Education funding

By Ruth Mckee

Schools in Britain will see their budgets slashed by as much as 14% over the next four years in the biggest cuts to education seen since the 1950s, tax and spending experts warn.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that schools will face a funding shortfall of 14.4% which will hit school and college building projects the hardest.

The public spending cuts will wound a sector bolstered by injections of funding under Labour from the mid-90s when money was redirected away from universities to early years learning and further education.

The government argues that the cuts will not hit pupils as the pupil premium is set to rise over the next few years.

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