Ealing schools are facing financial pressures, with the Ealing Schools Forum flagging a £3.8 million budget overspend for the 2024-25 financial year. The overspend is primarily attributed to an increase in the high needs deficit, which rose by £5.528 million to a total of £7.755 million, even after a transfer of £1.651 million from the schools block.
The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) overspent by £3.787 million in 2024-25, before the use of reserves, according to the School Forum Report July 2025.
During their meeting on Wednesday 02 July 2025, the Ealing Schools Forum agreed to retain the 2024-25 early years block DSG reserves to manage the high needs block deficit, enable additional early intervention and support, and manage commitments against the growth fund and other pressures related to future school organisation changes.
In response to these financial challenges, the forum agreed to implement a clawback mechanism for schools with excessive surplus balances. This will use the same Balance Control Mechanism (BCM) as the previous year, as set out in the Ealing Scheme for Financing Schools, considering only those schools who have increasing excessive balances over a three-year period (two consecutive years, 2022-23 to 2024-25), potentially resulting in a £20,000 clawback. The funds generated from this clawback will be used to support high needs pressures and potential school organisation changes.
According to the Outturn Balances for Ealing Schools, Maintained school balances totalled £13.09 million as of 31 March 2025, a decrease of £1.25 million from the previous year.
The minutes of the previous Ealing Schools Forum meeting on 30 April 2025, noted that Ealing had moved into a £2 million deficit in 2024, and this had risen to around £5 million by the end of March 2025. It also noted that if current trends continued, Ealing could have over 5,500 children with plans by 2031, up from just over 4,000 currently, with an average annual growth of 6%.
