MORE schools in Cardiff have set deficit budgets compared to last year and the city council’s education budget is expected to be exceeded by millions of pounds.
The information about schools was presented to Cardiff Council’s governance and audit committee at a meeting on Tuesday, November 26.
In the council report discussed by committee members, the council said 46 schools set deficit budgets in 2024-25 and overspend for the end of the financial year is projected to be £4.4m.
Last year, 37 schools in the city set deficit budgets at the outset. Cardiff Council said it has arrangements in place to work with the schools in deficit.
Director of education and lifelong learning, Melanie Godfrey, said there are “significant pressures on the school system”.
Some of the biggest drivers of these, according to the council official, include increased costs for schools and the council, and the continued impact of Covid-19.
Ms Godfrey said: “Our school system is still feeling the impact of Covid and what that has done in terms of behaviour.”
She added there are learners coming through the system currently who have more complex needs and some pupils need to be provided with three-to-one support.
The council report presented to the governance and audit committee this week shows there are three main areas which have contributed to the £4.4m projected overspend for 2024-25.
These include out-of-county school placements (£1.9m), school transport (£1.2m) and school catering (£750,000).
All of the schools in Cardiff that set deficit budgets in 2024-25 include:
- Allensbank Primary School
- Bishop Childs C.W. Primary School
- Bryn Celyn Primary School
- Bryn Deri Primary School
- Coed Glas Primary School
- Coryton Primary School
- Creigiau Primary School
- Danescourt Primary School
- Fairwater Primary School
- Gladstone Primary School
- Gwaelod-y-Garth Primary School
- Holy Family R.C. Primary School
- Hywel Dda Primary School
- Lansdowne Primary School
- Llandaff C.W. Primary School
- Moorland Primary School
- Pentrebane Primary School
- Pentyrch Primary School
- Radnor Primary School
- Rumney Primary School
- Severn Primary School
- Stacey Primary School
- St Mary’s R.C. Primary School
- St Mary The Virgin C.W. Primary School
- St Mellons C.W. Primary School
- St Monica’s C.W. Primary School
- St Paul’s C.W. Primary School
- Tongwynlais Primary School
- Ton-yr-Ywen Primary School
- Tredegarville C.W. Primary School
- Ysgol Bro Eirwg
- Ysgol Gymraeg Coed-y-Gof
- Ysgol-y-Berllan Deg
- Ysgol Mynydd Bychan
- Ysgol Gymraeg Treganna
- Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pen Y Groes
- Ysgol Glan Ceubal
- Marlborough Primary School
- Corpus Christi R.C. High School
- St Illtyd’s R.C. High School
- Cantonian High School
- Llanishen High School
- St Teilo’s C.W. High School
- Whitchurch High School
- Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Plasmawr
- The Court School
A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: “The current number of schools planning on entering into a deficit position by the end of the financial year is 46.
“The council is in ongoing discussions with individual schools on their budgets for 2024/25, and communication between schools and the authority continues and emphasises the requirement to minimise deficits in the short term and to ensure a sustainable medium-term position.
“We continue to monitor all school balances but will not be able to project the likely outturn of reserves until much later in the year.
“Although schools are responsible for their own spending, and will need to prioritise what they see as most important to their school community, the Council works closely to support them, through various means to improve their budget resilience.
“This includes an effective financial monitoring service that enables financial planning and guidance on make cost effective decisions and continued partnership working.”
Ms Godfrey stressed many of the issues being faced by the 129 schools across Cardiff, including cost pressures, are being experienced nationally and pointed to the progress being made at schools.
The council report on education also highlighted that attendance in Cardiff showed improvement during 2023-24 and is comparing favourably to national averages. However, it has still not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels.
It states: “Persistent absenteeism in primary schools remains impressively low, at just 0.88%.
“Engagement programmes aimed at improving attendance have had a positive impact across the board.”
Throughout the year, 131 new additional learning needs places were created, with further plans to expand the total number to 1,755 places.
In 2024-25, the council’s net education budget was £362m, with £308m of this being delegated to schools.
The delegated school budget per pupil is £5,903, which Cardiff Council said is the sixth highest of all local authorities in Wales.
