Title

WHITEHALL

Call for earlier intervention in council schools

Central government should intervene earlier and more often in local authorities when it has financial concerns about maintained schools, auditors have said today.

Central government should intervene earlier and more often in local authorities when it has financial concerns about maintained schools, auditors have said today.

The recommendation was made in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO), which warned of the financial challenges facing secondary schools.

Whitehall has estimated that mainstream schools will have to find savings of £3bn by 2019/20 to counteract cumulative cost pressures, such as pay rises and higher employer contributions to national insurance and the teachers' pension scheme.

The proportion of maintained secondary schools spending more than their income increased from 34% in 2010/11 to 59% in 2014/15, the NAO found.

NAO head, Amyas Morse, said: ‘Mainstream schools have to make £3bn in efficiency savings by 2019/20 against a background of growing pupil numbers and a real-terms reduction in funding per pupil.

‘The department needs effective oversight arrangements that give early warning of problems and it needs to be ready to intervene quickly where problems do arise.'

WHITEHALL

Government skipped own cost review of council mergers

By William Eichler | 29 August 2025

The Government did not conduct its own assessment of the costs of local government reorganisation, the BBC has revealed.

WHITEHALL

Why local sport must be the greenest game in town

By Tunde Williams | 28 August 2025

Tunde Williams says sport has always been about more than games, and now it must become about futures too - ‘climate-safe, financially sound, and community ...

WHITEHALL

Overdiagnosis straining SEND system, think tank says

By William Eichler | 28 August 2025

A new report has warned that England’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is becoming unsustainable because of an overdiagnosis of ment...

WHITEHALL

Budget problem? Ask FRED

By Cllr Rowan Ree | 17 July 2025

Using data and the latest technology is helping Hammersmith and Fulham LBC save money to fund vital local services, and is the latest step in the council’s a...

Popular articles by William Eichler