Thinktank warns Conservative plans will cut school funding

Under the party’s plans, school budgets in England could face a real-terms cut of almost three per cent by 2021/22, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).

The IFS is due to publish its full analysis of the major parties’ manifestos today as national general election campaigning gets back underway.

Its initial study of education commitments issued today calculated that Labour’s plans would leave per pupil spending six per cent higher in real terms over the next parliament.

And the Liberal Democrats’ plans would see per pupil spending protected in real terms at the 2017/18 level.

IFS associate director Luke Sibieta said: “The commitments made by each of the main parties would imply quite different paths for school spending in the next parliament.

The Conservative manifesto says: “We will increase the overall schools budget by £4 billion by 2022, representing more than a real terms increase for every year of the parliament.”

According to the IFS analysis, once inflation and growth in student numbers is taken into account, these plans would imply a real terms fall in spending per pupil of 2.8 per cent between now and 2021/22.

This rises to a seven per cent reduction by 2021/22 once the cuts schools have faced over the last two years are taken into account.

Labour has pledged to reverse real-terms cuts since 2015, and protect per pupil spending in real terms over the next parliament.