Deprived schools have seen larger cuts in spending over the last decade according to a report out this morning

The Institute for Fiscal Studies found that the most deprived fifth of secondary schools saw a 14% real-terms fall in spending per pupil between 2009 and 2019, compared with a 9% drop for the least deprived schools.

The National Funding Formula has continued this pattern by providing bigger real-terms increases for the least deprived schools (8–9%) than for the most deprived ones (5%) between 2017 and 2022. The Pupil Premium has also failed to keep pace with inflation since 2015. These patterns run counter to the government’s goal of levelling up poorer areas.

The report found that between 2010 and 2019, total public spending on education across the UK fell by £10 billion, or 8%, in real terms.

This led to a fall in the share of national income devoted to education spending (down from 5% of national income in 2007 to 4.4% in 2019). If education spending had remained at 5% of national income, it would have been £16 billion higher in 2019.

There was a 3% real-terms increase in education spending in 2020, but this mostly reflects the temporary extra levels of support during the pandemic.

The fall in education spending over the last decade stands in stark contrast to the continual growth in health spending over time.

In the early 1990s, health and education spending both represented about 4.5% of national income. Education spending remains close to this level, whilst health spending increased to over 7% of national income just before the pandemic. This partly reflects the costs of an ageing society, but also policy and spending choices by successive governments that have tended to favour health spending.

Following on from a big boost in the 2000s, total school spending per pupil fell by 9% in real terms between 2009 and 2019. Last month’s Spending Review included an extra £4.4 billion for the schools budget in 2024 as compared with previous plans. When combined with existing plans, we project that spending per pupil in 2024 will be at about the same level as in 2010. Whilst this reverses past cuts, it will also mean 15 years with no overall growth in spending. This squeeze on school resources is effectively without precedent in post-war UK history.

Luke Sibieta, IFS Research Fellow and an author of the report, said: ‘The cuts to education spending over the past decade are effectively without precedent in post-war history. Extra funding in the Spending Review will reverse cuts to school spending per pupil, but will mean 15 years without any overall growth, and college spending per student will still be lower than in 2024. Recent funding changes have also worked against schools serving disadvantaged communities. This will make it that much harder to achieve ambitious goals to level up poorer areas of the country and narrow educational inequalities, which were gaping even before the pandemic. Fast growth in student numbers in colleges and universities will add to the challenges facing the education sector.’

Josh Hillman, Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation, said: ‘The IFS report provides an invaluable analysis of trends in education spending over the last decade. Of particular concern is the erosion of spending focused on disadvantaged pupils, partly as a result of the Pupil Premium not keeping pace with inflation for the last six years and partly due to its impact being undermined through policies that target funding on areas of the country with fewer disadvantaged children. Similarly, recent increases in funding for further education do not compensate for the real-terms decline in spending in recent years, let alone take account of increased student numbers and the government’s strategic ambitions for the sector, such as improving the take-up and quality of technical and vocational education and qualifications.’

 

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