Safety concerns about school buildings have put capital spending on schools at the forefront of public debate. In this comment, we provide context by analysing trends in capital spending on schools in England, both in historical terms and compared with levels of need.
Total capital spending on education in England is due to be about £7 billion in 2023–24. This reflects different types of capital spending. In 2023–24, about £1.8 billion is devoted to school maintenance and repair, with about £4 billion on new schools and other aspects of school capital spending. The remaining £1.2 billion is expected to be spent on further education colleges, as part of the government’s flagship further education (FE) capital transformation fund and in response to the reclassification of colleges into the public sector.
Figure 1 shows the historical trends in education capital spending in England back to 2002–03, including plans up to 2024–25. For recent years, we also illustrate the share taken up by school maintenance and repair, and spending on further education colleges. Before 2020, almost all of the spending will have been focused on schools.
As can be seen, capital spending tends to be lumpy over time. There was a large increase in spending in the late 2000s, with spending increasing from around £6 billion in the mid 2000s to about £10 billion in 2009–10 and 2010–11 (all in today’s prices). The large increase reflects the last Labour government’s Building Schools for the Future programme, with delays in this programme leading to the big upticks in spending in 2009–10 and 2010–11.
