Urgent call made for overspending schools to trim back costs

Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter

Financial pressures facing many schools have reached “crisis” point, a senior councillor said.

Cllr Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education and Welsh language, said it was essential that school leaders recognised the situation.

A cabinet report said the county’s schools were collectively forecast to overspend by £10.8m this financial year although this was the position at June 30 so there is another nine months to turn things round.

The report listed every school and whether it was in surplus or deficit. On the plus side nearly half them were expected to have a surplus come March 31 next year and collectively schools are currently in the black by £5.2m – but this deteriorates to a £5.6m deficit as things stand.

Two secondary were forecast to be £1.9m and £1.7m in deficit while a third was heading for a £2.1m surplus. There was also a large swing among primary schools.

“Crisis”

School leaders and governors have been sent a letter by the council making the position clear. Cllr Davies said he accepted the financial situation made things “very, very difficult” for many schools and that the letter was not intended to be “disrespectful in any way” but to set out “the bare facts”.

He said: “I do believe it is essential that our schools and governing bodies are aware of the seriousness of the situation. It is a crisis.”

Cllr Alun Lenny, cabinet member for resources, said he couldn’t overestimate the importance of the issue. He added: “As one who has three little grandchildren in local primary schools I fully appreciate that schools are under huge pressures.” Cllr Lenny said the budget projections did not factor in teacher pay and pension rises.

The budget monitoring report said the council was forecast to overspend by £17.9m in total with £3.2m of unplanned children’s services costs one of the factors. “This is primarily driven by continued growth in the number of children in very high-cost residential placements (both in-house and commissioned), as well as continued need to employ agency staff as we have recruited to a new staffing structures,” it said. Some savings, it added, weren’t being achieved.

The council plans to deploy money held in reserve to mitigate some of the pressures but the authority would still be £9.6m in the red on current projections.

Under-funding

According to Cllr Lenny years of central government under-funding was responsible for the budget pressures, which he also described as a crisis. The new Labour chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will deliver her first budget on October 30 with Welsh ministers setting out their spending plans afterwards. That should give councils some clarity about how much they’re in line to receive in 2025-26.

Council leader Darren Price said the squeeze facing Carmarthenshire applied to all Welsh councils and that an “adequate settlement” from central government was crucial.

Earlier this month the Welsh Government pointed out that funding for local government rose by 7.9% in 2023-24 and 3.3% this financial year. A spokeswoman said meeting the cost of teachers’ pay was the responsibility of councils. “Where necessary we have made additional funding available in-year to local authorities,” she said.

Nicola Fitzpatrick, interim Wales secretary for National Education Union Cymru, said: “School budgets are under strain this year and we have seen high levels of redundancies as a result. In particular our members tell us that there are challenges around supporting children with additional learning needs and covering staff absence with fully-qualified teachers.

“As the Welsh Government looks at the budget it is important to remember that the skills and experiences children have at school will help support them throughout their lives.”