Number of schools in debt to double according to report

THE number of schools falling into debt in Wrexham is likely to double by next April according to the latest education budget report.

- By ALEC DOYLE Local Democracy Reporter

The situation is not being helped by the fact that schools in Wrexham are also having to foot the bill for £671,000 of teaching staff redundancy pay from this year's budgets in order to reduce their costs in the medium-term.

Wrexham County Borough Council's Lifelong Learning Scrutiny Committee will consider the data and make recommendations to the executive board on how it might avert a crisis in education across the borough on Wednesday, November 26.

That's when the latest Schools and Education and Early Intervention Budget Update - a joint report by the education and finance departments - will go before the committee.

It will show councillors this year 31 schools are expected to request a licensed deficit, where spending is higher than their budget.

Typically they are given assistance from the council and have three years to get their spending back inline with their budget allocation.

Last year there were 16 schools in a licensed deficit. In 2023/24 there were 14.

The total individual school budget across Wrexham is projected to be in deficit by almost £3million by April 2026.

That is £4.8million down on last year when overall the schools budget was in the black to the tune of £1.8m.