Councillor warns further education cuts would leave schools struggling

A councillor has warned that further cuts to Welsh county’s education budget would leave schools unable to meet their statutory requirements.

Cllr Carolyn Preece told a special meeting of the council’s Education Youth and Culture Overview and Scrutiny Committee in Flintshire that, with school finances already considered to be at a ‘red’ risk level under the council’s traffic light assessment scale.

Any cuts in next year’s budget could impact schools’ ability to safeguard pupils and provide support for those with additional learning needs (ALN).

And she submitted a recommendation to the committee that the education budget be protected in the council’s 2026/27 finance package.

“At what point does financial pressure risk non-compliance with statutory duties, particularly around ALN and safeguarding,” she said.

“We are at that point and at that risk level.”

Her comments came as councillors reviewed the latest self-assessment report by the authority’s Education Department.

The 120-page report detailed how the Education Department rated its own performance in delivering education services for the authority’s 22,491 school-age pupils.

Chief Officer for Education and Youth Claire Homard accepted that her department was facing significant financial pressure, but hit back at the suggestion that statutory responsibilities were under threat.

“I understand where you’re coming from Cllr Preece,” she said. “Yes, we have got some risks, the schools budget situation is a significant risk.

“I don’t accept that that means there are aspects of our provision that are failing. I do not believe we are at that point.

“There is plenty of evidence to demonstrate that although those financial circumstances are extremely challenging, our schools are still delivering very high quality services that are meeting the needs of the majority of our learners.”

The report highlighted that currently this year 34 schools are forecasting a need for a licensed deficit – nine more than last year.

This means they will formally ask for an ‘overdraft’ facility from the council, with a commitment to return to break even within three years – leaving them no option but to reduce costs.

“I can’t ignore the resilience of our school budgets in this report,” said Ms Homard. “It was a recommendation from the 2019 Estyn report in terms of the management of school deficits to reduce them further but the financial landscape has shifted significantly since then.

“The level of financial resilience across our schools is a cause for concern.”

Cllr Preece then put forward a recommendation to restore the education budget.

“I would like to add to the recommendations before us,” she said. “I would like to recommend that the education budget not to be touched next year. It needs to stay or to rise.”

The committee supported the suggestion that education budgets should be protected in the next council budget.