The equivalent of 17 teachers’ posts have been lost over the last year as a result of a fall in the number of schoolchildren across Telford, it was revealed today.

The losses came about because the falling rolls had prompted a number of schools to merge and so fewer teachers had been needed.

A report to Telford & Wrekin Council’s cabinet on Monday says the education budget fell £293,000 into the red at the end of the last financial year.

It says this was because of an increase in redundancy payouts to school staff who lost their jobs as a result of schools amalgamating.

The report says the extra cost was a one-off but the overspend had to be offset by savings made elsewhere in the budget.

Councillor Stephen Burrell, cabinet member for children and young people, said falling school rolls meant fewer pupils and that meant a decreased budget.

He added: “An inevitable consequence of this is that schools have less resources and need fewer teachers and other support staff.

“Also, in secondary schools, fluctuating demand for certain subject specialisms can mean that it no longer becomes viable for a school to employ a member of staff if one year the demand for that subject is no longer there. The council will always seek to redeploy staff at other authority schools first.

“In the last year, the equivalent of 17 staff posts, the majority of which were teachers, were given redundancy due to falling rolls and changing demand for specialist subjects.”

Councillor Burrell said that, in most cases, the redundancies were voluntary and affected teachers reaching the end of their careers.

He stressed that the council’s current programme of school co-locations as part of its Primary Strategy for Change had had no direct impact on the redundancy figure and any changes in staff numbers at the schools affected were being carefully planned for.

The strategy envisages building three new primary schools over the next 10 years, extending at least six existing ones over five to six years and merging others.