The latest school spending analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) reveals that in the current year (2021-22), school spending per pupil is expected to be highest in Scotland (£7,600), a similar level in England (£6,700) and Wales (£6,600) and lowest in Northern Ireland (£6,400).
While there were cuts to school spending per pupil across all four nations over the past decade, policymakers have increasingly made different choices in recent years
- Scotland – Spending per pupil fell by 7% between 2009-10 and 2014-15. In contrast to the rest of the UK, there has since been a big recovery in spending per pupil, with growth of more than 15% between 2014-15 and 2021-22. This was partially driven by the large increases in teacher pay in Scotland in 2018 and 2019, as well as extra COVID spending (not included in figures for other nations). However, even after making plausible adjustments, core spending per pupil in Scotland in 2021-22 is still likely to be over 6% than in 2009-10 and over £800 higher than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
- England and Wales – The levels and trends in spending per pupil have been mostly similar across England and Wales. Wales saw a smaller cut between 2009-10 and 2018-19 (5%) than England (8%). Both nations have since seen an increase of 8% up to 2021-22. The net result is that spending per pupil in Wales is now slightly above 2009-10 levels, but still slightly below in England. However, the forces driving the changes have been very different across England and Wales. In England, total spending growth (12%) hasn’t quite kept pace with rapid rises in pupil numbers (13% growth since 2009-10). In Wales, pupil numbers have hardly changed at all and total spending only needed to grow by a small amount (2%) to deliver a small real-terms increase.
- Northern Ireland – There was a larger cut in spending per pupil (10%) in Northern Ireland up to 2018-19. This was partly driven by significant delays in agreeing teacher salaries. There has since been a 9% real-terms increase between 2018-19 and 2021-22, which partly includes the effect of back pay for teachers. Despite these increases, planned spending per pupil is due to be about £6,400 per pupil in Northern Ireland in 2021–22, about 3% lower than in 2011–12 and still lower than in the rest of the UK.
Figures are in 2021-22 prices and represent new IFS estimates of school spending per pupil across the UK. Figures relate to total day-to-day school spending on children aged 3–19 by schools, local authorities and funding agencies. This analysis was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and forms part of a larger programme of work examining trends and challenges in education spending across different phases.
Luke Sibieta, IFS Research Fellow and author said ” Over the last decade, there were cuts to school spending per pupil right across the UK. In Scotland, large recent increases mean that spending has more than recovered and core spending per pupil is now likely to be over £800 higher than in the rest of the UK. Despite recent increases, spending per pupil in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is still close to or just below levels in 2010. With planned levels of catch-up spending falling short of recommendations and the ambitious plans in other high-income countries, past squeezes in school spending will make it that much harder for schools to address the major challenges and educational inequalities following on from the pandemic.
Josh Hillman, Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation said:
“This IFS analysis shows that the increasing divergence in education policy between the four nations of the UK extends to school spending per pupil, where funding to support Scottish pupils has held up better than for their counterparts in the other nations. A major cause for concern is that funding for education recovery programmes in response to the pandemic is much lower across all four nations than those being implemented in comparable countries.”
