Teaching assistants ‘unaffordable’

Twm Owen Local Democracy Reporter

A teaching and teaching assistant in every classroom is no longer affordable, schools struggling to balance their books have been warned.

Schools in Monmouthshire are collectively on course to have spent £9.3m more than they have been funded for and have also been told their staffing is “unaffordable”.

All four of the council’s secondary schools, 13 primaries and the pupil referral unit for those unable to attend mainstream school, are on course to finish the financial year in March in the red. That would see the combined balances of all 34 schools further in deficit – with the gap between what schools were funded for and the amount spent expected to have increased by £2.4m during 2026/27.

Will McLean, Monmouthshire’s director of education, told the council’s performance and overview scrutiny committee supporting pupils with additional learning needs, or ALN, is a known financial pressure for schools.

He said: “We are trying to work with schools and make sure they are aware of the resources (the council has) that are available to them and also having conversations about them having to think about their staffing structures.

“I think schools sometimes have a come to a pattern of staffing structure that, in a brutal analysis, are unaffordable.

“A teacher and teaching assistant in every classroom would not be an affordable provision of staffing in our schools.”

Tackling school deficits has become a contentious issue at County Hall with the Labour and Green Party run cabinet, and officers, insisting work is hand.

Opposition councillors at the September meeting forced through a motion requiring the council to produce a report on how it will reduce the deficits but without impacting school staffing levels. That is despite individual schools, rather than the county council, being responsible for decisions over staffing.

In a separate committee meeting, held on the same day the performance and overview committee was briefed on school deficits, the headteacher and chair of governors of Abergavenny’s King Henry VIII School explained to councillors how a staff restructure that has included redundancies is crucial to its eight-year plan to eliminate its £2.2m deficit.

At the performance and overview committee assistant head of finance Jonathan Davies confirmed schools are responsible for managing their budgets.

He said: “We need to be clear school budgets are the responsibility of schools, heads and governing bodies.”

Mr McLean said schools sometimes “aren’t aware” of the additional resources to support ALN pupils the council can provide centrally and while one on one support in class can sometimes be appropriate schools would have to consider how an assistant can support groups of learners.

Schools should also consider merging classes, such as reception and year one, if the overall number remains within the teacher to pupil ratio, said Mr McLean.

He also said the council’s funding formula for schools doesn’t fund teaching assistants at key stage two, which is years three to six for pupils aged seven to 11, but does where there are ALN pupils.

“If a school chooses to put a teaching assistant in a key stage two classroom, that does not have ALN needs, they are doing that outside the funding we give them,” said Mr McLean.

“It will automatically create a pressure on the balance of their budget by making a decision around staffing outside of the funding formula we have with them.”

Conservative Alistair Neill, who chairs the performance and overview committee, said he was concerned the “serious risk” of the £9m deficit to the council’s overall financial position wasn’t clear in the financial update report that has shown a £464,000 overspend against its total budget by August, the fifth month of the financial year.

The report said officers have confidence spending can be addressed throughout the year and Cllr Neill was told the report was in line with the financial regulations governing the council.

Mr McLean said the council has been “unequivocal” with schools about the risk the deficits present to the council’s balance sheet.

---

Get more trusted Welsh news

Choose Nation.Cymru as a preferred source in Google News to see more of our journalism.