Balancing Books or Undermining Classrooms? Highland Council's Education Budget Strategy Under the Microscope

11th November 2025

As Highland Council's Education Committee prepares for its 19 November meeting, one theme quietly threads through the agenda: balancing the books by leaving posts unfilled.

The Quarter 2 Revenue Budget Monitoring Report reveals that vacancy management deliberately holding open staff positions is being used to offset financial pressures across the education service.

The Numbers Behind the Strategy
Faced with rising energy costs, inflation, and a multi-year savings target of over £50 million, the council is relying on vacancy savings to stay afloat. This means that some teaching and support roles, even when budgeted for, are not being filled. While this helps reduce overspend in the short term, it raises serious questions about long-term sustainability—especially in rural and remote areas where recruitment is already a challenge.

What This Means for Schools
In practice, this strategy can mean larger class sizes, stretched support staff, and delayed interventions for pupils with additional needs. For communities in Caithness, Sutherland, and the wider Highlands, where every staff member counts, the impact is tangible. It's a quiet erosion of capacity that doesn't show up in headlines but is felt in classrooms and staffrooms.

The council isn't just relying on vacancies. The budget report also highlights targeted investments—like the £4.3 million boost for Additional Support Needs staffing—and ongoing efforts to redesign services and rationalise property use. But these measures are unevenly felt. While some schools benefit from new funding, others are left managing gaps with fewer hands on deck.

To their credit, council officers are upfront about the use of vacancy savings. The Education Committee papers don't hide the strategy—they lay it bare. But transparency alone isn't enough. Communities need assurance that short-term savings won’t compromise long-term outcomes.

As the committee meets, the challenge will be to strike a balance between fiscal responsibility and educational equity. Holding vacancies might balance the books, but it risks tipping the scales against the very pupils the council is meant to serve.

Read the full report HERE
Item 5. Revenue Budget Monitoring Report Quarter 2 2025/26