Warwickshire County Council has warned that the national pay award for teachers could "add to continued pressures and reduced financial stability" in schools.

A four per cent uplift for teachers was announced by the national government in May with schools expected to find the first one per cent through "productivity gains and smarter spending". 

The rest is to be funded by already-planned budget boosts and a £615 million warchest to support schools but the county council – the local education authority – warned in a report to its staff and pensions committee that "cost pressures will remain" and that "it is considered that schools may face budgetary challenges". 

It adds: "Some schools will have to make savings elsewhere and this will add to continued financial pressures and reduced financial stability across the school system."

Report author Laura Greenacre, service manager for strategic workforce planning and recognition at Warwickshire County Council, noted it "does potentially leave a shortfall for some schools" in her introduction. 

"Financial pressures will vary and schools therefore may need to make savings elsewhere to accommodate this award," she said. 

Cllr Chris Kettle referred to an "unfunded" element and asked: "Is there any experience that suggests this can be achieved from within the schools budget?

"Clearly if it can't then it will be a one per cent reduction at a time when a lot of schools are quite challenged financially."

Ms Greenacre replied: "Due to the delegated nature of schools funding and budgeting, we don't hold complete staff budget details so it is hard for us to give a full picture of that.

"Yes, there is some concern that some schools will have based their financial planning on lower estimates. Therefore there might be a financial pressure for these schools but I think that is a national picture rather than just a local one."

The report acknowledges that the schools were recommended to budget for a three per cent rise, something that Cllr Sam Jones questioned.

Director of finance Purmina Kandula said that the schools finance team had based that on past experience.

"It is a really difficult ballgame to play as you can imagine, crystal ball gazing to a certain extent," she added.

"They do work closely with schools. Staffing is by far the largest budget that schools incur but there are some variables within their budgets and the finance team will be working closely with our schools to see what they can do to change their budgets accordingly."