‘I’m not sure I can balance the books’: Headteacher speaks out over funding struggles that have left staff ‘demoralised’

10 June 2025, 15:06 | Updated: 11 June 2025, 06:58

Schools are being forced to dig deep in order to cover their teachers' pay-rises, with one headteacher telling LBC: "I'm not sure I can balance the books".

Chris Ashley-Jones, headteacher of Hitherfield Primary School, in Tulse Hill, voiced his concerns after teachers were awarded a 4 per cent pay uplift - a figure that has not been fully funded by the Department of Education.

It comes amid figures which suggest 98% of school leaders say they don’t have enough funding to meet the children's needs.

Voicing his concerns over the funding of pay rises, he explained: "When you've been cutting and cutting for years, and all costs have gone up, pay increases should be fully funded."

Schools will now be expected to find the first 1 per cent from efficiencies following the pay rise, resulting in resource cuts and redundancies in some schools.

Mr Ashley-Jones said he has reduced teacher numbers by about 17%, reduced specialist and English additional language support all by 85%, cut learning mentors by 50%, and support stuff by around 20%.

Read More: 'Working people are not yet feeling progress,' admits Rachel Reeves ahead of spending review

He added that his school cannot afford an unfunded pay-rise - but they may be forced to award one.

This comes as National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) found that 98% of school leaders say they don’t have sufficient funding to meet the needs of pupils

"That's a pretty awful situation for the country to be in," Mr Ashley-Jones continued.

He added that a lack of schools funding has a serious knock-on effect on children's education.

"You want to be able to offer every child the support they need and deserve and you're not able to do that. And that gives you a sense of failure that you're not able to offer what you want to offer," the headteacher said.

Mr Ashley-Jones said he is aiming not to have redundancies at Hitherfield Primary School, but they have adopted a model of not hiring staff on permanent contract and opting for agency workers instead.

He explained that those staff are easier to cut, making it a "sensible" model for their finances.

He added his staff were "demoralised" as funding issues affect their teaching, pointing out that even the price of printer paper has doubled - limiting their supplies.

"I'm not 100% sure if I will be able to balance the books," he said.

The NAHT are calling for Chancellor Rachel Reeves to make a "fresh investment into education funding" in her spending review on Wednesday.

“School budgets have been hard hit over the last decade thanks to austerity, Covid, rapidly rising costs, and ever-increasing levels of need. Recently there have been yet more blows, with pay and national insurance increases not being fully funded," NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said.

"We are hearing strongly from our members that redundancies and staff reductions are the only way to balance the books."

This comes as Chancellor Reeves is expected to highlight health, education and security as top priorities when sharing out some ­£113 billion freed up by looser borrowing rules.

The Department of Health is set to be the biggest winner in Ms Reeves’ spending review on Wednesday, with the NHS expected to receive a boost of up to £30 billion at the expense of other public services.

Meanwhile, day-to-day funding for schools is expected to increase by £4.5 billion by 2028-9 compared with the 2025-6 core budget, which was published in the spring statement.

Elsewhere, the Government has committed to spend 2.5% of gross domestic product on defence from April 2027, with a goal of increasing that to 3% over the next parliament – a timetable which could stretch to 2034.

Ms Reeves’ plans will also include an £86 billion package for science and technology research and development.

The Independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) recommended a pay award of 4% for 2025/26 academic year, building on the 5.5% pay award made last year. The Education Secretary accepted this years pay recommendation.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “This government inherited a £22 billion black hole in the public finances. Nevertheless, the Budget protected key education priorities, putting a further £3.7bn into schools’ budgets in 2025-26 to deliver on our Plan for Change, alongside the teacher pay award

“We are already seeing progress thanks to our pay award and workload reform – we've turned around year-on-year declines with 2,000 more secondary school teachers training this year, including in crucial STEM subjects. With measures in the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill, we’re determined to go further and faster to restore teaching as an attractive, expert profession.

“We will continue to support schools with initiatives to slash the cost of energy, banking and recruitment so every penny is invested on delivering opportunities for young people.”

The overall core schools budget is increasing by £3.7 billion in the financial year 2025/26 (including the additional funding announced in May 2025), bringing the total to £65.3 billion, compared to £61.6 billion in 2024/25, an overall increase of 6%.

The Department for Education said they expect schools to cover approximately one percentage point of the pay awards through "improved productivity and smarter spending".

They said schools are already making savings and bringing core operating costs down: for example, the 400 schools who participated in the department’s new energy for schools offer will save 36% on average compared to their previous contracts.

The department said the government is also committed to improving teacher retention by providing hundreds of millions of tax-free financial incentives and professional development to attract and keep the best and brightest teachers across the country, alongside targeted action to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing.