QUESTIONS AS £3.7M SPENT ON SCHOOL AGENCY STAFF

SCHOOL agency staff spending was slashed by over £2 million in Wrexham last year - but the local authority still saw more than £3.7m of its budget pay for external provision.

- By ALEC DOYLE Local Democracy Reporter

This continuing strong demand for agency staff has raised questions over the need for staff redundancies and whether schools are being given enough support.

The biggest spending institution in 2024/25 was the Maelor School in Penley.

According to Freedom of information requests over the last two years, the secondary school spent nothing on agency staff in 2023/24.

Last year however the school spent £288,592 on agency staff.

Just behind was Darland High School in Rosset.

In 23/24 it had been the borough's top spending school with £457,413 used for agency staff.

In 24/25 it was the region's second-highest spending school despite almost halving that amount to £230,641.