Nearly a third of England's secondary schools running deficits

New financial analysis by Reform has found that 28 per cent of local authority maintained secondary schools in England are in the red, with an average deficit of more than half a million pounds.

The organisation found that since 2010-11, the proportion of local authority-funded secondary schools with no cash reserves has almost doubled to 28.3 per cent, with the financial health of many of England’s schools remains fragile. As a result, headteachers across the country have had to make staff redundancies, increase class sizes and even shorten the school week to save money.

The research does not include analysis of  academies and free schools, but the think tank says the numbers are still significant and provide an insight into the struggle many headteachers face trying to make ends meet.

Highlighting ‘drastic’ variations between schools, 36 per cent of secondaries have an ‘excessive surplus’ of cash in the bank – on average more than £390,000. The eight per cent real-terms cut in per-pupil funding since 2011 has caused divisions, with schools in Yorkshire & the Humber and the South West found to be the worst affected with 38 per cent in deficit.

The proportion of primary schools in deficit is much smaller at eight per cent.

The new government has promised an extra £4.4 billion a year for schools until 2022-23, with a commitment to level up funding to bring primary schools up to a minimum of around £4,000 a year, and secondaries up to £5,000.