1.5 million children in England learning in unsafe school buildings

The investigation highlights widespread issues with England’s public sector buildings, with thousands requiring urgent repairs. One striking case occurred at a school in Cumbria, where floors were found to be at risk of collapse, prompting immediate evacuation.

Hospitals haven’t fared much better, with one in Sutton resorting to using masking tape to keep windows intact and dealing with mud seeping into its floors.

Nick Davies, Programme Director at the Institute for Government, summarised the severity, telling The Guardian:

The UK has a decades-long history of underinvesting in public sector buildings, but the 2010s saw deep cuts to already limited budgets. The result is record maintenance backlogs and an unmodernised estate that makes it much harder for frontline staff to do their jobs and for the public to receive the support they need.

Among the most alarming findings was the state of England’s schools. One in six children—around 1.5 million—are learning in schools categorised as needing major repairs or in a "relatively poor" condition. Nearly half of these are deemed unsafe or outdated, requiring significant refurbishment.

The Midlands has been particularly affected, with 30% of its schools classified as unsafe or seriously defective. Compounding the issue is the sluggish pace of the government’s school rebuilding programme. While initially aiming to refurbish 50 schools annually, only 24 schools had been completed by September 2024.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, Conservative chair of the cross-party Public Accounts Committee, also voiced his concerns:

Proper maintenance of public buildings cannot continue to be seen as a non-urgent matter... These are problems of the gravest concern that can cause snowballing additional costs.

Schools are just the tip of the iceberg. In the NHS, a third of all sites need urgent repairs to prevent disruptions to clinical services, injuries, or even prosecution. Shockingly, £3 billion of necessary repairs are categorised as "high risk," meaning they pose a direct danger to patients, staff, or visitors.

The court system also paints a grim picture. Only 1% of court buildings in England are in good condition, and equipment failures have resulted in hundreds of trial delays since 2020.

The investigation points to years of underfunding and mismanagement. Departments have frequently diverted funds intended for building maintenance to cover day-to-day costs, leaving long-term infrastructure projects underfunded.

A government spokesperson defended the current administration’s efforts, stating:

"We are taking immediate action to remedy the state of disrepair found in our public estate, which has been neglected over the previous years."

However, experts argue that these measures are too little, too late. Nick Davies noted that the Labour government’s recent budget changes—which allow for more borrowing for capital spending—are a positive step but fall short of addressing the scale of the problem.

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