Spending on schools

Fact checks on educational funding, costs per pupil, reported record levels and school meal funding

6 February 2018

Spending on schools in England

Real-terms per pupil funding for schools stayed at roughly the same level from 2010/11 to 2015/16, and fell after that. Since 2017/18 it has flattened out.

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Spending on schools in England
18 May 2017

Do free school meals improve how well children do in school?

Evidence on how universal free school meals affect attainment is mixed.

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Do free school meals improve how well children do in school?
7 April 2017

Free school meals and educational performance

A pilot programme rolling out free school meals for all primary school pupils in certain areas had promising results, although researchers say it’s not conclusive.

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Free school meals and educational performance
29 March 2017

Experts agree school funding is falling per-pupil

The IFS, National Audit Office, Education Policy Institute and Public Accounts Committee all agree that real per-pupil spending in schools will be reduced in the next few years.

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Experts agree school funding is falling per-pupil
22 March 2017

Schools funding: a manifesto breach?

The Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition clash over whether the budget for English schools has been cut.

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Schools funding: a manifesto breach?
24 February 2017

Spending on schools up to 2020

You can look at the schools budget in terms of the actual cash that’s being spent, the value of that cash after prices have risen, and how it divides per …

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Spending on schools up to 2020
21 February 2017

Schools will have less to spend per pupil by 2020

The National Audit Office has said that although overall spending on schools will increase between 2014/15 and 2019/20, increasing pupil numbers and staff costs mean they will need to spend …

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Schools will have less to spend per pupil by 2020
19 October 2016

Few pupils are both at grammar schools and on free school meals

It’s correct that grammar school pupils entitled to free school meals are one in a thousand.

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Few pupils are both at grammar schools and on free school meals
5 July 2016

School spending: up or down?

As teachers walk out, we investigate whether the schools budget is being cut or not.

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School spending: up or down?
22 March 2016

Are sixth forms and further education colleges better funded?

David Cameron and Jeremy Corbyn clashed in Parliament on what’s been happening to funding for further education colleges and sixth forms.

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Are sixth forms and further education colleges better funded?

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