School spending per pupil highest in Scotland, lowest in Northern Ireland

Scotland: Spending per pupil fell by 7% in real terms between 2009–10 and 2014–15. In contrast to the rest of the UK, there has since been a big recovery in spending per pupil. This was partially driven by the large increases in teacher pay in Scotland in 2018 and 2019, as well as extra COVID spending (not included in figures for other nations). However, even after making plausible adjustments, core spending per pupil in Scotland in 2021–22 is still likely to be over 6% higher than in 2009–10 and over £800 higher than in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Luke Sibieta, IFS Research Fellow and author, said:

‘Over the last decade, there were cuts to school spending per pupil right across the UK. In Scotland, large recent increases mean that spending has more than recovered and core spending per pupil is now likely to be over £800 higher than in the rest of the UK. Despite recent increases, spending per pupil in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is still close to or just below levels seen a decade earlier.

‘However, it is important to remember higher spending need not automatically translate into better educational outcomes. Indeed, international comparisons of test scores suggest numeracy and science scores were declining in high-spending Scotland relative to the OECD average up to 2018. It remains to be seen whether extra spending in Scotland since 2018 will arrest this trend.’

Josh Hillman, Director of Education at the Nuffield Foundation, said:

‘This IFS analysis shows that the increasing divergence in education policy between the four nations of the UK extends to school spending per pupil, where funding to support Scottish pupils has held up better than for their counterparts in the other nations. A major cause for concern is that funding for education recovery programmes in response to the pandemic is much lower across all four nations than those being implemented in comparable countries.’