Spending per pupil in England is “still close to or just below levels seen a decade earlier” despite recent increases, according to a new report.

A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies finds that between 2009-10 and 2018-19, spending per pupil fell by 8 per cent in real terms in England, while since then, total school spending per pupil has risen by about 8 per cent in real terms to reach just below 2009-10 levels.

Background: School pupil spend suffers ‘largest cut in 40 years’

Related: School funding is down since 2010, DfE finally admits

School funding: Clever sleight of hand or a mess?

The 1 per cent real-terms fall in spending per pupil between 2009-10 and 2021-22 is a result of growth in total spending (12 per cent) not keeping pace with rising pupil numbers (13 per cent), the report says.

It concludes that “school spending per pupil fell across all four nations of the UK from about 2010 onwards” and that this decline extended to 2018 for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, but only up to 2014 in Scotland.

While spending per pupil in Scotland is over £900 higher than in the other three nations of the UK, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, “school spending per pupil in 2021-22 is expected to be just above or just below where it was in 2009-10”.

“This is a remarkable squeeze on school resources over more than a decade,” the report adds.

The IFS says that all UK nations have implemented education catch-up plans in response to the pandemic, amounting to about £200-£400 per pupil.

“However, these fall short of the scale of the package reportedly recommended by the Education Recovery Commissioner and are much lower than the ambitious packages announced in other high-income countries such as the US (£1,800 per pupil) and the Netherlands (£2,100 per pupil),” it says.

“Squeezes in core school spending per pupil over the last decade in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will make it that much harder for schools to address the major challenges and inequalities they face in the wake of the pandemic.”

Luke Sibieta, IFS research fellow and author, said: “Over the last decade, there were cuts to school spending per pupil right across the UK.

“In Scotland, large recent increases mean that spending has more than recovered and core spending per pupil is now likely to be over £800 higher than in the rest of the UK.

“Despite recent increases, spending per pupil in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is still close to or just below levels seen a decade earlier.

“However, it is important to remember higher spending need not automatically translate into better educational outcomes. Indeed, international comparisons of test scores suggest numeracy and science scores were declining in high-spending Scotland relative to the OECD average up to 2018.

“It remains to be seen whether extra spending in Scotland since 2018 will arrest this trend.”

Josh Hillman, director of education at the Nuffield Foundation, said: “This IFS analysis shows that the increasing divergence in education policy between the four nations of the UK extends to school spending per pupil, where funding to support Scottish pupils has held up better than for their counterparts in the other nations.

“A major cause for concern is that funding for education recovery programmes in response to the pandemic is much lower across all four nations than those being implemented in comparable countries.”

Last year, IFS analysis showed that school spending per pupil in England fell by 9 per cent in real terms between 2009-10 and 2019-20, representing the largest cut in 40 years.