School spending still below 2009 levels with deprived areas worst hit, IFS warns

Spending per pupil is forecast to be one to two per cent lower than 2009/10 levels by 2022/23, the Institute for Fiscal Studies warns, despite the government ploughing £7bn into education to aid recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the extra funding per pupil spending has increased since 2019/20 when the figure stood at nine per cent lower than 2009/10 levels. However, Luke Sibieta, research fellow at the IFS and author of the report, said: “The nine per cent fall in school spending per pupil in England over the decade between 2009 and 2019 is the largest in more than 40 years, and probably a lot longer. “The fact that it still won’t have recovered back to 2009 levels by 2022 shows just how big the squeeze has been.” Disadvantaged pupils will be worst hit by funding cuts, the report states, noting that the most deprived secondary schools saw a 14 per cent real-terms fall in spending per pupil between 2009/10 and 2019/20, compared with a nine per cent drop for the least deprived schools. Read more.