In this section: Public services
West Lothian: school funding per pupil
Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.
£277m for West Lothian in 2024-25, £1,489 per resident, +5.1% on a year earlier after inflation. That is £8,311 of school spending (primary and secondary) per pupil in 2024-25, against £8,392 for Scotland.
Figure as of 3 February 2026. Source: Scottish Government.
Key figures
- £277m2024-25, cash +9.3% on a year earlier
- £1,489Per resident, 2024-25
- £8,311Cost per pupil (Scotland), 2024-25 Scotland: £8,392
- £7,857Cost per primary pupil (Scotland), 2024-25 Scotland: £7,606
- £8,866Cost per secondary pupil (Scotland), 2024-25 Scotland: £9,338
Sources: Scottish Government, Improvement Service (Spatial Hub Scotland).
Over time: cash, real terms and per resident
Real terms use HM Treasury’s GDP deflator, 2025-26 prices.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Cash |
|---|---|---|
2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £270.7m | £238.9m |
| ||
2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £272.9m | £253.5m |
| ||
2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £286.8m | £277.2m |
| ||
Figure as of 3 February 2026. Source: Scottish Government.
Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population estimates.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | Per resident, 2025-26 prices | Per resident, cash |
|---|---|---|
2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £1,490 | £1,315 |
| ||
2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £1,481 | £1,376 |
| ||
2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £1,540 | £1,489 |
| ||
Figure as of 3 February 2026. Source: Scottish Government.
Source: Scottish Government, Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics, published 3 February 2026.
Where it sits, and what is below it
- UK total
- Nation
- Department or service body
- Local body (this level)
- Spending category
- Line or transaction not published
West Lothian
Net revenue expenditure on education, after all grants, from the Scottish local government finance return.
£277m in 2024-25 (cash); £287m in 2025-26 prices; £1,489 per resident; +9.3% on a year earlier in cash, +5.1% in real terms.
| Spending category | Cash, 2024-25 | Real terms (2025-26 prices) | Per resident | Real change on a year earlier | Source | Below this |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Primary schoolsDetails for Primary schools | £114m | £118m | £610 | +1.0% | Scottish Government | Line or transaction not published: The Scottish local government finance return splits education by sector; spending by school is not collected nationally. |
| ||||||
Secondary schoolsDetails for Secondary schools | £100m | £103m | £536 | −5.9% | Scottish Government | Line or transaction not published: The Scottish local government finance return splits education by sector; spending by school is not collected nationally. |
| ||||||
Early yearsDetails for Early years | £33m | £34m | £175 | +122.6% | Scottish Government | Line or transaction not published: The Scottish local government finance return splits education by sector; spending by school is not collected nationally. |
| ||||||
Special schoolsDetails for Special schools | £30m | £31m | £159 | +3.1% | Scottish Government | Line or transaction not published: The Scottish local government finance return splits education by sector; spending by school is not collected nationally. |
| ||||||
Community learningDetails for Community learning | £2m | £2m | £9.13 | −7.4% | Scottish Government | Line or transaction not published: The Scottish local government finance return splits education by sector; spending by school is not collected nationally. |
| ||||||
Other educationDetails for Other education | £0m | £0m | £0.54 | +3.4% | Scottish Government | Line or transaction not published: The Scottish local government finance return splits education by sector; spending by school is not collected nationally. |
| ||||||
Cash is as published. Real terms are in 2025-26 prices, using HM Treasury’s GDP deflator. Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population for the area the body serves. Changes compare the same body in consecutive years.
