| SPOTLIGHT |
West Berkshire Council has reportedly said it will not be clawing back money that has been “committed or raised by parents”, after it had proposed to redistribute excess funds currently held by schools to benefit pupils.
The council had said it wanted to repurpose £2.85m of funds raised by eight schools, to help cover the rising costs of teaching pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
In July, a school threatened to take legal action against the council after it allegedly removed money from the school’s budgets.
In a letter to parents, Headteacher of The Downs School, Chris Prosser, said £490,000 of £700,000 the school had raised through fundraising activities was “taken” by the council.
Olivia Bailey, MP for Reading West and Mid Berkshire, wrote to the leader of West Berkshire, requesting it to pause any claw back of budgets and conduct a review of the process.
According to the BBC, at a specially convened meeting last week, (5 September), council leader Jeff Brooks said that not all of the £2.85m initially sought would be collected.
He said he had been visiting schools concerned in the past weeks and that the council would "do its best” to help them.
"We are not pulling any money back that’s been committed or raised by parents," he added.
He noted that the council would review the amounts, but that the scheme would not be abandoned.
A West Berkshire Council Spokesperson said: "We have always been clear that we never intended to redeem any money that has been committed to projects or raised by parents. We are currently reviewing the financial submissions sent to us by schools to ensure that this is the case."
Lottie Winson
