‘Intolerable’: Camden heads raise alarm over schools sliding into deficits

Camden headteachers have warned the council they are being forced to meet pupils’ needs in “extreme ways” while being told to balance their shrinking budgets.

On Wednesday (4 June) the local authority’s schools forum met to pore over the state of the borough’s education finances, which revealed Camden schools had lost nearly £6m from their own balances since the previous financial year.

A Town Hall report advised school leaders to prepare for more financial pressure and shrinking reserves, while “ensuring they continue to achieve best value with reduced real-terms funding”.

It comes as the council revealed 12 of the borough’s schools were now in deficit – a 50 per cent increase from last year – while the borough’s dedicated grant funding had overspent by roughly £3.4m.

Camden’s schools budget advisor, Victor Saunders, said this had been driven by “unexpected reorganisation and growth costs”.

Meanwhile, funding for higher needs pupils had faced a “significant and unplanned” squeeze that was set to continue for at least the next financial year.

Headteachers responded by raising the alarm that their situations had become “impossible” due to “intolerable” government policy, and slammed the Town Hall for its lack of communication.

“Schools are falling apart, and I don’t see an obvious response,” said Gospel Oak Primary’s John Hayes, who asked how making more savings would cover public sector pay increases for teachers.

“We need to hear from our local politicians on how we can respond. We can’t meet children’s needs in the ever-more extreme ways we are supposed to, and we can’t balance budgets,” he said.

Luca Salice, former chair of governors at Torriano Primary School, drew attention to the fact that, in Camden’s case, “the same party” was in charge of both local and central government.

Jules Belton, who leads St Mary & St Pancras Primary School, said: “There’s a sense of urgency headteachers feel on the ground every day, and, as John eloquently put it, I don’t think we feel this from politicians,” she said.

She highlighted that the local authority had not delivered on promised meetings, and raised the “woeful” response to schools’ concerns around the pressure on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.

While St Mary and St Pancras’ was not in deficit this year, it was “on the cards”, with rising costs bound to affect the curriculum.

“Something’s got to give,” she said, as other headteachers nodded silently in agreement.

Others also highlighted the impact of “poor communication” from the council and the threat of looming strike action from staff.

Camden’s director of education and inclusion, Vikram Hansrani, acknowledged there were grave concerns for a number of schools.

He promised that before the council’s summer break there would be a full debrief and plan to deal with the challenges, compounded by “existential challenges we face in the borough”.

Cllr Marcus Boyland, cabinet member for children and families, invited headteachers to attend discussions with parents about the impact on the curriculum.

In a subsequent meeting, he highlighted to his cabinet colleagues that Camden’s “struggling schools” were in “desperate need”, as sliding pupil numbers had led to a drawdown in government funding.

The council’s report stated that the government’s £10.4m funding boost to the borough’s schools had not offset rising costs, mainly driven by staff pay rises, inflation and energy bills.

It added that by 2027, Camden schools may have faced a 23 per cent real-terms loss in funding since the end of the freeze on per pupil funding, which began in 2010/11 and ended in 2019/20.

In 2024/25, the council was forced to draw £5m from its reserves to plug its SEND funding gap, after spending surged by more than £8m.

Update: this article was amended at 1.05pm on 12 June 2025. Luca Salice is the former chair of governors at Torriano Primary School, rather than the current chair as previously stated.