Rising costs faced by state schools in England are growing faster than inflation, a report has found.
School funding and costs are growing at similar rates leaving school budgets to “largely stagnate in real terms” when cost pressures are taken into account, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The analysis has projected that school spending per pupil in England will be around 3% higher in 2024 compared with its past high-point in 2010, after adjusting for economy-wide inflation.
But researchers said standard measures of inflation are not providing an accurate picture of the cost pressures that schools face – such as rising energy and food prices and support staff pay.
The report said the likely costs faced by schools would mean funding “only increasing by just about enough to keep pace with school costs”.
“This would leave the purchasing power of school spending per pupil in 2024–25 still about 3% lower than in 2009–10,” the analysis concluded.
The findings come as teacher strikes and concerns about the safety of school buildings amid the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) crisis have put school funding at the forefront of debate.
In July, the Government announced an additional £525 million to support schools with the increased teachers’ pay award for 2023/24.
