The City of Edinburgh Council is weighing tens of millions in education savings ahead of next year's budget talks, with some cuts targeting additional support needs services.

A report to Tuesday's education committee laid out details for roughly £40m in proposed savings over the next three years. 

According to a council report, council departments have been asked to come up with an overall £30m in savings for 2025/26 and a further £80m over the following three years.

Executive Director of Education and Children’s Services Amanda Hatton told the education committee that the proposals were meant to be the "least bad options" but that while some were "relatively painless," others were "significant."

The proposals range from attempts to limit sick leave and printing resources to staff cuts, which the report outlined would be accomplished by leaving vacant posts unfilled but could also include additional support needs (ASN) staff.

Some of these changes may be included in the council's proposed "Inclusion Review," which Ms Hatton wrote in the report could cost up to £4 million. 

She said that "while any changes to support for inclusion will inevitably raise concerns it needs to be recognised that the overall budget of £80 million represents a significant element of the overall [Children, Education and Justice Services] budget."

She said that an inclusion review had already taken place, which " included a review of the central staffing structure for inclusion, including the Additional Support for Learning Service and the Educational Psychology Service."

The council's language around the proposed cuts was dominated by the substantial portion of the overall budget that Children, Education and Justice Services (CEJS) accounts for: £516m, or half of the council's total budget. 

Within that umbrella, staff costs account for £435m. In her report, Ms Hatton wrote that Schools and Education account for £405m. She added that with teacher salaries costing £261m and 25% of the council's full budget, making savings without impacting staff numbers would be almost impossible.

"It is therefore difficult to see how the challenging level of savings can be addressed over the next 4 years without impact on staff numbers across the directorate and wider council."

When the report was presented to Tuesday's education committee, councillors requested more work on the potential impact of the cuts so that it could be fully understood.

Earlier this year, the council had postponed an £8.2 million cut to the funding allocated directly to headteachers for school improvement, but this will also return as a possibility when councillors consider the budget proposals in February.

Alison Murphy, Local Education Secretary for Edinburgh EIS, said that much of the council's own language around the cuts illustrates how impactful they might be.

"They are leaving support posts vacant as a way of saving money. They're not deleting the posts, they recognise we have a need for these posts. 

"It's about having to be honest with parents, the public, everyone around the consequences of these cuts."

Council leadership has previously said that education had been "protected" from savings options in recent years, but Ms Murphy said that this isn't a fair representation of the situation. 

"We in education have been cut ourselves and we've been picking up and plugging the gaps from others," she said, especially with schools taking on more pastoral care for students and families.

The proposals echo controversial plans proposed by Glasgow City Council, which has come under fire for plans to cut teacher numbers significantly alongside other education savings in the coming years. 

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Councillor Joan Griffiths, Education, Children and Families Convener at the City of Edinburgh Council, said that proposals were still in the early stages before councillors discuss them fully in February.

"Officers have put forward these budget saving proposals for this year that have come from suggestions across the whole directorate, including from schools.

“We acknowledge that the measures will impact on staffing. However, our no compulsory redundancy policy remains in place and changes would be managed in accordance with the council’s existing managing change and redeployment policies.

"Where teacher numbers are affected, these savings will be achieved by removing non-statutory provisions and will not impact on front line Pupil/Teacher ratios.

“However, there’s no escaping the fact that we are where we are because of the lack of funding coming from the Scottish Government.  Given the lack of funding, our officers provide elected members with the least worst options. Whatever roads we decide to take we will always try to do what is best for our children and young people.

"Education, children and families have been protected for a lot of years, and even last year the savings that came forward from officers weren’t agreed by the Council. No one wants to be where we are, and we’ll need to start making hard decisions next year. The reality is that if we don't take them we have to think where else is our savings coming from.”