Many MU members teach for music hubs, and many more got their own education through the local authority music services that now form hubs. These vital organisations should be a launchpad for musical talent from all backgrounds, but their funding is in a perilous state.
Launched in 2012, hubs were formed from previously existing music services, with the additional involvement of other organisations like professional ensembles, music venues and instrument manufacturers. This structure aimed to provide a wide range of musical opportunities for children.
The new hubs were issued with funding from the Department for Education (DfE), but this was less than what music services used to get, and hubs were told they should make efficiency savings to cover the difference. Thirteen years on, funding remains frozen at a similar level. Meanwhile, other income streams that music services and hub partners organisations have traditionally drawn on – including from local authorities and schools – have shrunk.
These vital organisations should be a launchpad for musical talent from all backgrounds, but their funding is in a perilous state.
A primary role of hubs is to provide instrumental and vocal lessons for children. But a recent Ofsted music report revealed that half the schools it inspected did not offer instrumental lessons at all, which school leaders said was because parents couldn’t afford it. This shows that hubs do not have enough resources to reach all children and schools. It also reveals that parental contributions are now understood to be the main way of funding music lessons.
Another challenge is to do with the engagement of teachers. Many hubs have been driven to use cheaper models like zero-hour contracts and self-employment, neither of which incentivise good teachers to work for hubs. Pensions are also being cut back due to changes in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (although the MU was recently part of a successful lobbying effort to secure more than £1 million of additional funding for teachers’ pensions in hubs).
Teachers should not have to prop up an under-funded system by accepting poor pay and terms
Put simply, hubs should be able to provide all children with sustained music tuition – including those from families who cannot afford to pay for it – which the government has said it is committed to. And teachers should not have to prop up an under-funded system by accepting poor pay and terms.
How is hub funding worked out?
It has never been clear how music hub funding is calculated by the government, and the DfE has never provided a costed assessment of how much it thinks the hub programme should cost to deliver. Instead, funding seems to be a political decision, bearing little relation to delivery costs.
A new report has attempted to fill this gap by costing the delivery of the music hubs programme. 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.
Funding seems to be a political decision, bearing little relation to delivery costs
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 hubs. It includes a recommendation to “boost funding to help hubs deliver music education for all by meeting their £32.3m annual cost – just 0.03 per cent of the total UK education spend.”
Take action - write to your MP
The MU has made a detailed submission to the government’s Spending Review, demanding more funding for music education and increased support for culture generally. We have provided a template letter for members to write to their MPs about this, but when writing to your MP, it is a good idea to use your own words if possible.
I will be writing to my own MP to draw her attention to the Facing the Music report, which provides a tangible set of proposals for MPs to raise in parliament. The amounts requested are tiny in the context of overall government spending, but they would be transformative for hubs. The government must now honour its manifesto commitments and give hubs the funding they need to do their job.