Heads are accused of holding back cash

Children in thousands of schools are being deprived of books and equipment because headteachers are squirrelling away money for a "rainy day", a union claims today.

About a fifth of England's 21,000 state schools are sitting on a total of more than ?1 billion, breaking the law by exceeding maximum contingency reserves, according to the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. The ATL is demanding that schools with large cash piles lose their financial autonomy.

Local authorities should be parachuted in to run their budgets to ensure the current pupils do not lose out, the ATL said.

Government rules say primary schools should hold back no more than eight per cent of their revenue budgets for contingencies, and secondaries a maximum of five per cent.

However, the National Association of Head Teachers accused the ATL of "economic illiteracy". General secretary David Hart said that ?1 billion was not a large sum when spread over 21,000 schools.

He said some heads may be reserving cash for repairs to buildings, and added that schools ending the financial year in April with a surplus may be planning to use the cash in September for the new school year.