Institute of Fiscal Studies: Education spending will fall at fastest rate since at least the 1950s

Institute of Fiscal Studies reveals research which shows education funding will be radically reduced over the next four years:

"As with most areas of government spending, education spending is set to shrink in real terms over the Spending Review period. In new figures released today, IFS researchers estimate that total public spending on education in the UK will fall by over 13% in real terms between 2010-11 and 2014-15. This represents the largest cut in education spending over any four-year period since at least the 1950s. The cuts will be deepest for capital spending and higher education, followed by 16-19 education and early years provision. Schools spending is relatively protected, and schools with the most deprived intakes are likely to see real-terms increases in funding. However, the majority of schools will see real-terms cuts.

"Of course, education spending is not alone in seeing significant cuts over this period. Total departmental spending is currently expected to fall by 11.5% in real-terms. The Department for Education's budget is set to fall by a very similar amount (11.9%), though these cuts are more focused on capital spending than is the case for other departments. The total cut to overall education spending is also driven by the large cuts to public spending on higher education (although total spending on higher education will rise due to higher private contributions)."