Most schools in Wales are looking at redundancies

Most schools in Wales are considering making redundancies in order to save costs, a new survey of headteachers in Wales has revealed.

The main trade union for school leaders and headteachers in Wales, the National Association of Headteachers Cymru (NAHT Cymru), surveyed 670 school leaders and found many are "desperate" to cut costs - with 73% of headteachers surveyed saying they will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours, and 61% of headteachers surveyed saying they are looking to reduce the number of teachers or teaching hours, in order to save much-needed funds.

School leaders from 95% of the schools surveyed also said they would be unable to pay their costs next academic year (2023 to 2024) without going into deficit, whilst leaders from 38% of the schools surveyed said their schools will go into deficit this academic year (2022 to 2023), unless they make drastic cuts. And with most schools not permitted to operate with a deficit budget, they must make "significant cuts" to remain in the black, the NAHT added.

Read more: Six in ten teachers feel they spend too much time dealing with students' emotional needs

With this in mind, school leaders are also having to consider saving costs in other ways; including reducing spending on support services for children at school, for example reducing the amount of counselling, therapy and mental health support available at school, and reducing spending on "targeted intervention" - this means cutting down on the support offered for pupils who need additional support. For more new stories about schools in Wales, go here

The shocking findings come just days after after schools in one Welsh county said they were considering bringing teaching online one day per week, to help schools save money - you can read more on that here - and shortly after some educators said they would leave teaching altogether if proposed changes to the school day and year in Wales go ahead.

Commenting on the finding of the NAHT's survey, general secretary of the NAHT, Paul Whiteman said: "Schools are being hit by a perfect storm of costs. In attempting to balance their budgets, school leaders are being faced with eye-watering energy bills, spiralling costs to resources and supplies, and the financial impact of an unfunded pay increase this year.

"With no fat left to cut following a decade of austerity, many thousands of schools are now looking at falling into deficit unless they make swingeing cuts. Education is truly in a perilous state."

Director of NAHT Cymru, Laura Doel added: "Schools in Wales are undergoing the biggest education reform in decades, which has not been fully funded, and now they are being hit with spiralling costs and unfunded pay awards.

"New ALN legislation, the roll out of the New Curriculum for Wales and the implications of increasing the free school meal offer have simply not been taken into account. This leaves schools in a desperate state, having to balance their legal responsibilities around ALN, their duty to all learners to deliver quality education, their obligation to a FSM [Free School Meals] policy which was not thought through and their responsibilities to their teams around them.

"NAHT members are fully supportive of the inclusive curriculum, understanding better than anyone how important it is to deliver for their learners, but they are being asked to do so with one arm tied behind their backs.

"Unrealistic expectations are being placed on schools, and it is time the Local Authority employers and Welsh Government realise that the impact of underfunding will go far beyond redundancies, it will have an impact on a generation of learners."

What did the survey reveal?

Information revealed on Tuesday, November 8, following an NAHT survey of 670 school leaders in Wales (carried out between September, 21 2022 and October, 14 2022) includes:

• 73% of school leaders surveyed say they will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours
  
• 61% of school leaders surveyed say they are looking at reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours
• 38% of schools say they will go into deficit this year, unless they make further cuts
• Just 5% of schools say they will be able to pay their costs next academic year (2023-2024) without going into deficit – meaning more than 9 in 10 schools won’t be able to balance their budgets without drastic action
  
• 48% of schools said they would be forced to reduce non-educational support and services for children next year - this means cutting back on vital services such as counselling, therapy and mental health support
  
• 56% said they would have to reduce spending on additional targeted interventions for pupils requiring additional support - this refers to support offered to pupils needing extra help or those with ALN [additional learning needs]

'A reduction in teaching assistants and teachers will be catastrophic'

"After a decade of austerity, schools have made all the easy savings already. The only things left to cut are things that will have a real immediate impact on children – and especially those who are already the most disadvantaged and vulnerable. This goes against everything school leaders strive for, and the anger and desperation I am hearing from my members is unprecedented," general secretary of the NAHT, Paul Whiteman added.

"Schools are finding that they have no option but to make redundancies. A reduction in teaching assistants and teachers will be catastrophic, leading to larger class sizes and less support for children with the greatest needs. This cannot be allowed to happen.

"Schools will no longer be able to afford those crucial services that are there to support pupils - things that children rely on not just for education but for their health and wellbeing. Things like in-school mental health services, counselling, and speech and language therapy. And it’s that extra help for families - especially those hit hardest by the cost-of-living crisis - that schools can no longer afford – things like food for breakfast and help with clothing and laundry.

"The responses to this survey represent a significant proportion of the education profession - leaders out there in schools, on the front line, who are seeing the true desperation of the situation at hand. They do not raise the alarm lightly – when they speak, the government must listen. We must see urgent action on education spending ahead of the next Budget update."

'We remain committed to doing everything we can to support our public services'

Responding to the figures shared by the NAHT, a spokesperson for Welsh Government told WalesOnline: "We recognise that high levels of inflation and energy costs are causing financial pressures on our public services, and we remain committed to doing everything we can to support them.

"The significant levels of funding needed requires the UK Government to act urgently. The Welsh Government's budget is now worth £4bn less over the next three years, and that is before budget cuts the UK Government is potentially going to announce next week. Wales’s funding must be restored by the UK Government to help protect jobs and support our public services.

"We acknowledge that figures published last week show that overall school budget reserves remain very high. Local Authorities and schools are already discussing how to deploy their reserves and we will support them in that."

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