PRESSURES on Monmouthshire council's budget could result in more schools falling into a deficit position in the future, the authority has warned.

It comes as the council said the financial position at Chepstow School is expected to deteriorate further by the end of the year.

It had been expected that the school would be £352,000 in the red - but now the total is expected to be £373,000 at the end of the year, £21,000 worse than previously thought.

The council said the school has prepared a recovery plan which has been approved by its governors, but that it has been asked to review it because 'it doesn’t adequately address the costs over that period or indicate the resourcing for priority appointments at the moment'.

"This level of deficit balance remains a risk to the council going forward in the interim,” a report said.

Last month council officers proposed the authority’s schools budget be frozen for 2015/16, which means an average secondary school in the county would have its budget reduced by £116,457. An average Monmouthshire primary school would suffer a budget reduction of £18,297. Savings would total £1,124,000.

Across Monmouthshire six schools were in a deficit position at the start of 2014/15. Llandogo, Deri View and Llanvihangel Crocorney are expected to see their positions improve and Ysgol Gymraeg Y Ffin is predicting it will be out of deficit by the end of the year.

But King Henry VIII Comprehensive School in Abergavenny and Llanfair Kligeddin are expected to be in deficit by the end of the year.

The Labour group leader Cllr Dimitri Batrouni said: “After failing Monmouthshire’s children by plunging the council’s education service into special measures, only the Tories could then propose a cut to the education budget of well over £1 million.

“Tory incompetence and complacency is breath taking. This move is a huge backward step for Monmouthshire’s children, and will damage social mobility in the future. The Labour group will continue to fight these savage cuts.”

But the cabinet member for children and young people Cllr Liz Hacket Pain said the authority can only do so much to manage schools’ budget positions.

She said: “The responsibility of the council is to ensure that schools can’t set a deficit budget so if it does go into deficit it has to explain why and then a plan is put together. At the end of the day it is up to the head teacher.”

And the council’s chief office for children and young people Sarah McGuinness said: “The proposal for the financial year 2015/16 is to hold school budgets at the current funding level. The authority is currently working with all schools to identify the impact of these proposals.

“The authority is proposing to review the ALN and inclusion provision across Monmouthshire to meet the changing needs of our children and young people while continuing to ensure that we improve standards and outcomes for all learners.”

A comment was unavailable from Chepstow School.