A rapid and unexpected increase in global prices lead to an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis in 2022/23, affecting pupils and their schools who are often the first-line of support for families. This project gathered evidence around the overarching scale of challenges in schools in England, how these varied across settings and groups of pupils, and what steps schools took to mitigate the impacts of the crisis. It drew on nationally representative surveys of teachers and senior leaders in mainstream and special schools, to provide insights into the overarching impact of the cost-of-living crisis on pupils, how day-to-day provision in schools has been affected and the support which schools are providing.A rapid and unexpected increase in global prices in 2021 and 2022 lead to an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis in 2022/23, affecting pupils and their schools who are often the first-line of support for families. This project gathered evidence around the overarching scale of challenges in schools in England, how these varied across settings and groups of pupils, and what steps schools took to mitigate the impacts of the crisis. It drew on nationally representative surveys of teachers and senior leaders in mainstream and special schools, to provide insights into the overarching impact of the cost-of-living crisis on pupils, how day-to-day provision in schools has been affected and the support which schools are providing.

Primary data collection was via a survey of school senior leaders , and a separate survey of school classroom leaders. NFER’s Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey was used to send survey links out. This was complemented by sending the survey links via email to target schools not in the Teacher Voice sample and special schools. Further, the survey link was shared within known where appropriate to maximise response rates. The data collected was matched to the Department for Education’s Get Information About Schools and School Performance Data, to enable analysis by factors such as school type, size, SEND representation, geographic location, disadvantage, school attainment outcomes, types of young person needs catered for (for special schools) and Ofsted judgment.