SCHOOLS that have exceeded the threshold of the amount of reserves they can keep have been told they do not have to repay funds – but have been warned that may change in the future.

Currently, if a school’s surplus balance is greater than eight per cent of the preceding year’s budget share (secondary schools) or 12 per cent (nursery, primary, and special schools), then the authority automatically deducts from the current year’s budget share an amount increasing on a sliding scale according to the extent to which the permitted threshold has been exceeded.

Professor Sarah O’Brien, St Helens Council’s strategic director of people’s services, reserves the right to exclude any school from the clawback process under exceptional circumstances.

A total of 12 primary schools, one high school, two special schools and a pupil referral unit exceeded the threshold in 2017-18.

Members of the school forum were told during a meeting at the town hall this week that a decision has been made to let the schools keep the extra cash.

Stephen Webb, business support manager for people’s service, said there was a balance reduction of £361,000 across the board.

He added that it is the view of Department for Education (DfE) that the authority should not interfere to a significant extent with school balances unless they become “very excessive”.

Mr Webb said: “There are some schools with closing balances in 2017-18 that are in excess of the permitted threshold.

“However, it should be noted that there’s been discussions with these schools during the course of the year in many instances as to why the balances are where they are.

“Also, future budget projections for many schools show a deficit position.

“These balances are being used to either reduce or manage those deficits in future years.”

Mr Webb said it will “certainly be considered in future years” whether the clawback mechanism will apply to schools who exceed the threshold.

Claire Cropper, head teacher of St Bartholomew’s Catholic Primary School, said it has not been utilised in all the time she has been on the schools forum while “schools have been suffering”.

She added that the clawback mechanism was a “pointless exercise”.

Ms Cropper said: “It seems a bit unfair really because I know we’ve discussed this on a number of occasions and to my knowledge, it’s never been carried out.

“It just seems like a bit of a pointless exercise if it’s not going to happen.”

Ms Cropper added that it was not fair that some schools could retain the funds when other schools facing similar pressures did not have the back-up.

Wayne Leatherbarrow, chair of governors at St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, said the schools forum must be “concerted in its efforts” to ensure the clawback applies where it can see evidence of underspend.

Frank Taylor, governor at Eccleston Lane Primary School, said it appeared some schools are “running them like a business” due to balances rising year on year.

Andrew Rannard, head teacher of De Le Salle – which was within the threshold – said there is a “danger” of giving the impression that schools were trying to manage profit.

He said: “There’s very few heads who would run – there might be the odd exception – who would be thinking, I can run and make a profit here.

“You just try to make as little loss as possible and mitigate that. Some people aren’t even in a position to get near making a profit.”

Bill Bradbury, governor of Mill Green and chair of governors at Billinge Chapel End Primary, said schools are sometimes guilty of “pulling back” too much to meet their budget requirements.

He said: “What concerns me more is the very low balances in a lot of these schools, especially the primary schools.

“I’ve seen these figures for more than 20 years now and I think some of these balances are quite alarming for some of these schools, down to two per cent in some cases. It doesn’t bode well for the finances of schools.

“I know nationally, head teachers and unions have complained bitterly about the underfunding of schools.

“They get stock answers from the politicians that they’re getting more and more money, but then you look at the school balances, especially projections for next year and the year after, that doesn’t ring true to me.”

Mr Leatherbarrow said it is “imperative” the schools forum provide feedback to Professor O’Brien and to invite her to a future meeting to discuss it in more detail.

Diane Bate, governor at Rainford CE Primary School, added that head teachers need to be informed well in advance that the clawback is not an “idle threat”, and will happen so that they can make appropriate changes as it may have an impact on redundancies and on future projects.

The schools forum noted the reports.