Report points to £1.8m in teaching staff cuts

Sustained cuts to teacher budgets in Angus have led to the loss of specialist roles in music, art, drama and PE and extra resources for schools in disadvantaged areas, the council has admitted.

In a report presented to councillors yesterday Angus Council’s director of education and lifelong learning, Kelly Mcintosh, said £1.8 million of staff budget cuts since April 2018 meant fewer opportunities for pupils and more staff pressure.

Since August 2018, the equivalent of 16 secondary teaching positions have been cut, along with 10 visiting primary teaching roles spearheading subjects such as art and drama.

Also, 14 roles spread across deprived areas with dedicated support to pupils have gone.

The cuts do not necessarily refer to working staff. Rather, the council has reduced new posts being created and has not replaced those who retire.

Cuts to primary school teaching posts in particular have forced senior staff into the classroom, giving them less time to run schools.

Ms Mcintosh has paused further cuts for a year to give schools time to recover from the pandemic and to give the council time to assess the impact of the cuts further.

As for who is to blame for the efficiencies, she has pointed the finger squarely at ministers, who she says are underdelivering on annual grants.

“It is important to stress that savings in teaching staff costs made by the council to date have been necessary because of the pressures on the council’s finances and in particular several years of real terms reductions in government grant funding for core services,” she wrote in her report.