Education

This evidence should prompt us to look beyond simple financial incentives for classroom attendance.

Christine Farquharson's presentation at the Nursery World Business Summit 2025, at America Square Conference Centre, London.

At this online event IFS researchers presented findings on the effect of the rollout of the Education Maintenance Allowance in England.

This report studies the long-run effect of the Education Maintenance Allowance on educational attainment, earnings and crime.

Scotland’s schools are relatively well funded. Falling pupil rolls and workforce planning represent both challenges and opportunities going forwards. 

To maintain spending per student at 2025–26 levels, total funding would need to rise by almost £200 million in today's prices by the end of 2027–28.

Although there has been some improvement since 2017, 37% of colleges reported operating in deficit in 2022–23.

Public funding for adult skills has declined significantly since its peak in the early 2000s.

There have been large and sustained reductions to public spending on classroom-based learning over time.

The new funding rates for the 2024–25 academic year establish a consistent hourly rate, simplifying the funding system.

The proportion of funding directed to higher-level apprenticeships (level 4 and above) has trebled between 2017–18 and 2021–22 from 13% to 39%.

This chart compares the trends in public spending per student on various stages of education over time in England. 

Rising student numbers and inflationary pressures mean that funding per student has not increased significantly beyond 2019–20 levels. 

Increased funding from the last government only partially offsets the cuts to 16–18 education of the previous decade. 

The lowest-earning 10% of graduates repay around 1.1% of their lifetime earnings, while the highest-earning 10% of graduates repay around 1.2%.

Under the new system, student loans will become cheaper for high-earning graduates and more expensive for those with lower earnings.

Total spending on the free entitlement doubled during the 2000s, and then more than doubled again during the 2010s.