This is how much was spent per pupil on a given type of schools spending, rather than the raw total. It matters because it lets you compare councils fairly: a big council will always spend more in total, but per-pupil figures reveal who is spending generously or thinly for each child. A high number means more money per child on that item; a low number means less — though what counts as "good" depends on the item being measured.
| name | spend_per_pupil |
|---|---|
| dataset | 05-dsg-send-deficits |
| kind | extracted |
| type | numeric |
| unit | GBP per pupil |
| grain | local authority x financial year x expenditure line |
| role | feature |
| source | data/data/s251_alleducation_la_regional_national.csv (cp1252); geographic_level == 'Local authority'; same expenditure-line rows as above; column net_per_capita_expenditure |
| period | 2015-16 to 2024-25 |
| missingness | Not populated for 1.9.x funding lines; 'x' = not applicable, 'z' = suppressed — never treat as zero |
| calculated | ../calculated/spend-per-pupil.csv |
| calculated_rows | 20518 |
| calculated_periods | 2015-16 to 2024-25 |
| calculated_date | 2026-08-13 |
| score_note | DfE-computed per-pupil normalisation enabling like-for-like spend comparisons. |
| peer_group | council class (district / county / unitary / metropolitan / London) — not yet scored on the leaderboard |
DfE-computed per-pupil net expenditure for any expenditure line (per data/data-guidance/data-guidance.txt: "Per pupil net expenditure"). Lets spend levels be compared across LAs without an external pupil-count denominator. It is only populated for expenditure lines, not the 1.9.x funding/balance lines.