From Politics Home yesterday:

English state schools plunged into a financial deficit last year, new figures have shown, with teachers’ leaders warning of a “bleak” future.

Financial data obtained by PoliticsHome under the Freedom of Information Act, covering 8,539 non-academy state schools in 93 local authorities, shows the schools made an average in-year surplus of £13,963 each on their day-to-day revenue spending in 2021/22.

But this plummeted to an average deficit of £10,561 each in 2022/23, as rising inflation and growing numbers of children with complex special needs combined with sustained underfunding by Government to squeeze schools’ finances.

Taking all 8,500 schools together, the sector went from a total £119 million in-year surplus in 2021/22 to a £90 million in-year deficit in 2022/23.

Schools Funding Plummets Into Deficit Risking A “Bleak” Future Of Staff Cuts (politicshome.com)

From the Institute for Fiscal Studies in April 2023:

In the most recent year (2022–23), school spending per pupil in Scotland was over £8,500. This is over 18% or £1,300 higher than the level seen in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, all around £7,200 per pupil. School spending per pupil in Scotland was already 6% higher than in England in 2010. Since then, the gap with the rest of the UK has significantly grown.

Spending per pupil in Scotland grew by 13% in real terms between 2009–10 and 2022–23. This partly reflects funding to cover higher teacher pay offers, such as the 7% salary rises in both 2019–20 and 2022–23. In Wales, spending per pupil in 2022–23 is only about 3% higher than in 2009–10, and it is about 2% higher in Northern Ireland than our earliest point of comparison in 2011–12. In England, spending per pupil is expected to get back to 2010 levels by next year.

https://ifs.org.uk/news/growing-gap-school-spending-pupil-between-scotland-and-rest-uk#:~:text=In%20the%20most%20recent%20year,than%20in%20England%20in%202010.

BBC Scotland reporting on school funding in April 2023 in the days around the publication of the IFS report:

Ignored completely.

BBC Scotland reporting on Schools recently:

Bad, bad, bad………………