Consultation on proposals to discontinue education provision at St Margaret's RC Primary School

Financial implications

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This information gives details on the estimated cost of operating St Margaret’s RC Primary School for the financial year 2021/22. 

Column 2 of table 1 shows the projected annual running costs of St Margaret’s RC Primary School whilst column 3 shows the additional impact on St Mary’s RC Primary School as the receiving school. The annual recurring savings (or costs) are shown in column 4. 

The main elements included within a school budget are teacher employment costs (i.e. basic salary costs plus related employer’s National Insurance and Superannuation contributions plus any relevant individual allowances); Local government employee costs and an allocation for discretionary expenditure incurred by the school (i.e. educational equipment, materials, staff travel, etc.). Teacher staffing budgets are calculated on an annual basis and within the primary sector are determined, taking cognisance of the SNCT class size maxima, by the number of classes required to provide for the specific number and age of the pupils in each school. When a school ceases to be operational the teacher staffing budget is adjusted (at the appropriate time), with the staffing budget resulting in a nil value. 

In line with the national priority of maintaining teacher numbers, the education service operates on the basis that supernumerary teachers are redeployed and therefore their salary costs still exist.  As Midlothian’s population is increasing, the authority employs additional teachers year on year and it is anticipated that any supernumerary teachers from St Margaret’s RC Primary School can be redeployed and reduce the required number of additional teachers. Some of the costs noted in column 3 of Table 1 will not directly impact on St Mary’s RC Primary School but they will be a cost to the authority as a whole, for example school transport costs. 

Table 2 shows the average annual lifecycle cost of £21,323 that would arise based on the gross internal floor area of St Margaret’s RC Primary School, irrespective of the number of pupils accommodated. Lifecycle costs are representative of the cost needed to keep the building in a good state of repair. The notional cost over the next thirty years therefore to maintain St Margaret’s RC Primary School is £639,690.

Revenue Budget Implications

Should this proposal be implemented there is an estimated annual revenue budget saving of £26,593. This saving is predicated on the disposal of the building, revenue costs will continue to be borne by the council until such time.

Capital Budget Implications

There are no capital budget implications directly associated with this proposal. Housing developments across Midlothian make a contribution to the cost of providing consequential educational capacity. This applies equally across the St Margaret’s catchment and any contributions received will be applied against the cost of the additional capacity that will be provided to serve the area.