INTERNAL auditors for Powys County Council, SWAP have found “significant gaps, weaknesses, or instances of non-compliance” after they probed the governance of a secondary school in the north of the county.
SWAP had been tasked by the council’s Governance and Audit committee to conduct a review to assess the “adequacy” of the governance and controls at Welshpool high school,
The report by SWAP gives a “limited assurance opinion” and will be discussed by members of the Governance and Audit committee next Thursday, May 8.
Findings show that the school on the whole is run well – with most assurance opinions in the green and “operating effectively.”
However, the schools finances are flashing red and SWAP believe this requires “major improvement.”
At the time the report was written the school’s budget, was forecast to be in a cumulative deficit balance of £157,826 by the end of March.
This is expected to rise to £296,393 by the end of March 2025/2026 and predicted to be up to £407,129 by the end of March. 2027/2028.
SWAP said: “The school are operating with an unlicensed budget and there is currently no formalised deficit recovery plan in place.
“The school has not set and submitted a balanced budget for at least three years.
“The cash flat budget projections from the local authority last year prevented the school from achieving a balanced budget.
“However, a recent cash injection from the local authority has now enabled the school to work towards this goal.”
SWAP said that a business manager for the school had been working with the council’s central finance team to find ways of balancing the books.
At a meeting in January the school had presented council finance chiefs with “potential budget savings” that they could make to do this.
The report says that by the end of April, headteacher Jon Arnold was supposed to “deliver and produce” an approved balanced budget and recovery plan.
Eight other “agreed actions” also needed to be completed by the end of April which include compulsory training for school governors as well as reviewing and reporting on the risk of fraud.
Back in December the stark financial position of all secondary and all through schools was highlighted by the need to pump an extra £7.4 million into the schools delegated budget this year.
This was done in the hope of staving off cumulative deficits predicted to be close to £16 million by the end of March 2027/2028.
Other secondary and all through’s were noted to be in a far worse financial predicament than Welshpool.
The report at that time predicted deficits of around £2 million for Brecon High school, and Ysgol Calon Cymru and just under £3 million for Newtown High School.
