East Lancashire schools could lose hundreds of teachers through huge budget cuts, unions warn

In total, £70million, equivalent to more than 1,700 teachers, could be lost by proposed government funding changes, it has been claimed.

Darwen Aldridge Community Academy would be the hardest hit, losing £963 per pupil, according to statistics from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL).

They believe Witton Park Academy, Blackburn, would lose £942 per pupil and Pendle Vale College in Nelson would also fare poorly, losing £866 per pupil.

However the figures have been questioned by headteachers, while the Department for Education said it had yet to publish its new fairer funding formula.

The formula used by the unions is based on the government’s spending plans, Institute for Fiscal Studies projections, rising inflation and other cost increases and the new funding formula proposed by the f40 group of councils.

The f40 group is made up of the lowest-funding education authorities in England and its plans have been cited favourably by the government.

The unions warned schools with the most disadvantaged children are likely to face the biggest cuts.

Schools across Blackburn with Darwen would see a reduction of nearly £11million amounting to £495 per pupil and the equivalent of 294 teachers.

In Lancashire it would be reduced by more than £59million, equating £411 per pupil and the equivalent of 1,598 teachers over four years.

Simon Jones, Lancashire representative for the NUT, warned the cuts would lead to teacher job losses “just when we are facing a growing crisis in teacher supply and higher pupil numbers”.

He said: “A new funding formula will not solve the funding shortages.

“The NUT’s figures show that the overall freeze means that even areas which appear to gain funding under a new formula will in fact be worse off by the end of this parliament.

“Re-allocating inadequate levels of overall funding will not address this crisis in education.”

The data estimates Accrington Academy would be hit with cuts of £750,884 or £803 per pupil and Marsden Heights in Nelson would lose £761,097 or the equivalent of 20 teachers.

Blackburn Central High School would lose £692,840 or £896 per pupil.

Headteacher of Mount Carmel High School in Accrington, Xavier Bowers, whose school would lose nearly half a million pounds, warned the impact of the cuts could see staff losing their jobs, larger class sizes and teachers taking on more work.

He said: “Managing school budgets is always a real challenge going forward.

“Everybody is waiting for the outcome of the national spending review which has been delayed once again.

“In schools around 80 per cent of the budget is spent on staffing.

“To balance the books it is either people working longer, teaching more groups and larger group sizes.

“It would mean looking at other ways of doing things - whether IT can help improve the efficiency of systems and looking at the role of support staff.”

Brendan Loughran, executive principal at DACA, said the figures were estimates and had not been drawn from the school’s budget.

However he called for effective funding as school-age populations grow.

He said: “Recent demographic data indicates that the year seven school population will rise by around 12 per cent in Darwen alone between 2017 and 2020.

“With growth in numbers, comes increased funding, and the key issues for us is to ensure effective school budget management during the period of growth, and to be sustainable in the future.”

However, Dean Logan, headteacher at Witton Park Academy, who would see his school budget slashed by £865,559 by 2020 according to the estimates, said: “I do not see it is likely that we will experience the budget cuts presented.”

Burnley MP Julie Cooper said the government’s plans to move towards so called fair funding were “in reality, anything but fair”.

She said: “At the present time funding is allocated according to need, with the most disadvantaged children attracting extra funding.

“This is to be swept away and replaced by a system which sees not one single local authority across the country receiving an increase in real terms and nine out of 10 schools facing budget cuts.”

Cllr Dave Harling, executive member for schools and education at Blackburn with Darwen Council, said the cuts were “unfair”.

He said: “It is fair to say the majority of the schools budget is on staffing.

“If staff numbers are cut that will increase the pressure on teachers and will mean they do not have support staff in their classrooms.

“It all increases pressure on a sector that is straining to do the best for kids. To reduce staffing levels further would make that difficult.”

A Department for Education spokesman said: “This would appear to be irresponsible scaremongering, based on figures that are entirely speculative. In reality the schools budget has been protected and in 2016-17 totals more than £40billion, the highest ever on record.”