Education IT spending outlook improves...but funds still tight

Spending on IT within the education sector has increased for the first time since public sector cuts began in earnest, but budgets remain tight for now.


Research from Syscap, the finance provider, shows that schools in England and Wales increased their IT spend by five per cent last year.

Philip White, chief executive at Syscap, says the findings are positive for those suffering ‘beleaguered budgets’, adding that relentless cost cutting has created unavoidable problems for schools and colleges.  “Many schools that have been trying to rebalance the books by keeping their technology expenditure to a minimum have witnessed an immediate deterioration in the overall performance of those ICT assets and are now looking to redress the balance."

However, spending still remains shockingly low, with 10 per cent of schools spending less than £10 per pupil, per year, on IT (we’ve written a separate blog piece on how Britain will lose its global-leading IT position with such a paucity of spending in schools and colleges).

Richmond Systems has been helping educational institutions to deliver cost effective IT support for more than 20 years.  The pressure to control costs may be greater than ever, but it’s certainly not a new problem so give us a call to discuss how we can apply the knowledge we’ve gathered over the years to help balance your budgets.