Education Funding
 Under the Coalition Government, overall spending on education had by 2013-14 been
cut by over £5 billion in real-terms. Previous increases in education spending have
been reversed. With a General Election imminent, the promises made by the major
political parties all suggest further real-terms reductions in spending per-pupil in
schools.
 Overall public spending on education in 2013-14 was £90.2 billion. The equivalent
figure for 2009-10, adjusted for inflation, was £95.5 billion1.
 The Conservative Party’s plans for education spending, should they win the General
Election, will mean further cuts. David Cameron has promised that school funding perpupil will stay the same in cash-terms - but this could mean a real-terms cut in value of
up to 10 per cent due to inflation, even before the impact of extra costs such as higher
employer National Insurance and pension contributions. The Conservatives have not
promised to protect post-16 or other education funding. Overall, they plan deep cuts in
public spending, leading to it falling to a level not seen since the 1930s as a proportion
of GDP2.
 Labour has committed to safeguard the overall education budget (including early years,
schools and post-16 spending) in real-terms, while the Liberal Democrats have said
that funding from nursery through to age 19 will rise in line with inflation until 2020.
Such real-terms guarantees are, however, of limited use unless they are applied on a
per-pupil basis to protect schools against the impact of sharply rising pupil numbers.
 Under the current Coalition Government, overall funding for schools is estimated to have
increased by 0.6 per cent per-pupil in real-terms between 2010-11 and 2014-153. This has
not, however, been distributed equally to local authorities or schools. The largest single
block of funding, the Dedicated Schools Grant, was cut by over 3 per cent overall which
equates to over 5 per cent per-pupil in real-terms. The remaining funding was provided via
the Pupil Premium, targeted at particular pupils and therefore distributed unevenly. Many
schools have had to use Pupil Premium funding simply to plug the gaps caused by
other funding cuts.
 Capital funding has been cut dramatically. The Building Schools for the Future
Programme was scrapped in 2010, cancelling 700 school building projects. There has
been a total real-terms cut in capital spending of over a third since 2010-114.
1
HM Treasury (July 2014) Public Expenditure Statistical Analyses 2014 Table 4.3
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-2014
2 Office of Budget Responsibility (December 2014) Economic and Fiscal Outlook Executive Summary
http://cdn.budgetresponsibility.independent.gov.uk/December_2014_EFO-web513.pdf
3 Institute for Fiscal Studies / Luke Sibieta (March 2015), Schools Spending: Briefing note BN168
http://www.ifs.org.uk/uploads/publications/bns/BN168.pdf
4 IFS / Sibieta Schools Spending: Briefing note BN168 (op cit)
Produced by the National Union of Teachers
 The Education Services Grant which includes money for spending on school
improvement, management of school buildings and tackling non-attendance will be cut
by £200 million (around 20 per cent) in 2015-16, further denying schools access to
essential services5.
 Funding for 16-19 education overall has been devastated, with huge real-terms cuts
estimated at almost 15 per cent6. The new 16-19 funding formula will cut sixth form
colleges funding by a further 6 per cent if implemented fully from September 2016 7. The
long term future of many colleges is deemed to be at risk if the cuts continue8.
 Despite the growing shortage of school places in many areas, particularly in the primary
phase, and the looming teacher recruitment crisis, the Coalition Government has
prioritised funding for its ideologically-driven academies and free schools programme.
Forty two free schools have opened in areas with no predicted need for additional
places, at a cost of at least £241 million9.
 Although the Government has, under pressure from the NUT and others, allocated
additional funding for school places, local authorities say that this is not enough to fund
the places needed. The impact of any new funding will be hampered by the
Government’s insistence that any new schools must be academies or free schools.
(see our Edufact School Places Crisis www.teachers.org.uk/edufacts/school-placescrisis)
 In Wales, overall funding for schools has been allowed to fall in real-terms,
exacerbating the shortfall in overall funding in comparison to England, most recently
estimated at £604 per pupil. The Welsh Government has announced in year funding
cuts to the Education department in 2014-15 amounting to over £4.4 million resulting in
even greater pressures on school budgets.
 Looking to the future, the Coalition Government has already altered the school funding
system to pave the way for a National Funding Formula (NFF). This has already
significantly reduced local authorities’ ability to take account of schools’ differing needs.
Having intended to introduce the NFF from 2015, the Government has backed away
from this, saying that it will be introduced alongside longer-term spending plans after
the General Election. Without additional funding for transitional protection, however,
the redistribution of funding between areas under a NFF will mean that overall school
funding will be even less likely to match the needs of children and schools.
5
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/jul/03/education-cuts-councils-services-grant
6
IFS / Sibieta Schools Spending: Briefing note BN168 (op cit)
Association of Colleges (January 2013) Briefing Note on the Funding of 16-18 Education,
8 Sixth Form Colleges Association (February 2013) Creating a Level Playing Field in Sixth Form
Education: a White Paper
9 Public Accounts Committee: Establishing free schools, page 15
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201314/cmselect/cmpubacc/941/941.pdf
7
Produced by the National Union of Teachers