Council partially climbs down in schools' clawback row

West Berkshire Council said it wanted to remove about £2.85m from local schools' pockets

A council has made a partial climbdown in a row over school funding.

In July, West Berkshire Council's said it wanted to repurpose £2.85m of funds raised by eight schools, to help cover the rising costs of teaching pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The council was accused of trying to claw back money for its own budget, but at a specially convened meeting on Thursday the council leader said that not all of the £2.85m initially sought would be collected.

The schools with cash earmarked for clawback have until 11 September to make their case in the review now being undertaken.

Liberal Democrat council leader Jeff Brooks said he had been visiting schools concerned in the past weeks and that the council would "do our best to help them".

"We are not pulling any money back that’s been committed or raised by parents," he said.

He added they would review the amounts, but that the scheme would not be abandoned.

The Downs School is one of eight that has been asked for money

The row kicked off because the council announced the clawback would happen a year earlier than expected and three months into the financial year – after schools had committed budgets.

It escalated further because the affected schools were not allowed to vote in the Schools Forum decision to move the date forward.

It was also claimed the forum was strong-armed into making the decision, with the suggestion from the council that unless it did so, the whole matter would be taken out of its hands by the Government - although the council denied this.

The row was worsened by an assertion some of the cash had been fundraised or not held in separate accounts - which the council said was not the case - and unclear messaging about whether the cash would be used to partly plug a £9m hole in the SEND budget or redistributed to SEND provision.

The Conservatives and the Greens tried to push the move back to the initially planned 2025 budget year, but it was voted down by the Liberal Democrats.

'Huge damage'

The Downs School, which has been asked for £490,000 back, has asked the Department for Education to intervene, claiming the cash was from fundraising.

Carolynne Culver, the Green councillor for the ward the school is in, said the financial stability of the school was "threatened" and that the process had "destroyed trust and [has] been disastrous for the reputation of this council".

Tory group leader Ross Mackinnon said the saga had been "a sorry episode for the administration".

"People have been reduced to tears, confidence has been shattered and angry statements issued by headteachers," he said.

"Huge damage has been done with the trust between schools and the authority."

Conservative Joanne Stewart, whose ward contains Springfield School, said the funds being considered were for repairs.

"The careful planning of finances to cover these projects and carrying it over year on year since 2021 was done with the council's knowledge," she said.

"And to have it taken away from them seems to me to be morally unjust."