Surge in full-time teacher spending in UK schools, report finds

New data has revealed that school budgets for full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers have soared across all regions in England for the academic year 2023-2024, compared to 2021-2022.

The research, as part of the ‘School Budget Crisis Report’ created by education software solution Access Education, analysed government data on school funding and special education needs in a sample of 927 state-funded primary and secondary schools across 149 Local Authorities in England, for the academic years 2021-2022 and 2023-2024.

The report highlights potential financial pitfalls for schools, taking into consideration spending on FTE, supply and education support teachers, SEN, energy and building maintenance.

This comes amid findings that FTE teacher numbers grew modestly or declined year-on-year amid the ongoing teacher retention crisis, leaving schools at risk of severe financial strain.

Schools in the West Midlands saw the biggest total expenditure change, soaring by 95% in the last academic year. The region also came out with the highest increase in spend on FTE teachers, rising by 90% from £121 million to £229 million in total. However, this correlates with the increase of total teacher count which rose by 75% in the region.

Similarly, schools in the South East saw an increase in both FTE spending (24%) and teacher count (2.8%). In comparison, spending on supply teachers rose from £12.3 million to £15.6 million, a 26% increase, while spending on education support staff increased by 29%, from £91.5 million to £117 million. This highlights that schools in the region are increasingly relying on additional support staff to help meet educational needs.

In both London and the East of England, schools saw an increase in FTE spending yet a decrease in the number of teachers, with expenditure increasing by 5% and 6%, respectively. However the number of FTE dipped by 2.6% and 0.8% respectively. This comes as 90% of teachers were reportedly considering leaving teaching in the 2023-2024 academic year, citing reasons such as high workloads, lack of school funding, and worsening pupil behaviour.

Emma Slater, Head of Product at The Access Group, said: “The scale of the ongoing teacher retention crisis has reached a tipping point. As budgets become more restrictive, schools are being pushed to look at where to focus their expenditure carefully. As FTE teachers continue to face issues such as increased workloads, high pupil to teacher ratios and an unstable work life balance, the number of those leaving the education system is growing.

“Our ‘School Budget Crisis Report’ outlines the escalating economic crisis schools are facing. Allocating funding to FTE teachers is key to ensuring strong retention of staff. If the number of these teachers continues to fall in some areas, such as in the East of England or London, more schools will be forced to rely on the availability of supply teachers.

“With the imbalance forcing schools to rely on costly temporary fixes, urgent and targeted action is essential to ensure schools are getting the support they need, without compromising budgets, student outcomes, or teacher wellbeing. The ease of the ongoing drain in resources, solutions such as all-in-one school budgeting software tools, can support – allowing schools to deliver stronger outcomes and long-term financial stability which helps protect them from rising challenges.”