities puts the Haldane principle in jeopardy.
Curriculum & assessment review
On Wednesday 5 November, the UK Government launched its final report from Becky Francis’ Curriculum & Assessment Review. There was little specific reference to social science disciplines within the document, but one exception was around Geography, which will remain the anchor social science subject for Key Stage 1 through to Key Stage 3, with recommendations that the subject curriculum should reinforce fieldwork and embed climate change more explicitly. The review states: “The real-world focus of the Geography curriculum is one of its key strengths, allowing young people to gain significant insights into contemporary world issues and evaluate potential solutions to pressing global challenges”.
Elsewhere, the review talked of “applied knowledge areas (frequently referred to as ‘life skills’) of financial literacy, digital literacy and media literacy; education on climate change and sustainability; and the skill of oracy”. There was a recommendation of an enhanced statutory primary curriculum around Citizenship which would cover financial literacy, democracy and government, law and rights, media literacy, climate and sustainability – and tightened at secondary for purpose, progression and specificity. However, although there were lengthy passages on new statutory programmes of study on financial literacy and on law and rights, its ambitions on democracy and government are more modest with the review proposing this should be supported within the existing Citizenship framework. Critics might contrast this with Wales where the political literacy / democratic citizenship dimension was more significantly enhanced as part of their curriculum reform process.
The UK Government will aim to publish final revised proposals by spring 2027, with the new curriculum implemented in full from September 2028. The report also pledged that there should not be another review of its type for a decade.
Other news in brief
- More REF rumours: An announcement is expected during December to ‘unpause’ the REF 2029 process and provide clarity on next steps. REF 2029 is expected to fully split staff from outputs, to discourage universities from relying on ‘star’ researchers to boost submissions. Speaking to the Lords’ Science & Tech Committee, former UKRI CEO Ottoline Leyser said: “We’ve made [the REF process] about individuals, because the academic research system is very focused on the individual level, and that’s something we really need to break… Those individuals will be much more powerful if they are incentivised to work in teams and contribute their expertise to a broader agenda.”
- DSIT budget breakdown: The UK Government’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology has set out how it intends to spend its £58.5 billion research budget in the four years from April 2026. DSIT’s overall R&D budget will grow in real terms to £58.5bn from 2026-27 to 2029-30. DSIT also published its analysis of the value of public R&D, finding that “on average, £1 of civil public R&D investment generates £8 in net economic benefits for the UK over the long term”, and that taking into account the “significant health, national security, environmental and quality of life benefits from various types of civil public R&D, the full social benefits would be even higher than £8 per public pound invested”.
- NCUB taskforce report: A taskforce chaired by former civil servant and now business leader John Manzoni on behalf of the National Centre for Universities & Business taskforce has argued that Britain must address a “very fragmented” research landscape to help stem a decline in business R&D investment. It found that UK business R&D spending has dropped by 6.3% since 2021, representing a £3.4bn decline. Across all OECD countries, business R&D spending has risen by an average of 7.2% over the same period.
- Welsh tuition fees to rise: Following last month’s announcement on tuition fee rises in England, Vikki Howells MS indicated that she is “of the view that the same increases to tuition fee caps announced by the UK government are appropriate for Wales”. As such, she proposes to increase the fee cap to the same value that will be applied in England for 2026-27 (a figure yet to be confirmed by the UK Government), and that this will apply to any student studying in Wales. Student loans will rise correspondingly.
- New OfSE strategy: The Office for Students in England published its vision for exemplary higher education regulation (effectively a new five-year strategy). In it, the OfSE sets out three priorities: Quality, Student Experience & Support, and – tellingly – sector resilience.