School budgets will face a “very significant squeeze” over the next three years that will leave spending per pupil below 2010 levels in real terms, research suggests.
A pay rise for teachers in September and rising food and energy bills will contribute to the financial pressures schools experience, analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) suggested.
The research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation independent charitable trust, concluded: “These rises look just about affordable within the context of a £4 billion increase in the total schools’ budget, equivalent to a 6.8 per cent increase in mainstream school funding per pupil.
“The potential problems come next year in 2023–24. After accounting for growth in specific school costs, we estimate that school spending per pupil will fall