What is recorded alongside the money
These figures are published beside the funding, not as its result. Demand, geography, recording practice and many other things differ between areas and change over time; none of these charts shows cause and effect.
| Measure | West Lothian | Scotland | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
Cost per pupil (Scotland)Details for Cost per pupil (Scotland) | £8,311 | £8,392 | 2024-25 |
| |||
Cost per primary pupil (Scotland)Details for Cost per primary pupil (Scotland) | £7,857 | £7,606 | 2024-25 |
| |||
Cost per secondary pupil (Scotland)Details for Cost per secondary pupil (Scotland) | £8,866 | £9,338 | 2024-25 |
| |||
Pupils per teacher (Scotland)Details for Pupils per teacher (Scotland) | 13.5 pupils per teacher | 13.2 pupils per teacher | 2025 |
| |||
Gross revenue spending on primary and secondary schools divided by their pupils, from the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (its primary and secondary indicators combined here). Cash. Scottish councils only.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | West Lothian | Scotland |
|---|---|---|
2010-11Details for 2010-11 | £5,036 | £5,526 |
| ||
2011-12Details for 2011-12 | £5,109 | £5,442 |
| ||
2012-13Details for 2012-13 | £5,243 | £5,462 |
| ||
2013-14Details for 2013-14 | £5,435 | £5,485 |
| ||
2014-15Details for 2014-15 | £5,430 | £5,451 |
| ||
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £5,465 | £5,532 |
| ||
2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £5,558 | £5,630 |
| ||
2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £5,954 | £5,765 |
| ||
2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £6,027 | £6,034 |
| ||
2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £6,178 | £6,422 |
| ||
2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £6,657 | £6,670 |
| ||
2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £7,052 | £7,026 |
| ||
2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £7,599 | £7,572 |
| ||
2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £8,159 | £7,996 |
| ||
2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £8,311 | £8,392 |
| ||
Figure as of 31 August 2026. Source: Improvement Service (Spatial Hub Scotland).
Local Government Benchmarking Framework indicator CHN01: gross revenue spending on primary schools per primary pupil. Cash.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | West Lothian | Scotland |
|---|---|---|
2010-11Details for 2010-11 | £4,618 | £4,828 |
| ||
2011-12Details for 2011-12 | £4,527 | £4,765 |
| ||
2012-13Details for 2012-13 | £4,642 | £4,728 |
| ||
2013-14Details for 2013-14 | £4,769 | £4,711 |
| ||
2014-15Details for 2014-15 | £4,702 | £4,638 |
| ||
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £4,803 | £4,705 |
| ||
2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £4,884 | £4,800 |
| ||
2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £5,405 | £4,983 |
| ||
2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £5,424 | £5,231 |
| ||
2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £5,593 | £5,609 |
| ||
2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £6,080 | £5,916 |
| ||
2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £6,556 | £6,337 |
| ||
2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £7,122 | £6,840 |
| ||
2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £7,439 | £7,213 |
| ||
2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £7,857 | £7,606 |
| ||
Figure as of 31 August 2026. Source: Improvement Service (Spatial Hub Scotland).
Local Government Benchmarking Framework indicator CHN02: gross revenue spending on secondary schools per secondary pupil. Cash.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | West Lothian | Scotland |
|---|---|---|
2010-11Details for 2010-11 | £5,575 | £6,372 |
| ||
2011-12Details for 2011-12 | £5,872 | £6,277 |
| ||
2012-13Details for 2012-13 | £6,040 | £6,388 |
| ||
2013-14Details for 2013-14 | £6,346 | £6,496 |
| ||
2014-15Details for 2014-15 | £6,462 | £6,551 |
| ||
2015-16Details for 2015-16 | £6,408 | £6,681 |
| ||
2016-17Details for 2016-17 | £6,524 | £6,800 |
| ||
2017-18Details for 2017-18 | £6,739 | £6,874 |
| ||
2018-19Details for 2018-19 | £6,872 | £7,157 |
| ||
2019-20Details for 2019-20 | £6,975 | £7,531 |
| ||
2020-21Details for 2020-21 | £7,408 | £7,657 |
| ||
2021-22Details for 2021-22 | £7,688 | £7,903 |
| ||
2022-23Details for 2022-23 | £8,209 | £8,494 |
| ||
2023-24Details for 2023-24 | £9,050 | £8,957 |
| ||
2024-25Details for 2024-25 | £8,866 | £9,338 |
| ||
Figure as of 31 August 2026. Source: Improvement Service (Spatial Hub Scotland).
