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IFS warns of cuts to school budgets amid rising costs

Schools spending per pupil in 2024 will be 3 per cent lower than 2010 in real terms, according to research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the government is no longer on track with its pledge to reinstate school funding to 2010 levels PHOTO Adobe Stock
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says the government is no longer on track with its pledge to reinstate school funding to 2010 levels PHOTO Adobe Stock

The pressure of rising costs on schools means that the government is no longer on track to restore spending per pupil to 2010 levels.

The IFS said that while spending in 2022-23 'is just about affordable' in government spending plans, by 2023-24 current spending plans will be real-terms cuts and by 2024-25, the IFS estimates that school spending per pupil will be 3 per cent lower than in 2010.

Between 2009-10 and 2019-20 school spending per pupil fell 9 per cent in real terms. In the 2019 and 2021 spending review, the government allocated extra funding to schools and stated that it would restore spending per pupil to 2010 levels by the end of the parliament in 2024-25.

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