£1bn Shortage In Funding For School Places - LGA

Councils are warning there is a £1bn shortage in school places funding.

It has been said that councils have abandoned building projects, cut back on school maintenance and borrowed money in order to pay for a school place for every child, according to the Local Government Association (LGA).

Research released today shows over three-quarters of councils who responded to an LGA survey did not receive enough Government money to create the extra school places needed in their area between 2011/12 and 2016/17.

To make sure no child has been left without a place, councils borrowed money, used cash earmarked for other building programmes or created places with money intended to be spent on renovating crumbling school buildings and classrooms.

Councillor David Simmonds, Chairman of the LGA's Children and Young People's Board, said: "Mums and dads expect their child to be able to get a place at a good local school and this research shows councils are delivering, but at a cost. Since the pressure on places first emerged, councils have been getting on with the job of creating more, and welcome though Government funding is, it is nothing like the full cost.

"This research lays bare the financial impact on councils of providing school places, which stands at more than £1 billion over a five-year period. The lack of school places is no longer confined to primary schools but is spreading to secondary schools, and across the country we estimate more than 200,000 places will be needed.

"Councils face a challenge to create places on time and in the right areas, in a climate where they are also short of money to do so. Additionally, much of the decision making about new school places rests in the hands of the Government, whose funding for school places came too late. As a consequence, councils are carrying a billion pounds worth of costs which has come from other areas.

"The Government should budget for enough money to ensure something as vitally important as providing school places is not funded from other areas. This is an investment in the future which will benefit us all."

(CD/JP)