Pupils per full-time equivalent teacher in publicly funded schools, as the Scottish Government publishes it. Scotland only.
The numbers behind this chart
| Year | West Lothian | Scotland |
|---|---|---|
2004Details for 2004 | 14.2 | 14.1 |
| ||
2005Details for 2005 | 14.6 | 13.7 |
| ||
2006Details for 2006 | 14.0 | 13.2 |
| ||
2007Details for 2007 | 13.3 | 13.0 |
| ||
2008Details for 2008 | 12.9 | 12.9 |
| ||
2009Details for 2009 | 13.3 | 13.2 |
| ||
2010Details for 2010 | 13.5 | 13.3 |
| ||
2011Details for 2011 | 14.0 | 13.4 |
| ||
2012Details for 2012 | 14.1 | 13.5 |
| ||
2013Details for 2013 | 14.0 | 13.5 |
| ||
2014Details for 2014 | 14.1 | 13.7 |
| ||
2015Details for 2015 | 14.1 | 13.7 |
| ||
2016Details for 2016 | 14.1 | 13.7 |
| ||
2017Details for 2017 | 14.0 | 13.6 |
| ||
2018Details for 2018 | 14.1 | 13.6 |
| ||
2019Details for 2019 | 14.3 | 13.6 |
| ||
2020Details for 2020 | 13.9 | 13.3 |
| ||
2021Details for 2021 | 13.6 | 13.2 |
| ||
2022Details for 2022 | 13.5 | 13.2 |
| ||
2023Details for 2023 | 13.5 | 13.2 |
| ||
2024Details for 2024 | 13.4 | 13.3 |
| ||
2025Details for 2025 | 13.5 | 13.2 |
| ||
Figure as of unknown date. Source: Scottish Government.
What these figures do and don't show
- Different measures at each level. The UK and nation totals are HM Treasury’s spending on education by function. Below them are each publisher’s own measures: DfE’s core schools budget, each authority’s schools block, councils’ net education spending. They are not expected to add up to the level above.
- England is not the UK. Education is devolved. The schools block, school allocations, the school workforce, apprenticeships and the student loan book shown here are England’s, and are never added to UK or other nations’ figures.
- Per pupil is not comparable across nations. England’s schools block, Wales’s figures and Scotland’s council spending per pupil measure different things, so each authority is compared only with its own nation.
- Student loans are lending, not spending. The money lent, repaid and still owed is shown beside the spending, not added to it. Only the part not expected to be repaid counts as spending, on the basis the Office for National Statistics introduced in 2018.
- Nothing here shows cause and effect. Pupils per teacher, apprenticeship starts and other figures are shown alongside the money, not as its result. Areas differ in deprivation, sparsity, pupils with special needs and costs, which is why funding per pupil differs.
- Allocations are not spending. School-level figures are what each school was allocated for the year, not what it spent; the latest schools block year is provisional.
Where this sits: United Kingdom → Scotland → Scottish councils: education → West Lothian. Figures from data/services/education.json, generated 29 September 2026.
Use this data
The figures belong to the bodies that published them and are used under their terms, listed in Sources for this page; most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence. Only our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, published under CC BY 4.0: reuse them, including commercially, if you credit Tekstak Ltd and link back to this page.
Download
Sources for this page
| Source | Publisher | Figures as of | Updated | Licence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scottish Local Government Finance Statistics | Scottish Government | 3 February 2026 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Local Government Benchmarking Framework: data table (cash), cost per primary and secondary pupil (CHN01, CHN02) | Improvement Service (Spatial Hub Scotland) | 31 August 2026 | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
| Teacher census supplementary statistics 2025 (Tables 6.1 and 6.3: teachers and pupils per teacher by local authority) | Scottish Government | — | annual | Open Government Licence v3.0 |
Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, under CC BY 4.0.