Unspent £3m could be used to fill Windsor & Maidenhead schools deficit

In May, James Norris, head of finance at Achieving for Children, which delivers children’s services on behalf of the council, warned the current deficit of over £2m within the dedicated schools grant (DSG) could grow to £13.7m by 2027 if no action is taken.

The DSG is a ring-fenced grant from government that must be used to support school budgets. The highest pressure is a £1.5m overspend within the high needs block, which funds and supports children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.

A five-year deficit management plan has been drawn up for the Department for Education to inspect how it will address its money issues and outline what savings it will make.

READ MORE: Windsor & Maidenhead could see £13.7m blackhole in schools budget

Speaking at a school’s forum, Mr Norris predicted they will be able to reach the £13.7m savings target but warned there is no room for any “slippage” and could make service cuts that they “wouldn’t normally like to cut” if they fail to reach their saving goal within five years.

Within the report, it states the maintained schools, which are schools overseen by local authorities, saw an extra £3m in its balances. This is money maintained schools were allocated in previous years but not spent on things such as bike sheds.

However, Achieving for Children stated it will review this due to financial pressures and consider if it is ‘appropriate for any excessive balances to be held at a school level’.

Cllr Stuart Carroll

Cllr Stuart Carroll (Con: Boyn Hill), lead member for children’s services, said it’s an “option” to redistribute the £3m to either other maintained schools or towards easing off the DSG deficit.

He said DSG deficits are a national issue as other local authorities are having to wrestle with overspends. Cllr Carroll also said he is urging government to reform the funding formula to ensure some schools with “specific circumstances” are being appropriately supported.

When asked if he was confident the £13.7m blackhole will be filled within five years, Cllr Carroll said: “Am I confident that the plans we have in place are the right plans and that we have the right oversight and accountability? Absolutely, but I can’t ignore the fact that we do need some of that national refresh and changes to the [DSG] funding formula to enable local schools and local authorities to be firmly in the position where they can attain.

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“It has to be a mixture of both very good local deficit management plans doing things better, transformation, and being more vigorous in doing things differently – and I’m very confident we’re doing the right things there – but there’s a national element to this that cannot be ignored and that requires the government to also acknowledge and recognise that and bring forward appropriate changes to the system to enable it.”

Over five years ago, the Royal Borough had a DSG deficit of £752,000 where it has now grown into the millions.

Cllr Carroll said the deficit has grown over the last two years as the pandemic has been “crippling,” forcing the council to spend more money on special measures for schools to continue operating.

He also said 28 out of 38 maintained schools in the Royal Borough are not in deficit while the remaining ten are “marginally” in deficit or severely.