Exclusive:School staff cuts planned as Edinburgh council chiefs plot £4m raid on support for vulnerable pupils

Education chiefs in Edinburgh are planning to slash support for vulnerable pupils by axing specialist school staff as well as teaching posts.

Local authority officials have proposed a £4 million cut from its “inclusion” spending, which is expected to lead to reductions in support staff for pupils with additional support needs (ASN).

Bosses have admitted the move is likely to raise “concerns”, coming just a few months after the council said schools were under “intense pressure”, with 43 per cent of primary pupils and 50 per cent of secondary pupils in the city now having ASN.

It also comes just weeks after MSPs on Holyrood’s education committee said they were “alarmed” at the strong evidence suggesting the majority of ASN pupils were already “not having their needs met” in Scotland. Councillors in the Scottish capital are poised to discuss the plans on Tuesday, alongside cuts that could reduce the number of teachers in Edinburgh.

Edinburgh City Council HQ | JPI Media

The authority is working on proposals to save £30m in 2025/26, followed by a further £80m over the next three years.

Any cuts to teacher numbers would put Edinburgh City Council on a collision course with the Scottish Government, which is committed to increasing the number of teachers, and the number of pupil support assistants.

Glasgow City Council is already facing industrial action, a legal challenge and a £16.5m funding penalty after axing 172 teaching posts this year.

Edinburgh City Council previously proposed savings from “transition teachers”, who help pupils make the switch from primary to secondary, as well as a reduction in pupil support staff in P1 and P2.

A report to Tuesday’s committee meeting said: “It is also worth noting that the budget for teachers’ salaries alone accounts for 25 per cent of the full council net expenditure at £261m.

“Since 2016 we have had an increase of over 400 teaching posts. It is therefore difficult to see how the challenging level of savings can be addressed over the next four years without impact on staff numbers across the directorate and wider council.” Officials previously tabled £8.2m of cuts from education services, including from transition teachers and a reduction in Quality Improvement Service officials, and have now proposed a further £22.4m of savings.

New measures being considered for “future years” include a £4m cut to spending on “inclusion” - about 5 per cent of the budget.

Amanda Hatton, the council’s executive director of children, education and justice services (CEJS), wrote: “Over the last year, an inclusion review has taken place which has included a review of the central staffing structure for inclusion, including the Additional Support for Learning Service and the Educational Psychology Service, the conclusion of which will support the delivery of a longer term £4m saving and proposals will come forward to committee in the coming months.” The council’s education committee will also consider a review to provision of “Holiday Hubs” for children with a disability, and savings on transport to take ASN pupils to schools.

Rob Holland, director of the National Autistic Society Scotland, said: “We know that there is already not enough support available for autistic young people in our schools.

“Because of this school can be a source of profound stress and anxiety for autistic children and young people, and many end up excluded from school, sometimes on a long-term basis, a fundamental breach of their right to an education. 

“Budget cuts to support services like Additional Support for Learning and Educational Psychology risks pushing more autistic young people and their families into crisis and out of education, which not only comes with an untenable human cost but is also unsustainably expensive.

“So, we would urge councils to preserve funding for services that directly support autistic young people wherever they can.”

Further future savings are envisaged by council officers from a review of the way youth work is delivered in schools, as well as “potential savings from the rationalisation of school [swimming] pools which cost in the region of £0.84m per year”.

Meanwhile, a review of management time is proposed for city primary schools, with officials describing the existing allocation as “generous” compared to other local authorities, allowing depute head teachers to be “largely free of class commitments”.

Greg Dempster, general secretary of AHDS, which represents senior teachers in Scottish primary and ASN schools, said: “A cut to management time is not without impact and to suggest that it might be, when school leaders in Edinburgh already report to us that they work vastly in excess of contracted working hours – including just under a third of respondents who reported working 60 hours a week or more – is beyond ridiculous.   

“Indeed, when we ask members what would make their roles more manageable, the number one response in Edinburgh is to call for increased investment in support for pupils with additional needs, this aligned with the Scotland level response. 

“The second most common response was to call for additional management time for school leadership teams, nationally that was only fifth on the priority list.”

Councillor Joan Griffiths, convener for education, children and families at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Our saving proposals outlined in this report are at an early stage of development and will require further work and wider consultation before they are progressed to budget decision in February 2025.

“Officers have put forward these budget saving proposals for this year that have come from suggestions across the whole directorate, including from schools.

“We acknowledge that the measures will impact on staffing. However, our no compulsory redundancy policy remains in place and changes would be managed in accordance with the council’s existing managing change and redeployment policies, for example, the changes within the quality team outlined in the report sees a reduction of two posts that are already vacant.

“Where teacher numbers are affected, these savings will be achieved by removing non-statutory provision and will not impact on front line pupil/teacher ratios.”