ALMOST half of Wrexham’s schools fell into a financial deficit last year according to the council’s end-of-year financial report.
In 2025/26 29 schools out of 67 in Wrexham County Borough – 43% – spent more than allocated in their budget according to data presented to the Executive Board on Tuesday. That is an increase of 13 schools compared to the previous year.
Across the board schools in Wrexham also spent £909,000 on payouts for 58 members of staff made redundant last year, with the Education Department topping-up the pre-approved £200,000 redundancy fund by more than £700,000 to cover the cost.
In total schools in Wrexham finished the year £792,420 in the red. Around 88% of that deficit was split between two schools – The Maelor School in Penley and Darland High School in Rossett.
Darland is carrying the largest deficit in the County Borough, having spent £1,072,271 more than it was allocated at the start of the year. Last year it had a deficit of £701,943.
“I treat schools exactly the same as I treat education, social services, the environment department, etc,” Wrexham County Borough Council Leader Mark Pritchard, who is also Lead Member for Finance, told the Executive Board.
“Schools work extremely hard to bring their budgets in. But unfortunately, there’s a small minority of schools which are overspent and we have to deal with it.
“If a school has too many teachers, they have to make them redundant. If they’ve got too many teaching assistants, they have to make them redundant.
“I would say that 99% of the schools do it extremely well. But there’s a small percentage who don’t. We have had schools in the past, we’ve brought them to the Executive Board, sat down with them, listened to them, and agreed repayment terms of a financial package.
“There’s been a lot of engagement with these schools who are struggling to bring in their budget.”
He did not elaborate on what measures had been taken with regard the 29 Wrexham schools currently in deficit.
Plaid Cymru group leader Cllr Andy Gallanders argued that the data showed the stark situation facing schools and challenged the suggestion that better financial management was the answer.
“It’s difficult to see positives in the school finances,” he said. “Twenty‑nine schools are in deficit, with hard‑working heads and governors trying their best to balance the books.
“I take grievance with a total of 58 staff leaving their positions. This underplays the seriousness of pressures placed on schools to balance the books by making dedicated, hard‑working educational staff redundant.
“This isn’t nice, but I feel the report should be more honest about the difficult, difficult situation schools are facing.”
Overall, despite early projections that the authority would post a £2.8m budget deficit, Wrexham County Borough Council finished 2025/26 with a net budget surplus of £166,000.
Achieved through departmental savings and access to grants, that surplus will now go into the mitigation fund for 26/27.
“I think this is a great report, considering where we were,” said Cllr Pritchard. “It’s not very often that I’m surprised, but I am surprised we’ve got to this position.
“It’s down to the hard work, commitment of everybody who’s been involved – the finance team who have done all the hard work in the background, the lead members and the senior leadership teams.”
