Responding to a new publication by Welsh Government detailing the budgeted expenditure on schools by each of the 22 local authorities in Wales for this financial year, Laura Doel, national secretary for school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru, said:
“The variation in the amount of funding each local authority delegates to schools is ludicrous. It is simply not fair, on schools or pupils, for there to be such a postcode lottery to how much funding they receive.
“Welsh Government expenditure per pupil is budgeted to be £8,616, a year-on-year increase of 8.7% or £690, and broken down into £6,902 per pupil delegated to schools, and £1,714 per pupil retained for centrally funded school services.
“However, as you can see from the figures, the reality is that the full £6,902 per pupil is not delegated to schools and varies drastically across Wales. The amount of funding that local authorities delegate directly to schools ranges between 72% and 87% of overall schools budgeted expenditure.
“We note that there has been an increase in funding per pupil from last year, but that is of no consequence to schools if they are not seeing that increase in their budgets and it is disingenuous to say otherwise.
“We need to have some honest conversations about the situation on the ground. Per pupil funding is a lottery.
“Local Authorities are struggling with their own financial circumstances and that’s why delegation rates to schools vary. Layer on top of this the ALN funding crisis, pay awards that are not fully funded, and a whole host of government priorities that have cost implications – is it any wonder schools are in deficit and crying out for help?
“We have long pushed for reform to bring transparency and a fairer level playing field across the country when it comes to funding. We are finally seeing some movement on this with the current school funding consultation, but any reform wouldn’t alleviate schools’ financial concerns entirely.
“Slicing the pie more equally would be at least be a good starting point from which to build a properly funded education system.”
First published 03 July 2025