How does school spending per pupil differ across the UK?

7th May 2023

This short report compares the level of school spending per pupil across the four nations of the UK.

Given that education policy is a devolved matter across the UK, a natural question to ask is how school spending per pupil differs across the four nations of the UK. In this short report, we show how school spending per pupil has changed across the four nations of the UK over time. We also directly show how the level of COVID-related spending on schools differed across the four nations of the UK. To ensure consistent comparisons, our measure of school spending relates to spending on the early years, schools and school sixth forms per pupil aged 3-19 attending these settings in each nation.

Key findings
After 2010, school spending per pupil fell across all four nations of the UK. Between 2009-10 and 2018-19, school spending per pupil fell by 8% in real terms in England and by 5% in real terms in Wales. In Northern Ireland, there was a fall of 8% in the shorter period between 2011-12 and 2018-19. In Scotland, there was a fall of 6½% between 2009-10 and 2014–15.

Since then, spending per pupil has mostly recovered back to 2010 levels across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with increases of about 8% in real terms in England and Wales between 2018–19 and 2022–23, and of 11% in Northern Ireland. This leaves school spending at about £7,200 per pupil across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2022–23. This may end up a little higher in Wales once extra funding has been agreed for a higher teacher pay settlement. In Northern Ireland, there is more uncertainty, with no agreement reached on teacher pay levels stretching back to 2021 and signals of budget cuts for next year.

In Scotland, large increases in school spending since 2014 have more than reversed past cuts. There was a 13% real-terms increase between 2014–15 and 2019–20, reflecting growth in specific grants over time and a large increase in teacher pay of 7% in 2019. There was then further growth in spending per pupil of 6½% between 2019–20 and 2022–23, reflecting expansion in early years funding and further increases in teacher pay. This makes for a total rise of 21% between 2014–15 and 2022–23 and leaves spending per pupil in Scotland at over £8,500 in 2022–23, over 18% or £1,300 higher than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

There have been different pressures on school budgets from changing pupil numbers across the UK. In England, spending has had to keep pace with a 13% rise in pupil numbers between 2009–10 and 2022–23, whilst in Northern Ireland there was an 8% rise in pupil numbers between 2011–12 and 2022–23. In Scotland, there was much slower growth in pupil numbers (2% between 2009–10 and 2022–23). This meant that total spending only had to grow by a little more in Scotland (15%) than in England (12%) to deliver a much larger rise in spending per pupil in Scotland (13%) than in England (–1%) between 2009–10 and 2022–23. In very stark contrast, pupil numbers have hardly changed at all in Wales over the last thirteen years, which meant that a 3% increase in total spending allowed for a 3% increase in spending per pupil between 2009–10 and 2022–23.

All four nations are now expected to see falls in pupil numbers of about 6–8% over the next five years. On a national level, this might make it easier to deliver real-terms increases in spending per pupil as money is spread over a smaller population. However, at an individual school level, falling pupil rolls can create budgetary problems if costs do not fall in line with pupil numbers.

During the pandemic and the aftermath, all four nations provided extra funding to schools to help with extra costs and to aid education recovery. We estimate that total COVID-related spending on schools across 2020–21 and 2021–22 was highest in Wales and Northern Ireland, at about £800 per pupil in total across the two years.

It was lower in England and Scotland, at about £300 per pupil, though the figure for Scotland may be a slight underestimate due to extra funding through the main local government settlement.

4. Conclusions
To summarise, the level of school spending per pupil is currently planned to be quite similar across England, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2022–23, at about £7,200 per pupil. This may go up in some cases when all nations have agreed teacher pay levels and any consequent extra funding. Across all three nations, cuts to spending per pupil have been effectively reversed by more recent increases. However, each nation has got to this position from quite different pressures from changing pupil numbers. In England, rapid rises in pupil numbers have been just about matched by rises in spending over the last 12 years, such that spending per pupil is now largely back to where it was in 2010. In Wales, by contrast, pupil numbers have hardly changed, such that a small rise in spending allowed for a small rise in spending per pupil.

The picture in Scotland is quite different, with significantly higher levels of school spending per pupil, at least £8,500 per pupil in 2022–23 prices. To some extent, school spending per pupil has been higher in Scotland for a long period (being about 6% or £400 higher per pupil in 2011–12). However, by 2022–23, it was at least 18% or £1,300 higher than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Such differences naturally prompt questions about whether higher funding is leading to better educational outcomes or narrower inequalities in Scotland. The empirical evidence would suggest that it should. However, the evidence also highlights that just doing simple correlations in funding and outcomes is not particularly informative either, as the relationship between funding and outcomes is a complex one. For instance, much of the recent increases in school spending in Scotland have been driven by increased spending on the early years, which would take a very long time to filter through to test scores or other educational outcomes. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that despite having the highest level of school spending per pupil across the UK for a long period, test scores in reading, maths and science in Scotland have either stayed the same or been going down over time in PISA international comparisons (Scottish Government, 2019).

Read the full report HERE
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