Local education and social care in England, Scotland, and Wales: spending patterns, priorities, and prospects

Andrews, Rhys ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1904-9819 2025. Local education and social care in England, Scotland, and Wales: spending patterns, priorities, and prospects. Oxford Review of Economic Policy 41 (1) , pp. 41-63. 10.1093/oxrep/graf002

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Abstract

This paper explores the changing nature of the local welfare state in England, Scotland, and Wales. The potential impact of policy changes within the three countries is modelled by comparing local authority spending on education, children’s social care, and adult social care in each country. Panel-based regression analysis for the period 2009–22 suggests that policy divergence has led to substantial variations in locally-managed education and social care spending across England, Scotland, and Wales, even when controlling for other relevant local influences on expenditure. In particular, the growth of academy schools in England appears to have led to a substantial drop in locally-managed education spending, while the right to free social care for over 65s in Scotland seems to be associated with more local spending on adult social care. The paper concludes by discussing the future of the local welfare state in the devolved United Kingdom.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: cc-by
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
ISSN:	0266-903X
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	13 June 2025
Date of Acceptance:	31 January 2025
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2025 10:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/179065

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