School leaders in Wales sound alarm over budget cuts

Nearly nine in ten school leaders in Wales say they will have to make budget cuts to afford this year’s pay award.

A survey by school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru found 87% of members would have to make cuts to help fund the 2023/24 award for teachers and leaders.

NAHT officials have been told by all 22 local authorities in Wales that they cannot offer the additional money the union says is crucial to ensure the much-needed salary uplift is fully-funded.

The union’s new report, Fair Funding For Wales, reveals more than three quarters (76%) of school leaders taking part in the survey said they did not have enough headroom in this year’s budget to cover the pay award for teachers and leaders.

Members were most likely to report that they would have to reduce investment in equipment for the school (71%), cut the number of hours of teaching assistants (66%) and reduce staffing by not recruiting when staff leave or retire (58%).

Half (50%) said they would have to reduce spending on additional, targeted support for pupils, while 44% said senior leaders would have to take on additional teaching responsibilities and 42% said they would need to reduce non-contact time for their additional learning needs (ALN) coordinator.

Nearly a third said (31%) they would be forced to reduce the hours of teaching staff and cut non-educational support and services for children (32%), while a quarter said they would need to scale back or change the curriculum (24%).

More than half said they would have to cut the maintenance budget (53%), delay repairs or refurbishment (52%) or reduce energy use (37%).

NAHT Cymru says the issues stem from reductions in UK government funding to Wales, with real-terms funding for schools falling by around 6% since 2009/10. At the same time, schools are facing inflationary pressures of £177m in 2023-24 and £114m in 2024-25. The Welsh Government has maintained a number of grant funding streams to try and support schools through the Pupil Development Grant. But it has had to propose reductions of £11.5m to the universal primary free school meals programme, £40m to capital funding from the sustainable communities for learning programme and £8.5m from the post-16 budget.

NAHT Cymru national secretary, Laura Doel said: “The pay award for our school leaders and teachers was much-needed after a decade of severe real-terms pay cuts, which were undermining efforts to attract and retain staff and offer children the best possible education.

“Schools were already struggling to balance the books even before the pay award.

“So it is a hammer blow for many of them to learn this award is not being fully-funded, despite some additional funding from the Welsh Government to support it.

“They are now at breaking point and facing really unpalatable decisions around reducing staffing, teaching assistant hours, and support for pupils who need it most.

“We urge local authorities and the Welsh Government to recognise this and work with us to ensure all schools have the funding they need both to deliver fair pay for staff and offer the learning experience pupils deserve.”

NAHT general secretary, Paul Whiteman, added: “These survey findings show in the starkest possible terms the terrible choices dedicated school leaders and their staff are facing.

“Our members are stoic and endlessly flexible in working to deliver the best possible education for children in the face of adversity - so for them to be warning of such devastating cuts is a real cause for alarm.

“This new report isn’t about playing the blame game. It’s about urging politicians and public servants to acknowledge the unsustainable pressures facing schools in Wales and the impact they will continue to have on children’s education without urgent action.” NAHT Cymru is calling for school budgets across Wales to be properly and equally funded to cover the cost of the pay award and wants a commitment from local authorities and the Welsh Government to protect education funding. The union is welcoming the current review of the middle tier by the government as it scrutinises all education spending to ensure money goes to where it offers the greatest benefit to learners.

It is also calling for the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body to itself be reviewed to see whether it is meeting the needs of teachers and school leaders.

The union wants greater transparency around schools funding, with clear breakdowns of what money is coming in, where it goes and how calculations on spending are made.

It is urging local authorities to sign up to its In this Together pledge – committing to work with education professionals to lobby for improved funding from the Welsh Government to address widespread regional differences in money allocated per pupil.

NAHT Cymru says that doing so would reflect councils’ requirement to seek agreement in partnership with recognised trade unions to boost people’s wellbeing by improving public services. This duty was imposed on public bodies in Wales through the Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Bill.

ENDS

Notes to Editor

The 2023/24 pay award consisted of a 5% uplift.

NAHT Cymru members across Wales were surveyed on the viability of the 2023/24 pay award 2023/24 from the Welsh Government. 816 members took part in the survey in May 2023.