Cost of lost schooling could amount to £350bn in lost earnings
The Prime Minister this week set out plans to keep children home for even longer and the cost of lost schooling is set to reach hundreds of billions in the long run.
Research from the IFS has shown that early evidence is already suggesting that the loss of learning is contributing to educational progress and skills, particularly for disadvantaged pupils.
In the long run this implies £350bn in loss of earnings, according to IFS estimates.
By February half-term school children will have missed out on a staggering half year of in-person schooling, which would rise to two thirds of a year if schools don’t open until Easter.
“A loss of over half a year of normal schooling is likely to have far-reaching long-run consequences,” said “Luke Sibieta, Research Fellow at the Institute for Fiscal Studies. “We will all be less productive, poorer, have less money to spend on public services, more unequal and we may be less happy and healthy as a result.”
“The inescapable conclusion is that lost learning represents a gigantic long-term risk for future prosperity, the public finances, the future path of inequality and well-being.”
Although the government has already pumped £1.5bn into helping children catch up, IFS research has found it is “unlikely to be sufficient”. It estimates it costs approximately £30bn for half a year of schooling.
“A much larger policy response would allow us to consider radical and properly resourced ways to help pupils catch-up,” Sibieta adds.