UK schools could be forced to close as 800,000 less children forecast in next decade

A new study says predicted that a fall in the number of children in England over the next decade would be the most dramatic since the 1980s and could prompt school closures and teacher job losses

The number of children in the UK is forecast to slump by 800,000 over the next decade - potentially prompting school closures and teacher job losses, a report has revealed.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies says falling fertility rates herald a “dramatic reshape the make-up of the UK population”. One of the areas impacted will be education and government budgets, it predicted.

Looking back, the IFS says that following the post-war baby boom, fertility levels started to fall significantly from the 1960s onwards, leading to a big drop in the number of school kids in the 1970s and 1980s. The