MORE than half of school leaders in Wales are predicting a budget deficit this academic year as a financial crisis forces many to cut services and staff.

The bleak finding — nearly double the 29 per cent who reported a deficit last year — comes after school leaders’ union NAHT Cymru surveyed its members on funding.

More than a quarter said they expected to face their first-ever deficit in 2024-25.  All of them said they did not receive sufficient funding to meet fully the needs of all their pupils.

The NAHT report, titled Falling Short: The Deepening School Funding Crisis in Wales, found that school leaders are having to take drastic action.

More than a quarter are reducing the number or hours of teachers, nearly six in 10 are leaving posts empty and 55 per cent are reducing teaching assistant hours.

Compared with 2021, when NAHT asked school leaders similar questions, they are now around twice as likely to have taken these measures.

Other cuts include delaying repairs, refurbishment or general capital spending, reducing non-educational support and services for children and not investing in professional development and training for staff.

Only 3 per cent said they did not need to make savings, compared to a fifth three years ago.

NAHT Cymru national secretary Laura Doel said: “School leaders simply cannot go on doing more with less.

“They didn’t sign up to this job to set deficit budgets, cut spending on pupils and lay off teachers and support staff.

“In the three years since our last survey, the change for the worse is alarming.”

The Welsh government was contacted for comment.