Following a period of real-terms cuts to school spending per pupil in England, the government has set out plans to increase school funding per pupil at both the 2019 and 2021 Spending Reviews. Indeed, the Chancellor stated that the 2021 Spending Review would ‘restore per pupil funding to 2010 levels in real terms’. This settlement would also allow the government to deliver on a manifesto commitment to increase teacher starting salaries to £30,000 by the end of the parliament.
At the end of July 2022, the government confirmed the school funding settlement for 2023–24, which is line with plans in the 2021 Spending Review. The Department for Education also accepted the recommendations of the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) for teacher pay in England in 2022, which included slightly higher increases than planned for most teachers. Local government employers also published their pay offer for local government workers, which are relevant for teaching assistants and other support staff in schools. This included proposed pay increases of over 10% for low-paid workers down to about 4% for more highly paid workers. Rising levels of inflation will also have an impact on school costs, particularly given that a large part of the increase has been driven by rising energy and food prices, which constitute a large element of schools’ non-staff costs.
