The Government has committed to the “highest real-term spending on schools in history” for the year 2023-2024.

Rating

Missing context: In cash terms – without taking into account spending per pupil – school spending for 2023-2024 is £57.3 billion, an increase of 64% compared to the £35.0 billion allocated in 2010. But the Government’s spending announcement came after more than a decade of cuts to school spending in England when adjusted for inflation – this is what is meant by “real term spending”. According to think tank the Institute for Fiscal Studies, an independent economics research institute, real-term spending per pupil declined by about 9%, from £7,260 to £6,640, between 2009-2010 and 2019-2020 and is not expected to recover until 2024/25. Luke Sibieta, research fellow at the IFS and author of its annual report on education spending, told the PA news agency that spending per pupil – adjusted for inflation – is the most accurate measure of resources available to schools as it takes into account increases in the number of pupils over that period.

Reviewed by PA Media ↗ · May 26, 2023