In 2023, when we released the first edition of this report, there had been no net growth in school spending per pupil for the previous 14 years.[1]
Two years later, budgets still remain flat in real-terms (as they have done since 2009) while people costs have been rising, particularly in the back office. This leaves a funding gap, putting pressure on schools to make tough choices and to do more with less. In March 2025, Schoolsweek reported that added pressure was coming in the form of a lack of room in school budgets for staff pay rises, increased national insurance contributions and pupil premium funding not keeping up with rising costs.[2]
We understand in this context that every pound and every minute in school matters, especially given the impact this has on staff in schools. Two years on from the first edition, we’ve put together an updated ROI report to demonstrate how investing in the right Management Information System (MIS) can and should save your school or trust money and time. We’ll be looking at these savings not only through the lens of direct cost comparison with other providers, but also through:
- Auditing and consolidating systems
- Eliminating unnecessary maintenance of servers
- Saving time per staff member by removing the burden of admin
- The time saving contribution of AI features
- Driving operational efficiency through the quality and depth of your MIS’ features
- Reducing workload, positively impacting wellbeing and therefore retention
All of these factors combined should give you both a tangible return on investment for your organisation, and have a measurable impact on student outcomes and staff wellbeing.
To find out more about the impact Arbor is having on schools, we surveyed 9,956 users across schools and trusts. Today, we’re excited to launch the full results of this survey and more in our latest report, which you can download for free here.
Or, see below for the quick summary of our findings:
