West Berkshire schools cash claw back row: Opposition councillors try to get school cash claw back decision changed at special meeting

The ongoing row between schools in West Berkshire being told to give ‘surplus’ cash back to the council takes another turn this week.

Opposition parties have grouped together to demand a special meeting of the council to get the decision to claw back around £2.4m a year ahead of its original plan reversed.

The meeting, which is due to be held tomorrow (Thursday), follows on from a scathing letter sent to the Department for Education by the Downs School in Compton asking the government to intervene.

That school claims much of its surplus was self-generated, and funds had already been allocated to expand the sixth form and improve toilet blocks.

The special meeting was forced by the opposition Greens and Conservative groups, and followed a course of events which began with a Schools Forum meeting agreeing to the claw backs from March next year.

But the council then ordered that forward to this year, with schools saying they were given little or no warning, and that the move was unfair.

In its letter to the DfE, the Downs School says the authority has shown a total disregard for the wellbeing of school staff and says the procedure has been unfair.