Almost A Third Of Council-Run Secondary Schools In The Red, New Data Shows

A generation of children is paying the price of austerity, it has been claimed, as new figures revealed almost a third of council-run secondary schools are in deficit. 

A new report from the Education Policy Institute (EPI), published on Friday, underlines the scale of the funding crisis facing both primary and secondary schools in 2019. 

The report states that 30.3% of local authority (LA) maintained secondary schools in England were grappling with budget deficits in 2017/18, up from 8.1% in 2014.

The average secondary school was nearly half-a-million pounds (£483,569) into the red, with one-in-10 saddled with a deficit higher than 10% of their income.

The Education Policy Institute found:

• Budget deficits a much bigger problem for secondary schools than primary schools.
• One in 10 council secondaries has a deficit representing over 10% of their income.
• The proportion of special schools in deficit has almost doubled since 2014.
• Half of secondary academies are spending more than they bring in
• The Department for Education has flagged over half-a-billion (£580m) of council-run school surpluses “excessive”.
• 8% of primary schools were in the red in 2017/18.
• 38% of primary academies were spending more than their income.
• Half of secondary academies and 64% of local authority schools were spending more than their income.
• Despite the huge rise in deficits for some schools, a large number maintained surpluses.

Meanwhile, the number of pupils in school has risen by 326,000 since 2015 and there are 5,000 fewer teachers and 10,700 fewer staff. 

The . EPI says a substantial proportion of schools have balances deemed “excessive” according to the Department for Education – 40.7% of primary schools, 46.4% of special schools and 34.1% of secondary schools.

It argues that around four-fifths of school deficits could be eliminated if the government boosted per-pupil spending and if councils could share out reserves across different institutions. 

Jon Andrews, report author and deputy head of research at the EPI, said: “These statistics highlight again the financial pressure that schools in England are under, particularly at secondary level.

“But they also show that a large number of schools are maintaining significant surpluses.

“The challenge for government, local authorities, and school leaders, is whether that money should now be redistributed.”