A Sheffield Education chief said she was “flabbergasted” by the £46 million price tag the government expects the council to pay to maintain schools across Sheffield.  

The city council announced an estimated maintenance backlog of £46 million this week across 64 schools in Sheffield.

Using the current School Condition Allocations from the government, it would take the council over twelve years to fully implement a sustainable approach to repairs. 

A lack of funding from the Department for Education has forced the council to re-evaluate their own budget as they say they are “in a position where children’s cost for social care could be the breaking point for the council”. 

Councillor Dawn Dale, the Chair of the Education, Children and Families Policy Committee, said that she was “flabbergasted by the amount we have to spend on our children and young people”.

The existing annual resources of £3 million are largely used for essential projects such as fire risk assessments and prevention. 

In the past year, the council forked out £2.2 million to secure the roof of Nether Green Junior School to ensure the safety of its pupils and staff. 

A further £62,000 was spent replacing RAAC roof planks at Abbey Lane Primary School last September following concerns over their structural integrity.

The council has described their process of funding allocation as “triaging” as they prioritise safety within schools rather than maintaining buildings. 

Meredith Dixon-Teasdale (strategic director of children’s services) said “we need something radical” in response to the council’s lack of funding. 

Despite requests made to the Department for Education, the council continues to supplement this funding from their own budget.

The council said it will continue to lobby for extra funding from the government and seek external grant funding. 

The council also submitted an application for reimbursement to the secretary of state which is still awaiting approval.