Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools operate with a budget deficit in England.

The latest available figures show 96% of academy trusts and 85% of local authority maintained schools are in cumulative surplus or breaking even, with an overall cumulative surplus of almost £6.5 billion, compared to a cumulative deficit of £330 million. These figures relate to 31 August 2024 for academy trusts and 31 March 2024 for maintained schools.

In the 2023/24 financial year there were 1,745 local authority maintained schools in deficit and 341 academies were in trusts that had an overall deficit.