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.
Differences in data sources and funding systems can make it difficult to compare school spending across nations. In our analysis, we have sought to define a common measure based on total day-to-day school spending on children aged 3–19 by schools, local authorities and funding agencies. This includes early years and pre-primary spending on 3- and 4-year-olds, as well as school sixth form funding to ensure comparability, given that some nations include this funding as part of school allocations. Differences in sixth form and early years provision across the four nations could drive differences in total funding per pupil aged 3–19. In practice, however, these differences are likely to be small given that total funding is largely made up of core schools funding for pupils aged 5–16.
More generally, whilst we have sought to make these measures as comparable as possible, there are always potential limitations with comparing data from different sources, which we highlight for individual nations. Figures for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in 2022–23 should be treated as provisional plans. Figures for Scotland and Wales are likely to increase as a result of agreements on teacher pay and expectations of extra funding to pay for these higher awards. The same could also apply to England and Northern Ireland when agreements are reached.
