Fears are emerging that Scottish local authorities will offload responsibility on to headteachers to find “huge” savings in the coming months.

The concerns stem from one council’s proposals to deal with “unprecedented” budget cuts. Falkirk Council has warned that failure to act urgently could result in compulsory redundancies and reductions to teacher numbers and the number of subjects offered by schools - with heads expected to find savings that avoid the worst-case scenarios.

The approach by Falkirk Council was described by one school leaders’ body as “clumsy if not cynical”, after a council document suggested it was in line with plans for a national “headteachers’ charter” giving more power to schools.

School Leaders Scotland general secretary Jim Thewliss, whose organisation represents secondary heads, said of the Falkirk document: “While we are fully aware of the difficult decisions which would be an integral part of the Headteachers’ Charter, this is a clumsy, if not cynical, introduction to collaborative working and shared accountability.”

Despite the charter - which is due to be published soon - envisaging greater responsibility for heads, Mr Thewliss stressed that local authorities should still take much of the responsibility for issues such as staffing.

“It is important to remember that the local authority - and not the school - is and will remain the employer of school staff,” he said.

Greg Dempster, general secretary of primary school leaders’ body AHDS, said: “While the principle outlined in the paper is in line with the [Scottish] government’s aspirations for school empowerment, the timing and timescales proposed are beyond challenging.”

Cuts ‘paint a very bleak picture’

He added: “The scale of the cuts to be made by Falkirk Council are huge and would inevitably have a material impact on services; this must be reflected in the expectations placed on what those services can deliver.

“Also, these cuts paint a very bleak picture - one that is completely different to government assertions that more money is being put into education than ever before.”

Falkirk may have given a sign of what is to come across Scotland, with the next round of local budgets - most due to be set in February - expected to put huge pressure on education services.

A document entitled Implementing the Council’s Medium Term Financial Plan in Falkirk’s Schools states that children’s services in the local authority have been given a savings target of £5.853 million for each of the next five financial years (2019-20 to 2023-24), or £29.265 million in total. This will require “unprecedented budget savings”, it states.

The document adds: “This level of budget savings cannot be met without having a direct and significant impact on schools.”

But it advises that the situation has changed in terms of who is responsible for finding such savings: “Until now the local authority has been responsible for directing the school sector regarding the savings that are required. We are now, however, entering an arena where the [national] ‘Empowering Schools’ and the ‘school autonomy’ agendas mean that a different approach will be required.

“In particular, the expectation that ‘headteachers will make decisions on the spending within that delegated budget’ requires that a different approach is adopted to the identification of savings from school budgets.”

The report, by the director of children’s services, Robert Naylor, warns that “immediate actions must be taken” so that changes can be made in time for the start of the 2019-20 school year next August, otherwise there is a risk of compulsory redundancies, reductions in teacher and support staff, and schools being able to offer fewer subjects.

Starting today and ending on 14 December, Falkirk heads and other service managers are being asked to consult “stakeholders” on what might be done.

The report lists potential savings for primary and secondary schools:

Primary schools

· Potential to revise school-staffing arrangements, management structures and allocation of management time.

· Review allocation of supplies and services and expenditure on external activities.

· Review allocation of support staffing for supervisory duties - e.g., pre-school start supervision, playground and dining-hall monitoring.

· Review expenditure on certain curricular provision.

Secondary Schools

· Potential to revise school staffing arrangements, management structures and allocation of management time.

· Review allocation of supplies and services and expenditure on external activities.

· Review allocation of support staffing.

· Review of Senior Phase: delivery model (including digital learning) and revised curricular offer.

· Review of the efficiency of the current Broad General Education offer and its sustainability.

· Potential to reconfigure the school day

· Review the efficiency of operating curricular courses in smaller classes.
 

A Falkirk Council spokeswoman said: “Falkirk Council is currently facing a budget gap of around £18 million in 2019-20.

“To address this challenge, all senior managers in Falkirk Council have been asked to identify significant potential savings from across all service areas, including education. This is part of a strategic council-wide exercise designed to meet the budget gap for 2019-20 and identify opportunities for service transformation across the entire organisation.”

She added: “Currently, headteachers are discussing potential savings options with school staff and with parent councils.

“Council officers are working with headteachers and with trade union representatives to identify how savings will be achieved.  A report will be prepared for the council’s education executive in January 2019 on the options identified.

“No final decisions will be taken until the council sets its budget in February 2019.”