Our annual survey of 1,208 teachers, conducted by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) as part of their Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey, takes a closer look at schools funding and how school leaders are spending their budgets this year.

Last year’s release found the state of school funding worsening, with many school leaders reporting having to cut down on staff, as well as spending on a range of other activities in their school. This year’s survey suggests that far from improving, the situation is getting worse, with even more cuts to staffing, IT equipment, and sports budgets, as well as trips and outings, across both primary and secondary schools. Similarly, Pupil Premium is still being used to plug funding gaps in school budgets, with more schools reporting this than in 2024.

88%

The proportion of senior leaders who say that pupil premium funding is less than they need to fully support disadvantaged pupils.

53%

The proportion of senior leaders who report having to cut spending on trips and outings this year.

74%

The proportion of school leaders who report having to cut teaching assistants this year.

Key Findings

School cuts continue due to financial pressures

  • More school leaders reported cutting back on teaching staff, teaching assistants and support staff for financial reasons in the last year, with secondary schools the worst affected. 51% (up from 38% last year) of secondary school leaders said they had cut teaching staff budgets, 50% reported cuts to teaching assistants, and 55% to support staff budgets.
  • While overall secondaries report the largest increases in cuts compared to last year, some of the cuts reported at primary level are at their highest since our polling began in 2017, including 76% of primary leaders reporting cuts to teaching assistant budgets. Similarly, 53% of primary school leaders reported cutting support staff budgets, up from 45% in 2024, a figure that stood at just 29% in 2017.

  • Other budgets have also been hit, with 53% of all school leaders cutting spending on trips and outings (up from 50% last year), while 33% of school leaders have reported cuts to sports and other extracurricular activities (up from 27%). These represent the highest levels since this question was first asked in 2017.
  • As the government looks to increase the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in schools, 55% of school leaders reported cuts to IT equipment spending, up from 41% in 2024 and 43% in 2017. The increase this year was particularly striking at secondary schools, with 48% of secondary leaders cutting IT equipment, an increase of 12 percentage points from 36% last year, although primary school leaders still cut more overall (56%).

And the pupil premium is still being used to plug funding gaps

  • Teachers do not believe Pupil Premium funding is enough to fully support eligible pupils, with 88% of senior leaders reporting the funding was less than needed. Only 9% said that it was enough or more than needed.
  • Furthermore, schools are still having to use Pupil Premium funding to plug gaps elsewhere in their budgets, reported by 46% of senior leaders this year, similar to the 47% reporting the same in 2024. At secondary level, this had risen considerably, up 13 percentage points from 32% in 2024 to 45% this year. 81% of senior leaders at primary level said they used Pupil Premium funding to pay for teaching assistant salaries and 66% of secondary leaders used it for staff salaries.

  • Notably, in the run up to the final report of the Curriculum and Assessment Review, there has been a marked increase in the number of secondary school senior leaders having to reduce the choices they offer at GCSE (33%, up from 29% last year) and A level (29%, up from 23%).

As well as cuts to school based tutoring 

  • The government ended the National Tutoring Programme last year, despite the strong evidence base supporting the intervention. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 37% of senior leaders across both secondary and primary schools have now stopped offering tutoring to pupils as a result, with 58% offering less tutoring than they did in 2023/24.
Recommendations

1. Reform the National Funding Formula to rebalance funding back towards schools serving the most disadvantaged communities.

2. Reverse the real terms erosion of Pupil Premium funding, restoring funding to previous levels.

3. Re-introduce funding for tutoring in schools, with ringfenced funding for the long-term, targeted at disadvantaged pupils.

4. Increase the Levelling Up Premium for qualified teachers and extend it to additional subjects to better support teachers of key courses in the most disadvantaged schools.

5. Extend the Pupil Premium to post-16 institutions. The attainment gap doesn’t end at 16, and neither should dedicated funding.

Related Research

School Funding and Pupil Premium 2024

19th April 2024

Our annual polling looking at funding pressures in schools.

Read report

School Funding and Pupil Premium 2023

26th April 2023

How are schools using their funding during the cost of living crisis?

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Cost of Living and Education 2022

2nd December 2022

What impact is the cost of living crisis having on pupils?

Read report