Monday, March 16, 2026
Welsh NHS and schools underperforming despite funding increase
The broadcaster says that the Institute for Fiscal Studies has concluded that Wales' health and education systems are underperforming compared with England despite significant increases in spending.
The IFS report concludes that despite recent falls waiting lists remain far higher than before Covid struck, and school absences remain 50% higher than in 2019:
David Phillips of the IFS said the causes of poor performance in Welsh public services were "not fully clear", and more work was needed to diagnose the reasons.
He said funding levels "seem unlikely to be a major factor given spending in Wales is higher than comparable areas of England" and high levels of deprivation "can likely only explain part of it too".
"Instead, policies and the way services are delivered are likely to play a role. Average hospital stays are 40% longer in Wales than England, reducing the number of patients that can be admitted and treated," he said.
The IFS cited average waiting times for elective treatments in Wales of 19 weeks in December 2025, double the pre-pandemic level of 10.7 weeks and higher than the equivalent figure of 13.4 weeks.
A&E waiting times had worsened over the last two years, with 53% of patients waiting less than four hours in December 2025, compared to a target of 95%.
But it said health spending had increased by 17% per person in real terms since 2019-20, and spending per pupil had increased by 14% - similar to or higher than those seen in England over the same period of time.
The think tank says the causes of poor performance in Welsh public services are "not fully clear" and more work is needed to diagnose the reasons.
Phillips said that when it came to schools, "accountability for poor performance may be weaker – with less data available to both teachers and parents"
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Overall and persistent absences from school remain far higher than before the pandemic, the IFS said, citing figures from 2024-25 when 9% of pupils in Wales were absent on any given day, up from less than 6% in 2019.
Performance in the internationally comparable PISA tests for 15 year olds fell by more in Wales than England post-pandemic - with the last figures published in 2023.
Clearly, May's elections are a crunch point for devolution. With a new system and an expanded Senedd, whoever takes power needs to deliver if confidence in the devolution is to be restored.
Their first action must be a very quick, but thorough review of what is going wrong before using what resources they have in a way that can really make a difference to services.
It could be a very short honeymoon period for the new government.
