'Rising costs and rising SEND wiped out our budget': Calderdale schools plan to make staff redundant as they struggle to balance books
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Calderdale Against School Cuts asked the heads of all of the academy and council-maintained primary schools in the borough about their finances, with shocking results.
It claims of the 58 per cent of head teachers who responded to their questions, more than half – 54 per cent – plan to make teaching staff redundant.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdSchools across the country are struggling to balance their books amid rising costs and demands, and a pay rise for teachers which schools have to find from existing allocations as they do not receive additional money from the government to fund it.


The survey responses also showed that 86 per cent of schools will not replace staff who leave and 67 per cent plan to make support staff.
In addition, 82 per cent of schools will need to cut back on maintenance and repairs and 96 per cent of the headteachers who responded have concerns about balancing the school budget for the next three years.
Sue McMahon, Calderdale Against School Cuts spokesperson, said: “An unfunded pay award, school costs rising, local services stripped back to the bones, local authorities struggling financially due to over a decade of neglect and underfunding – so much of it comes down to a lack of funding, which is causing huge anxiety.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide Ad“Headteachers cannot afford to replace staff who leave, whilst schools cannot afford to continue to do more with less.”
Some of the comments from heads who replied to the survey included: “Sadly, our best is never good enough and schools rely more than ever on the goodwill of exhausted staff!”
One said: “We cut costs wherever possible, but this is to the detriment of children and staff.”
And another said: “Impossible to make any more cuts without allowing the building to either be unsafe or dirty.”
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdGiving notice of a pay rise for teachers, the Department for Education said in December: “Schools will be expected to fund this pay award from the additional investment provided at the budget, alongside their existing funds.
"For many schools this will mean reprioritising some of their budget – to go towards new pay costs as well as more generally ensuring best value from overall resources.”
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.