Schools ‘heading for bankruptcy’

MANY schools could become ‘technically insolvent’ by spring 2024 without a material change in income, business leaders have warned.

It will be impossible for most schools to remain financially viable without drastic cuts, claims the Institute of School Business Leadership.

The body for school business leaders has written to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan to sound the alarm about the state of budgets.

Its letter says ISBL has for ‘many years, supported the Government’s argument that some schools can manage their resources more effectively’.

But it says financial stability is uneven across the sector and this is ‘not because some academies/schools are reckless and others prudent’.

The letter, according to the Times Educational Supplement, says schools are facing the ‘undeniable truths’ of soaring energy bills, unfunded teacher pay rises and ‘hyperinflation’.