It has been reported that Chetham's School of Music could find increasing difficulty in being able to offer children from disadvantaged backgrounds funded places at its institution.

It comes after it was announced that a decision on the longer term funding of the government's Music & Dance Scheme (MDS), which helps support 263 students at the school in Manchester, has still not been made.

This followed concerns the MDS may be defunded, after the government cut support grants issued through the scheme in December 2024. In response, the government has stated that it was committed to funding the MDS for the 2025-26 academic year at a cost of £36mn.

Decision soon

The government has stated that it hoped to announce the tendering arrangements for 2026/27 "soon" and that funding the 2026/27 academic year and beyond would be subject to the forthcoming spending review.

According to a recent House of Lords report 2,074 pupils across the country are helped under the scheme.

News report

A recent report on ITV News said that the lack of a firm commitment to further fund the Music & Dance Scheme beyond this academic year came in addition to the recent increases in business rates, national insurance changes and VAT costs.

MDS grants help fund places at schools and 20 centres of advanced training (CAT) for pupil aged 8 to 19 (or to 25 for children with disabilities).

These included the music schools at Chetham's, The Purcell School, Wells Cathedral and the Yehudi Menuhin School, as well as dance schools including the Royal Ballet School and CATS at the RNCM, Royal College of Music, Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Yorkshire Young Musicians and others.

MDS grants help fund places at schools and 20 centres of advanced training (CAT) for pupil aged 8 to 19 (or to 25 for children with disabilities)4BR

Closure concerns

In the ITV news report, both Chetham's joint-principal Tom Redmond and Halle principal trombonist Katy Jones spoke of their concerns over the current funding mechanism as well as the wider context of potential closure, if as he said, "a business runs out of money".

The government said it would consider future funding and its methodology for the MDS "in due course" and explained that it had also adjusted the MDS bursary contribution for families with a relevant income below £45,000 to account for the VAT introduction on private school fees for the 2024-25 academic year.

It said that this methodology would be reviewed, and details set out in due course.