{"id":239016,"date":"2025-12-05T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=239016"},"modified":"2026-02-17T14:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T14:57:41","slug":"revealed-the-council-schools-with-million-pound-budget-deficits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/revealed-the-council-schools-with-million-pound-budget-deficits\/","title":{"rendered":"Revealed: The council schools with million pound budget deficits"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dozens of council-run schools have deficits of over \u00a31 million, shock figures reveal, with some even charged six-figure sums in \u201cinterest\u201d by councils for racking up the losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The number of maintained schools in the red across 65 local authorities has leapt by over 70 per cent in just three years, a Schools Week<\/em> investigation has found, with specialist settings among the worst hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Projections for one ailing secondary show its \u00a35.6 million deficit is expected to swell to \u00a37 million in a year\u2019s time. The findings shed more light on the hidden world of council school finances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reacting to the findings, Julia Harnden, of the Association of School and College Leaders,<\/a> said: \u201cIt\u2019s deeply worrying. This is symptomatic of an education system that is hugely underfunded, with schools continually being asked to find further savings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

More in the red<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Schools Week<\/em> analysis shows the number of maintained schools in deficit across 65 local authorities has leapt by 71 per cent, from just under 720 in 2021-22 to over 1,200 last year. This is despite more and more maintained schools becoming academies..<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our investigation identified 48 local authority schools with deficits of over \u00a31 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

East Sussex reported an increase from one to seven schools in deficit, while Norfolk had a sixfold rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n


The current trajectory of increasing deficits is not sustainable for our schools<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

A Local Government Association (LGA) spokesperson said the increases were due in large part to falling rolls and \u201cfunding allocated on a per-pupil basis\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Primary pupil numbers nationally have been falling since 2018-19 as a population bulge caused by the 2000s baby boom has moved into secondary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eighty-eight per cent of maintained schools are primaries, compared to 69 per cent of academies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

School with \u00a37m deficit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The school furthest in the red was Monkseaton High School in Whitley Bay (\u00a35.6 million). North Tyneside council papers show that it is expected to rack up more losses this year, falling into a deficit of \u00a37 million by 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has not set a balanced budget since 2016. The secondary\u2019s situation has deteriorated due to, among other things, falling rolls, \u201chigher than average building and maintenance costs\u201d and admission number increases at a neighbouring high school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council said this was despite \u201csignificant work\u201d undertaken \u201cover a sustained period of time\u201d to address the issues, including staffing reductions and leadership teams cuts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deon Krishnan, its headteacher, noted that \u201chistoric factors, some going back more than a decade mean the deficit remained difficult to recover\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monkseaton was also \u201cone of the first to accept\u201d the DfE\u2019s offer for one of its cost-cutters to \u201cproduce a comprehensive review of their finances\u201d, according to the council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But despite visiting three times, none were able to identify \u201cany areas of further significant savings beyond those already made\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The local authority will close the school next year, having decided it \u201cis not a position that the council can support\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Special schools rocked<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Another North Tyneside school, Norham High in North Shields, ended 2024-25 with a deficit of just under \u00a34 million.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A council spokesperson said the \u201cchallenge\u201d headteachers in the area are facing is \u201cdriven by a combination of rising costs, declining pupil numbers, increases in complex needs and changes to national government funding formulas\u201d, adding: \u201cThe current trajectory of increasing deficits is not sustainable for our schools or the communities they serve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysis of each of the councils\u2019 highest-deficit schools shows 38 per cent of them (25) were primaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty-one per cent (20) were secondaries, 26 per cent (17) were special schools. Overall, just 5 per cent of council-run schools are special schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finance expert Micon Metcalfe warned that special schools were \u201cmore vulnerable\u201d as their funding \u201chas not kept pace\u201d with costs and they tend to spend \u201cmuch more\u201d on employees due to their \u201chigh staff ratios\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Difficult decisions\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

There are 48 local authority schools with deficits of over \u00a31 million. Six of them were in Hackney. Anntoinette Bramble, the authority\u2019s deputy mayor, said the challenges faced in the area are \u201csignificant\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fewer children are being \u201cbeing born and living in Hackney\u201d, while a \u201chigher proportion of have greater needs than ever before\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Anntoinette
Anntoinette Bramble<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bramble added the council had made the \u201cdifficult decision to permanently close eight\u201d primaries in the past two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harnden added \u201call kinds\u201d of schools \u201care being impacted by the paucity of funding\u201d, with the issues \u201cnot restricted to the maintained sector\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But many of the individual school deficits we uncovered eclipse those seen in some of the most troubled academy chains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Schools Week<\/em> investigation in October<\/a> found that 75 trusts \u2013 running 264 schools \u2013 had raised concerns about their ability to continue operating as far back as in 2023-24.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trust \u2018benefits\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The St Ralph Sherwin Catholic Multi Academy Trust \u2013 which oversees 25 schools across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Derby \u2013 posted the largest deficit (\u00a35.9 million).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was followed by the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership (\u00a33.9 million) and the Sherborne Area Schools\u2019 Trust (\u00a31.9 million). They ran 23 and 18 schools respectively at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

National Governance Association deputy chief executive Sam Henson noted that maintained schools \u201care also less likely to gain from the financial benefits associated with being part of a group of schools, which academies will necessarily have in a multi-academy trust\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

North Tyneside also acknowledged its \u201cability to provide direct financial support is limited, and unlike academy trusts, we do not have mechanisms to redistribute staffing or running costs across multiple schools\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schools Week<\/em> previously revealed that government officials are also working on white paper proposals to encourage all schools to join a group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Morales, chief executive of the Institute of School Business Leadership, has been in \u201cexploratory conversations\u201d with six councils over how \u201cthey can organise themselves into groups\u201d. He said this was a \u201csymptom of a lack of investment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a32m interest bill<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Some schools are also paying interest to councils on their deficits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Checks of documents published by 51 local authorities suggest 28 of them (55 per cent) have given themselves the right to charge interest. But only seven are actually doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They received \u00a32.3 million between 2022-23 and 2024-25. Up to 138 schools were charged interest each year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oak Wood School in Hillingdon was charged more than \u00a3340,000 over the period. It has a deficit of \u00a32.3 million. Dan Cowling, the secondary\u2019s headteacher, said the payments make it \u201calmost impossible to balance the budget now\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite schools\u2019 best efforts, this inevitably harms children\u2019s education<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s also unable to \u201cput money away for a rainy day\u201d adding: \u201cThe building is starting to look a bit shabby, and we can\u2019t commit to any big spends on things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cowling also believes it\u2019s \u201cunfair\u201d maintained schools can\u2019t receive government bailouts in the way academies do. Instead, they have to go to their local authority for financial assistance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council said charging interest on cash advances to schools in deficit \u201cwas an approach that was carefully considered and discussed with the Schools Forum and was agreed as a fair way of maintaining the support provided, without disadvantaging schools in surplus, or the local authority\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Education \u2018harmed\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In response to a survey conducted by the National Association of Headteachers earlier this year, 98 per cent of leaders said their school \u201cdid not have sufficient funding to fully meet the needs of its pupils\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Whiteman, the union\u2019s general secretary, stressed the \u201conly way\u201d for some to balance the books \u201cis by cutting staffing, resources or provision\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: \u201cDespite schools\u2019 best efforts, this inevitably harms children\u2019s education.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Department for Education was approached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some maintained schools’ deficits dwarf those of multi academy trusts, and even face interest payments. Inside the hidden world of LA school finances<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":239007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32,28,449],"post-theme":[2425],"class_list":["post-239016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","tag-dfe","tag-school-funding","post-theme-school-funding"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t