This report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies looks at funding for Scottish Councils. After health, funding for Scottish councils is the second largest item in the Scottish Government’s Budget. This summary focuses on the findings in the report on spending on Scotland’s schools by councils.
Funding for Scottish councils supports a range of service areas including schools, early-years education and childcare, adults’ and children’s social care, environmental and regulatory services, local transport, leisure and cultural services, planning and local economic development, and housing advice and regulation.
The largest single element of council spending in Scotland is spending on schools. Including spending allocated to schools and pre-school providers, as well as council spending on support services, this amounted to £5.9 billion in 2009–10, accounting for all grant funding and contributions from other public sector bodies. This measure of spending had increased to £6.5 billion by 2020–21, an increase of around 10% in real terms.
In 2009–10, spending per pupil in Scotland was about £7,500 in 2022–23 prices, about £270 or 4% higher than the figure of £7,230 per pupil in England in 2009–10. By 2021–22, it is estimated that school spending per pupil in Scotland grew to about £8,800 per pupil, approximately £1,700 or 25% higher than in England. This increasing divergence has been shaped by differing policy choices and trends over time.
Starting with England as a benchmark, spending per pupil fell by 9% between 2009–10 and 2019–20. Following extra funding allocated at recent spending reviews, it has since begun to grow again. As a result, it is estimated that spending per pupil in England will return to at least 2010 levels by 2024–25.