Seventy per cent of London school leaders have already experienced budget cuts, according to a Tes survey.

Headteachers in the capital have said they are operating “on a shoestring” and have warned they will have to “absolutely slash” staff if there are further funding reductions.

‘Talking Heads’, a survey of nearly 400 London heads and school leaders was conducted for London Councils by Tes, and Shift Learning. 

It found that 70 per cent of London school leaders who responded to the survey have already experienced budget cuts - 10 per cent more than those in the rest of England.

Over the next two years, 91 per cent of those surveyed are expecting their budget to decrease. More than 80 per cent believe that the quality of their school’s environment will be harmed by further cuts and more than 70 per cent feel that pupil outcomes will be negatively affected.

“Managing budgets” is ranked by London heads as the number one challenge they face, whereas outside of the capital it is the second highest challenge identified by school leaders.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of secondary school heads in London say they have already reduced the breadth of their curriculum to deal with the cuts, while 70 per cent of primary school heads report they have already cut teaching assistants.

The news of the Talking Heads survey comes amidst continuing uncertainty over how much money will be made available to English schools.

However, it was announced today that schools and hospitals in Northern Ireland would receive an extra £100 million over the next two years as part of the deal with the Democratic Unionist Party to sustain the minority Conservative government. 

One Talking Heads participant, the headteacher of a primary academy in outer London, said: “We’re already on a shoestring as it is. Any more cuts, it’s going to be staffing, and that’s going to have an impact, and it’s going to be a negative impact. Our results may well dip as a result of it.”

Another head, who leads a primary maintained school in inner London, said: “I cannot see any way other than that teaching and learning is going to suffer and we’ll have to just absolutely slash the number of adults or shut the school.”

A third head said their school had “cut everything that can be cut” and might have to lay off staff, but added: “I honestly don’t know if we could afford that because there’s no money for redundancy”.

Councillor Peter John, deputy chair of London Councils and executive member with responsibility for schools, said the research painted “bleak picture of the financial challenges threatening the future of London’s education system”.

He added: “We’re calling on government to recognise that schools are facing significant additional cost pressures, and to protect school funding in real terms to address these pressures.”