School leaders say that the huge gaps between private and state education spending “stick in the throat” given that state school spending per-pupil has fallen by 14 per cent in real-terms since the late 2000s.
An analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (Sibieta, 2021) shows that in 2009, state spending per-pupil was approaching £8,000 (in today’s prices). Compared to net fees of around £11,000 in private schools, this meant a gap of around £3,100.
The analysis includes both current and capital spending given that private schools need to fund their own capital expenditure.
Since then, state school spending per-pupil has dropped 14 per cent to about £6,900 in 2019/20. However, net private school fees have risen to £13,700 in 2019/20, a real-terms increase of 23 per cent.
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