Two Cumbrian secondary schools facing serious financial difficulties
Two secondary schools in Westmorland and Furness are facing significant financial difficulties after building up historic budget deficits, council documents have revealed.
The Lakes School in Windermere and Ulverston Victoria High School (UVHS) have both been invited to escalated meetings with Westmorland and Furness Council.
The meetings will examine the schools’ financial positions. And the steps being taken to bring spending under control.
Council officers have also said that formal financial warning notices could be issued if sufficient progress is not made.
Schools facing historic deficits
Both schools are maintained by the local authority, meaning the council has a role in overseeing their finances.
The difficulties are understood to relate to deficits that have built up over several years rather than a single unexpected cost.
The council’s latest update said letters had been issued to The Lakes School and Ulverston Victoria High School inviting them to escalated meetings.
Officials will review each school’s financial recovery plans and agree actions aimed at reducing the deficits.
A financial warning notice can be used when a maintained school fails to comply with financial rules or does not take suitable action to address serious budget concerns.
Falling pupil numbers adding pressure
Westmorland and Furness Council has said school budgets are being affected by several pressures.
These include falling pupil numbers, increasing staffing costs, SEND-related spending and staffing structures that may no longer be affordable.
Most school funding is linked to the number of pupils on roll. A school can therefore receive less money when pupil numbers fall, even though many running costs remain the same.
Secondary schools may also find it difficult to quickly reduce costs because they still need enough teachers to provide a full range of subjects.
Earlier council documents proposed reducing The Lakes School’s published admission number from 129 pupils to 90. This would allow its planned intake to better reflect the number of places it is likely to need.
Millions owed across maintained schools
The financial difficulties at the two schools form part of a wider problem across Westmorland and Furness.
Council budget papers showed that 34 maintained schools were forecast to have combined deficits of around £7.66 million during the 2025/26 financial year.
Once schools holding surplus funds were included, the overall net deficit was expected to reach approximately £3.91 million by March 31, 2026.
The council has warned that maintained school balances have been declining since 2021/22.
Schools facing a deficit are normally required to produce a recovery plan explaining how they will return to a balanced budget over an agreed period.
Council monitoring both schools
The escalated meetings do not mean either school is expected to close.
They are intended to provide closer financial oversight and ensure that agreed savings or changes are realistic.
The council can increase its involvement when it believes a school is not making enough progress. This could include setting additional conditions, requesting changes to a recovery plan or issuing a formal warning notice.
No detailed figures for the individual deficits at The Lakes School or Ulverston Victoria High School were included in the publicly available update.
Both schools will continue to operate while discussions over their financial recovery plans take place.
