WIRRAL Council has given an update on government plans to change all schools in Merseyside into academies.

In 2022, the then-Conservative government announced plans for every school in England to be in or joining an academy trust by 2030.

During an audit and risk management committee Wirral Council meeting on Wednesday (October 22), councillor George Davies said he was involved with two schools that were becoming academies ahead of the previous government’s target.

He said he believed the current government was not going to charge course as it is "too far down the line now."

Going forward, he asked who paid for the school when it became an academy and whether the council was prepared for this after he was told the government would be paying.

In response, council officers said the council wouldn’t be able to predict the situation in 2030.

However finance director Matthew Bennett said the current direction is all schools become academies at some point in time.

Academies are a state-funded school that is independent from local authorities run by academy trusts with more freedom to run the school.

School balances are currently within the council’s reserves and is dedicated for school spending. Mr Bennett said: "If a school’s got a credit balance at the end of it then it simply transfers to the academy trust and the funding moves out of the dedicated schools grant and goes directly to the academy."

The Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) is a yearly government grant to fund schools and Mr Bennett said if things continued, the council would no longer be maintaining any schools and there would be a question for what councils do in providing education. He said: "Ultimately it is wait and see."

Papers published ahead of a Wirral schools forum meeting on October 1 regarding funding for schools going into next year said the government is expected to announce school funding soon. This would be following the budget announcement on October 30 and schools will be asked for their views.

For this current year, schools are expected to see a in-year budget black hole of nearly £13m which is being driven by rising costs providing for children with high needs of £74.1m with an unexpected rise of £1.3m related to special educational needs. The government in 2022 agreed the councils could keep this budget gap off its council services balance sheet for three years.

However this statutory override is expected to expire in 2026 leaving councils across the UK potentially having to find around £2.3bn. In Wirral, the expected deficit is expected to be nearly £26m by 2025 and could rise even more by 2026.

During the meeting, councillors also queried a number of reports looking at the work of the council’s internal audit inspection team. A fraud investigation found £51,473 including £21,081 in council tax support and £14,300 in discretionary housing payments which gives people short term help to pay rent.

Concerns were also raised about the council’s financial position going forward as well as rising numbers of Freedom of Information requests. Praise though was given after a long campaign for transparency for a report on different contracts and purchases by the council either large in size or rules were waived.