A Call to Reverse Cuts to Higher Education Funding

A new government proposal to remove Price Group C1.2 funding for higher education music provision has prompted serious concern from across the sector. The decision risks undermining the pipeline of skilled musicians, educators, researchers and creative professionals needed for the UK’s cultural and economic future. In a joint letter to the Secretary of State for Education, Music Mark and the Royal Musical Association call on the government to reverse the proposed cut to Price Group C1.2 funding and reaffirm its commitment to supporting a sector that makes a vital contribution to the United Kingdom’s economy, global reputation, health and wellbeing.

Dear Rt Hon Bridget Phillipson MP,

 

Music Mark and the Royal Musical Association are writing to express the deepest concern regarding the annual guidance letter sent from government to the Office for Students recommending the removal of Price Group C1.2 funding, and we urge you to reverse this decision.

 

This guidance demonstrates a significant disconnect between governmental policies across departments which is damaging to both the higher education sector and the resultant creative industry. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has designated the creative industries as a priority industry, recognising its social, cultural and financial value. UK Music’s report, ‘This is Music 2025’, supports this decision, identifying music’s contribution of £8 billion in terms of Gross Value Added (GVA) to the UK economy in 2025, which is increasing on annual basis.[i] According to Creative PEC’s Creative Industry Skills Audit, supported by HM Government, there is a skills shortage in the music industry, coupled with 57% of employers expecting to increase staff numbers over the next three to five years. [ii] The removal of the Price Group C1.2 funding will further restrict the training pipeline to support this growth and contribution to the economy. Without the financial assistance to retain the staff needed to teach these skills it will not be possible to equip the future workforce for the creative industries.

 

Simultaneously, the Department for Education Curriculum and Assessment Review,[iii] National Centre for Arts and Music Education,[iv] and new Enrichment Benchmarks[v] advocate for the collective benefits of the arts, and their inextricable role in the education and lives of children and young people. Implementing the new curriculum and increasing access to enrichment activities will require a growth in the teaching workforce. With a 51.3% reduction of music teacher trainees between 2010/11 and 2024/25, these government policies will not be possible if higher education music departments are not supported.

 

The advice to remove all funding for creative arts courses appears contradictory, fracturing the pathways for those who may foster a love of the arts throughout their education and wish to pursue careers and lifelong learning in the sector. This is especially surprising at a time when transferable skills, soft skills and human qualities are being coveted by industry and employers outside of the creative realm. The creative industries cannot survive, let alone thrive, without research, innovation, experimentation, and the training and nurturing of its future workforce.

 

Music is being disproportionately impacted at higher education institutions across the United Kingdom, with departments being closed and downsized, and staff facing redundancies and reduced hours. The subject is being measured against metrics which are not fit for purpose and misrepresent creative fields, such as staff-student ratio and graduate outcomes. We are heartened by the retention of funding for World-leading specialist providers which are delivering high quality research outputs and teaching, in addition to actively supporting younger generations to access music. However, non-specialist institutions share the associated costs of the physical infrastructures, such as recording studios, rehearsal rooms, concert halls and instruments, as well as the associated specialist and technical staff which, once removed, are not easily rebuilt and reclaimed.

 

As highlighted by Universities UK, ‘The Strategic Priorities Grant, which supports high-cost subject provision, has declined by 18.4% in real terms between 2018–19 and 2025–26’ and the projection to reduce this further into 2029/30 can only exacerbate the current crisis in higher education.[vi] The planned removal of the grant for the new Academic Year (which totalled £16.8m in 2024/25 and £12m in 2025/26) will cause irreparable harm to subjects which are increasingly at risk. The timing of this guidance, previously issued as early as January and at the latest May in previous years, adds further anxiety, uncertainty and urgency to an already stretched and stressed workforce.

 

We urge you to reverse the decision to cut Price Group C1.2 funding and strengthen your support of a vital sector for the United Kingdom’s economy, international standing, health and wellbeing.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Bridget Whyte

CEO, Music Mark

 

Simon Keefe

President, Royal Musical Association

[i] https://www.ukmusic.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/This-Is-Music-2025.pdf

[ii] https://pec.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/PEC-Creative-Industries-Skills-Audits-%E2%80%93-Music-1.pdf

[iii] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/curriculum-and-assessment-review-final-report

[iv] https://www.gov.uk/government/news/young-people-to-benefit-from-creative-education-boost

[v] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-enrichment-framework-for-schools-and-colleges/enrichment-benchmarks

[vi] https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/sites/default/files/field/downloads/2025-05/uuk-analysis-pack-changes-in-supply-and-demand-of-high-cost-subjects.pdf