Majority of council’s schools to finish year with overspend

All but 11 of one council’s schools are expecting to finish their financial year having spent more money than they’ve received in funding.

Figures show that 24 of Monmouthshire County Council’s 35 schools, which also includes the council managed Pupil Referral Unit, are on course to finish the year with a combined overspend, or deficit, of £6.1 million.

The latest available figures show the combined deficit position stands at £5.24m.

Councillor Martyn Groucutt, the Labour cabinet member for education, said he and Cllr Ben Callard, who is responsible for finance, have met with schools with “significant deficits” while all have had to submit recovery plans.

Standards

Cllr Groucutt said: “The recovery plans offer schools flexibility over time to improve their financial position without affecting standards.”

He added plans wouldn’t “jeopardise” teaching and learning for young people in the schools.

Cllr Callard warned: “It will take a number of years for budget recovery and to bring them back into surplus.”

The council is proposing an additional £1m for school budgets in its spending plans for 2025/26 while it will also meet in full the costs of teachers’ pay awards, pension contributions and National Insurance increases.

All 11 schools set to finish the year with a surplus are primariy schools while the largest single projected deficit will be held by the Pupil Referral Unit at £1.6m.

Improvement

Overall the council’s latest forecasting is it will finish the year £1.5m in the red, which has reduced by £2.7m since the previous update and is described as a “significant improvement”.

A report for the cabinet said all services continue to “bear down on avoidable costs” to try and bring the budget back to a balance position and it predicts it will achieve 78.3 per cent of its planned £10.9m savings, leaving a shortfall of £2.3m which is included in the projected overspend.

Cllr Callard said the reduction in the forecast deficit, from the end of December, of £3.3m, if £1m savings could be achieved, is the result of successful recovery action, and receipt of additional grant money and “favourable movements” within most service areas.

The wider economy, and cost-of-living, continues to impact the council’s finances and demand on services while it is also noted revised forecasts suggesting inflation will remain higher for longer than anticipated when the budget was set a year ago.