Schools in county given November deadline to balance books

Elgan Hearn – Local democracy reporter

Schools in a Welsh county have been given a November deadline to show that they are living within their financial means, councillors have been told.

At a meeting of Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council’s Corporate Governance and Resources scrutiny committee on Thursday, September 24, councillors received the provisional position of last year’s budget as it stood at the end of March.

The council spent £203.23 million against a budget of £201.55 million for 2025/2026.

This means the council ended up with an overspend position of £1.4 million, which will be plugged by the use of council reserves.

The report explains that the council’s financial issues are centred in two key areas, schools and Children’s Social Services.

On the issues in schools, the report said: “School balances have deteriorated further, with the overall position moving to a net deficit of £3 million as at March 31, and 15 schools were in deficit at year-end, with combined deficits of £4 million.”

Head of financial services Gina Taylor said: “We continue to provide financial support to our schools in developing and implementing deficit recovery plans with the aim of trying to get our schools to work to an in-year balanced budget position.

“Just over £2.5 million was awarded to schools in the (2026/2027) budget to try again to support them to mitigate the financial challenges they are facing.”

An in-year balance means that the school is living within its budget for the year without adding to any deficit it may have.

Committee chairwoman Cllr Joanna Wilkins (Independent – Cwmtillery) is one of the councillors who spoke against the closure of Abertillery Learning Community’s Roseheyworth primary school campus, which is due to close next year.

Cllr Wilkins said: “The report outlines some stark warnings, particularly around schools.

“Given what we have been through with the closure of a campus, where are we with the review of the reorganisation of the school estate and when can members expect an update on that?”

Deputy chief executive Dr Luisa Munro-Morris said that the current priority is making sure schools can manage their “in-year balance.”

Dr Munro-Morris said: “Finance and education teams are working directly with our schools to ensure that’s their position.

“By November they need to show evidence that they can do this, because the budgets have been adjusted, any inflationary cost to staffing are now met, which means our schools are in a better position to be able to forward plan.

“For those schools who are not able to demonstrate they can manage within their budget, that’s when we will start talking about the potential for school reorganisation and potential federations.

“In November we will be in a much firmer position for where our schools are, so I anticipate when a further update will come forward.”

The committee accepted the report, and it will go on to be discussed at a cabinet meeting next month.

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