Concern over borough schools’ budget pressures

Schools across Caerphilly County Borough will be expected to reduce their budgets by between £11,000 and £60,000 on average next year.

The measure is part of the council’s draft budget proposals and, if passed, will require all schools to find ways to cut 1% of their budgets, regardless of their financial position.

The draft budget does also include more money for schools to help with inflationary pressures, a scrutiny committee heard on Monday January 26.

Independent Blackwood councillor Kevin Etheridge asked whether officers believed schools would “manage” with the 1% budget reduction.

“Schools make up a large proportion of the council budget, so they can’t be immune to us trying to balance the budget,” said Leanne Sykes, the council’s director of finance. “But we have been working with them, and the savings proposal that’s in there has been in the medium-term financial plan for this period.”

She added: “Schools have been working towards this for the past year and a half, and it is [each] school’s discretion for them to come up with savings proposals for how they deliver it.”

Deputy finance director Sarah Rose told the committee the council would on average need primary schools to reduce their budgets by around £11,000 next year, and for comprehensive schools the requirement would be around £60,000.

Cllr Etheridge asked whether the borough’s schools had “surplus in their budgets to cover” the expected budget reductions.

“There are some schools that have set a deficit budget, and they are working with us on recovery plans over a three year period,” replied Ms Sykes.

The council’s education committee heard last November how borough schools are expected to report budget deficits this year, worth an estimated £6 million.

Ms Sykes told the committee the council was carrying out wider work to address questions around school finances.

This includes a working group of councillors, who will investigate how declining birth rates could affect the sustainability of schools, she explained.

That group is being set up following the contentious decision to close Rhydri Primary, in Rudry, which council chiefs decided was no longer viable because it could not balance its books.

School funding is linked to pupil places, and Ms Sykes said the council will be “undertaking a schools funding formula review to ensure that funds are being distributed fairly”, as well as more support for headteachers.

Following the meeting, Cllr Etheridge said he remained concerned about the schools that could end up with budget deficits “and how they will manage if they have their money reduced in the council’s budget – and the effect it may have on our children’s education”.

A public consultation on the council’s draft budget proposals is currently under way and closes on February 3.

Visit the council’s website to take part in the consultation.