The King’s speech 2024: key points for education

Yesterday, King Charles outlined the new Labour government’s law-making plans in a speech to parliament to mark the new parliamentary year.

Key points from the speech indicate that new policies will impact educational institutions. Understanding these developments is crucial for preparing your school, academy, or trust for the future.

Before becoming law, the education bills will be debated by parliament. Although none of these bills are guaranteed, it’s good to stay informed and prepare for these potential changes.

Children’s Wellbeing Bill

The key takeaway from the speech is the emphasis on the Children’s Wellbeing Bill. The government plans to implement various changes through this bill to eliminate barriers to opportunity and ensure a fair school system for all children, regardless of their background.

Key proposals include:

• Providing free breakfast clubs in every primary school.
• Reducing costs for parents by limiting the number of branded uniform items schools can require.
• Creating registers for Children Not in School to support home-educating parents and help local authorities keep track of students, ensuring no child is overlooked.
• Giving Ofsted more power to investigate unregistered schools and address poor care in children’s homes to ensure child safety.

The Skills England Bill

Skills England will bring together businesses, training providers, unions, and other organisations to improve skills training and tackle skills shortages, contributing to ongoing economic growth. The Skills England Bill seeks to streamline the skills system by shifting responsibilities from the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) to the newly established Skills England organisation, enhancing the efficiency of the skills sector.

Equality (Race and Disability) Bill

• An Employment Rights Bill will ban the "exploitative" use of zero-hours contracts and introduce various new workers’ rights promised ahead of the election.
• A Race Equality Bill will extend the right to make equal pay claims under the Equality Act to ethnic minority workers and disabled people and bring in new pay reporting requirements for bigger firms.

Employment Rights Bill

• Reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body, to establish national terms and conditions, career progression routes, and fair pay rates.
• Update trade union legislation so it is fit for a modern economy, removing unnecessary restrictions on trade union activity – including the previous government’s approach to minimum service levels – and ensuring industrial relations are based around good faith negotiation and bargaining.

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