This series of reports on education spending, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, brings together data on education spending per student across the life cycle (early years, schools, further education and higher education) and provides analysis about the major issues facing different sectors. These series of day-to-day spending per pupil back to the 1990s enables an understanding of how policy decisions have affected the resources available to students in different stages of education over the long run.
The 2018 report, authored by Chris Belfield, Christine Farquharson and Luke Sibieta, shows that government spending on education has changed significantly over the last 25 years, with the focus of spending shifting towards earlier in youngsters' lives. Most stages of education have seen significant real-terms increases in spending per pupil over this period, with 16-18 education a notable exception. Higher education resources per student continue to be higher than resources at all other stages, but only due to graduate contributions, and the changes over time have been far from smooth. School spending has been prioritised by successive governments, whilst 16-18 education has been the big loser from changes over the last 25 years, with spending per student in further education now 8 per cent below that in secondary schools. Early years spending has been a focus of successive governments too, though spending per pupil is still only around 70 per cent of that in primary schools.
The 2019 report, authored by Jack Britton, Christine Farquharson and Luke Sibieta, builds on the 2018 report, updating the figures to take into account policy changes in the last year (such as the new teacher pay award and the full introduction of 30 hours' free childcare). The report reveals a very similar situation to the 2018 report. Again 16-18 education has been the big loser from changes over the last 25 years, with spending per student in further education now 6 per cent below that in secondary schools. Early years spending has been a focus of successive governments too, though spending per pupil is still only around 75 per cent of that in primary schools.
The 2020 report, authored by Jack Britton, Christine Farquharson, Luke Sibieta, Imran Tahir and Ben Waltmann, updates the estimates of spending per student and analyses the challenges facing each phase of education due to the ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The authors focus on the medium-term challenges facing providers as they respond to substantial changes in student numbers, as well as the loss of learning and increased inequalities that are likely to have emerged during lockdown.
The 2021 report, authored by Christine Farquharson, Luke Sibieta, Imran Tahir and Ben Waltmann, presents: (1) overall levels of education spending across the UK; (2) trends in pupil numbers across different phases of education in England, which illustrates the large rise in the child population over time; (3) trends in spending per pupil across different stages of education over time, paying particular attention to recent trends since 2010; and (4) analyses the implications of the 2021 Spending Review for future trends in spending per pupil and the challenges across each stage of education. This includes analysis of various potential reforms to the higher education funding system.
The 2022 report, authored by Elaine Drayton, Christine Farquharson, Kate Ogden, Luke Sibieta, Imran Tahir and Ben Waltmann, highlights that, following on from cuts to most areas of education spending during the 2010s, the government has provided additional funding at successive spending reviews between 2019 and 2021. However, rising levels of inflation and cost pressures have dampened the effects of extra funding, putting severe strain on providers’ budgets right across the public sector. High ambitions for the education sector will also be harder to achieve in an era of further constraints on public spending.
The 2023 report, authored by Elaine Drayton, Christine Farquharson, Kate Ogden, Luke Sibieta, Imran Tahir and Ben Waltmann, reports that following on from cuts to most areas of education spending during the 2010s, the government has provided additional funding at successive spending reviews between 2019 and 2021. However, rising levels of inflation and cost pressures have dampened the effects of extra funding. The government also has high ambitions for education to play a major role in 'levelling up' poorer areas of the country. This report focuses on geographic differences in education spending across each stage of education, as well as the extent to which education spending is targeted at pupils from more disadvantaged backgrounds.
The 2024-2025 report, authored by Elaine Drayton, Christine Farquharson, Kate Ogden, Luke Sibieta, Darcey Snape and Imran Tahir, is the first to be published since the advent of a Labour government. The new administration has already established financial frameworks and priorities, guided by one of its five missions 'Break down barriers to opportunity’, alongside some associated milestones. All of this has significant implications for the levels and distribution of education spending. In particular, there has been a major injection of funding into early years provision, a notable boost in support for schoolchildren with special educational needs and disabilities, and a more modest increase in spending on further education.
Edited excerpts from publications.
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