Rutland primary schools say they are put under ‘too much’ financial pressure by Rutland County Council

Primary schools are being put under too much financial pressure by Rutland’s local education authority, an academy boss has warned.

At the school’s forum meeting on Thursday (March 13), Rutland County Council’s head of finance Andrew Merry told the headteachers that after discussions with the authority’s head of SEND, it has been decided a 3 per cent uplift on special education needs funding was all the authority could afford.

The schools forum had made it clear at the previous meeting that a 5.5 per cent increase was needed.

However the council has said it is not affordable as the high needs part of the overall schools budget is already well over spent and if the money has to be paid back to central government next year, as is currently the case, it would leave the authority in ‘unchartered territory’. Mr Merry said by the end of the next financial year the school’s budget is predicted to be £9.6m over budget which if paid back would leave the local authority with an overall reserves level of £11m.

He said: “We did look at whether we could go above the three per cent that was recommended in last school’s forum, however due to the financial position that the DSG [Dedicated Schools Grant] finds itself in, we were unable to come up with how we could make that work from a financial point of view.”

He said the position would be kept under review and the 3 per cent uplift would be backdated to last September.

But chief executive of the Rutland Learning Trust Rob Gooding asked what impact Mr Merry thought it would have on primary schools across the county.

The finance officer said: “I think similar to all organisations, every organisation will struggle financially. We’ve had to make difficult decisions as a local authority. It’s not the news you wanted to hear, but from an overall position of us managing the dedicated schools grant on behalf of the DFE we couldn't make a decision that would worsen that position we are in at the moment.”

Mr Gooding, whose trust is made up of 11 Rutland primaries, replied: “Are you suggesting that the small rural primary schools absorb that deficit, but you guys don’t as much?”

Mr Merry said that was not the case and Mr Gooding said: “I don’t think what you suggested represents what the schools need at the moment. I think you are putting them under too much pressure and I don’t think they can absorb the deficits that they have without some support.”

Head of Leighfield Primary in Uppingham, Sarah Eaton said the financial impact on schools was causing a ‘real challenge’ and asked how the uplift compared to other schools and said she thought Leicestershire schools were receiving more.

Mr Merry said the uplift was based on local conditions.

Chief executive of the Brooke Hill Academy Trust Craig Charteris said as Rutland has a higher number of children being supported in mainstream schools than other areas, more money was needed to support them.

Earlier in the meeting the council’s SEND improvement programme manager Kulwinder Bola had provided a report that said 79 per cent of children with education health care plans in Rutland attended mainstream education compared to 43 per cent nationally.