Council warns most city schools face budget black holes

Nicholas Thomas, local democracy reporter

A council has confirmed that schools will be given extra support to balance their books, amid warnings more of them could face a budget crisis.

Senior councillors heard this week the city’s schools are expected to overspend this year’s budgets by £3.9 million.

Some 44 out of 56 schools are at risk of overspending, a new report shows.

The city council is targeting at-risk schools with extra support, to help them avoid recording a deficit budget by the end of the financial year.

Cllr Dimitri Batrouni, who leads Newport City Council, said “robust” work was necessary to ensure schools plan for the possibility of a negative budget, and “take the necessary steps to avoid this or minimise the impact”.

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Overspend

Two schools in Newport are currently forecasting a deficit position, according to the new report – but most city schools are expecting an overspend on their budgets for running services this year.

While “in the majority of cases” they can resolve this by using their reserves, several schools are “forecasting relatively low reserve balances”.

The report suggests financial pressures are an ongoing problem.

According to the council’s end-of-year review of education services, published in the summer, four city schools reported deficit budgets last year.

Councils ring-fence their school spending, and in Newport the projected £3.9m loss this year will be absorbed by the department’s reserves – but this solution is unlikely to be sustainable, and will reduce those reserves dramatically.

Cllr Batrouni told cabinet colleagues the local authority’s school reserves balance will “reduce from £12.5m to £8.6m by the end of the financial year”.

And “there is a risk of further schools entering a deficit position” in that time, he added.

Financial pressures

Cllr Deb Davies, the cabinet member for education, said she was “acutely aware of the current financial pressures” schools are facing in Newport and elsewhere.

“Huge changes” brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic had included “an increasing number of children with a diagnosis of additional learning needs”, she explained.

“The impact of this on our finances is challenging”, warned Cllr Davies, noting the costs of placements and school transport.

But the council was “working hard” to support children with additional needs, including a planned expansion of Ysgol Bryn Derw – which is currently out for public consultation – she added.

Turning back to funding, Cllr Davies told colleagues: “We do get it – we know how important education is on so many levels.

“We appreciate that challenge, and it’s reassuring to know that all our schools have now signed up to that enhanced financial support that we provide.”

The council has also released an extra £600,000 of one-off funding to the city’s secondary schools, to ease current pressures.